We hear much about the so-called separation of church and
state but this posting is not going to discuss this issue. However, after the halftime tirade of Bob
Costas I do support a separation of sports and politics.
As you know from my previous postings, I am involved in
politics. You also know that the results
of the last election were not what I wanted them to be. Sports and music are my escapes from the ups
and downs of politics. The last thing I
want to see when I tune into a football game is a sports commentator using the
tragic murder suicide of someone to tout his antigun opinions.
Mr. Belcher had many problems. From what I have read, he had problems with
pain killer addiction and alcoholism.
Yes, he used a gun to murder his girlfriend and take his own life but
the gun was only a tool doing what his hands directed it to do. The real issue to me was this man needed help
and apparently was not getting it.
One of my favorite bands is Third Day. They are a Christian rock band and released
their newest CD ironically on Election Day this year. The title of the CD is Miracle. The inspiration for the title song came from
a story they heard from someone at one of their concerts.
The song tells the story of a man who had lost everything in
his life. He had lost his job, home, and
family and was planning to take his own live.
He drove out into the woods and planned to hook up a hose from the
exhaust pipe into the car. As he was
getting ready to take his life, he turned on the radio and the Third Day song
“Cry Out to Jesus” came on.
The happy ending to the story is that he did what the song
said and cried out to Jesus instead of taking his life. God worked a miracle in this man’s life and a
tragedy was averted. I have to believe
that someone at some point in this man’s life planted a seed of the Gospel of
Jesus Christ in this man’s life. We do
not know if anyone planted such a seed in Mr. Belcher’s life but there are valuable
lessons to we can learn from this tragedy.
Jesus said in John 16:33, “I have told you all this so that
you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows.
But take heart, because I have overcome the world." (NLT)
Life comes with many trials.
Jesus is not telling us here that our lives will be a piece of cake even
if we are believers but that when we find ourselves in the middle of a trial,
He will be there to help us.
We also have this promise in Romans 8:28, “And we know that
God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and
are called according to his purpose for them.”
(NLT) We as believers can rest
assured that no matter how bad the trial we find ourselves in it will work out
for our good as long as we continue to obey God’s calling on our lives.
Perhaps you are going through a trial right now and you see
no way out. Perhaps you either have
considered or are considering taking your own life or the life of someone you
love. I urge you to reach out for help
before it’s too late. Do as the Third
Day song says, cry out to Jesus and then take the next step and find some
professional help. Find a Christian
church in your community that teaches the Bible and share your situation with
the pastor. Pastors are trained and have
a heart to reach out to troubled individuals with the love of Christ.
It is my prayer that there be no more tragedies like we saw
this weekend, instead I pray there are more miraculous deliverances such as the
man experienced who reached out to Jesus.
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