Six people I admire

   I will speak for myself and say this human being is in need of encouragement in this world.  People who have lived in an ultimately loving manner, whatever their gifts, and in spite of their mistakes, offer encouragement even when that is not their intention.  I have been encouraged in my life by many, but here I list six people I admire.

*Billy Graham, due to his faithfulness to God.  In reading his autobiography, I was encouraged by his willingness to completely commit to God.  Considering the fallibility of us humans, giving complete control over to God results in utter blessings, though we may resist such at times.  Giving himself fully to Christ is what Billy Graham did, and look what resulted.

*Abraham Lincoln, due to his moral conviction.  Once a person asked me why I think he was so great.  My answer: Lincoln, in the midst of his genius, in the midst of his mistakes, in the midst of his humanness, always maintain his conviction from youth that slavery is immoral.  No pressure ever changed his conviction, and more and more he actually dedicated himself to working to bring an end to the horrible wrong.

*John Stott, due to his focus on Christ.  Though I have some doctrinal differences with him, reading a number of books written by John Stott in my early Christian years were an incredible blessing to me.  After turning to Christ, John Stott lived a life where Christ was central to his day to day living.  In all he did in a busy life as a pastor, evangelist, and author, his heart was submitted to Jesus.

*Frank Beamer, due to his loyalty.  Through all of the challenges of being a coach for a large university, Frank Beamer has remained loyal to the people he works with as the coach.  Now being the coach with the most wins of any active NCAA Division I coach after twenty-six years at Virginia Tech, there have been times when he could have been the football coach of another university making more money, or getting more attention.  Yet Frank Beamer has been loyal at his Alma mater, caring for the people he works with.  And he has been a loving guy in university community, the city of Blacksburg, Virginia, and even the entire country and world.

*Dr. David Beckman, for his perseverance.  Dr. Beckman is the best preacher I have ever heard.  And the reason I was able to hear him preach was because he has kept persevering through tough times and good times into an age where most ministers are not in the pulpit.  In addition to his phenomenal work at Colorado Christian University, he was the preacher for an interdenominational retirement community church for a total of about twenty years.  Since retiring the second time from Windsor Gardens Community Church, he still works to personally be a light for Christ at the retirement community where he resides.  Through times of illness of his wife, through times of personal illness, through times of hardship, he has continued to trust God, and still does unusual ministry work here in his "golden years."

*Richard, my dad, for his concern for people.  After turning to Jesus in his middle age, his interest in people has risen to a genuine concern for people.

Genuine heroes are a blessing from God.  Yet sometimes heroes let us down.  Sometimes heroes make serious mistakes.  Yet you will never be hurt or disappointed by Jesus if you believe in the One who is the Savior and Lord for all people who believe in Him.  Jesus is God the Son, and Jesus is perfect.

Hunter

Alienation

   I like music.  I have seen some incredible concerts in the past 45 years.  My mom says that I liked music when I was young.  Early on in elementary school, I went to my first concert with my family, which was my mom's all time favorite artist, John Denver.  I would see him seven more times in my life.  Yet most of the concerts I have seen were "rock" groups, and I have seen many great rock performers in concert.  Two that I never got to see that I would still like to see are Paul McCartney and Boston.  As a Christian, I have seen many great Christian concerts.  I am especially a Rebecca St. James fan.  Yet I still enjoy "classic rock," though I'm careful about my song selection.  I try not listen to songs that are raunchy, confusing, or vindictive.
   I like a variety of music, yet in some ways, the music I like is a part of my personal expression.  When I was in high school, I was spiritually struggling.  And I look back and realize there were problems in my family that would eventually lead to my parents getting a divorce.  As opposed to music that I liked when I was younger which was more cheery and fun, like the Cars and Paul McCartney, I started really getting into Pink Floyd music.  In retrospect, I think my feelings of alienation, due to spiritual struggles, along with being in a family that was coming apart, resonated with the alientation that Pink Floyd expressed.  After years of listening to their music, I got the opportunity to see Pink Floyd in concert,  minus Rogers Waters, in early summer after my junior year at Virginia Tech, in June of 1988.  I was excited.  I thought David Gilmour was a great guitarist, and I was seeing one of "my" bands.
   The concert was at RFK in Washington, D.C., and as was the case for the majority of concerts I attended, I went alone.  I was sitting in the second tier, but I was over on a far side, so I was not a mile from the stage, and there were few people around me.  I really got into the show, and the performance was top notch.  Now normally when I went to D.C., I took the subway, but for that evening I had asked my mom to take her car for some reason.  I was unfamilier with that part of town, and upon leaving the parking lot of R.F.K., I was on a road which I did not recognize at all.  Yet I have a good sense for direction, and I figure I would detect where I was soon, and get on a road in the correct direction.  A local rock radio station was playing an old Pink Floyd album due to the hometown concert, and so I had that music on as I headed for home.  Driving to the instrumental music, which was kind of eeire, I ended up getting so lost that I was driving down in an area of town where I was totally turned around, and the weirdest part was that all of the stoplights were blinking yellow as the eeire Pink Floyd music whined.  I was lost.
   I use this as a metaphor for the fact that at that time, I was spiritually lost as well.  I was not living by the love of a loving God, rather I was doing what seemed sensible, but it was not bringing love.  I was not getting healing in the wake of my parent's separation after 21 years of marriage.  I was hurting deep down in my heart.  I needed love, even if I did not fully realize it.
    I will tell you, I enjoy music, and even more, I enjoy singing.  Yet sooth or excite as it does, music never brought me love.  God gives true love.  You may not go to oodles of concerts alone like I did.  You may not share hurts with the lyricists in rock bands like I did.  Yet if you are void of the love of God, my heart yearns to say that if you believe in Jesus, you will be forgiven of your wrongdoings, and the Love of God will come into your heart.  It may not be as noticeable as the rush from hearing your favorite song.  Yet your heart will begin to know it.  Jesus came to save those who are lost, and I am grateful that He saved me.
God is love.
Hunter