Let's continue to talk about how we refer to the recently departed. Last week, former NFL quarterback Steve McNair and a female companion were found shot to death in an apartment he and a friend owned. As it turns out, the woman was his girlfriend (he is married with four kids) and it appears that she killed him and then shot herself. I have two reactions to this story and to the reaction to the story:
1. Paul wrote: Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life (Galatians 6:7-8, NIV). This does not mean there is a direct event-by-event correlation of my sinful event to a bad thing that happens to me. It means that when you indulge in sin, somehow, someway, the results of sinfulness will come back on you. In McNair's case, it came back direct and hard. The latest news is that she was distraught that he might be seeing another girl (after all, why would she trust him--he is already a liar and cheater).
2. Several sportswriters have taken great pains to say that McNair's life should not only be measured by how he died or what he was doing that may have caused his death. Fair enough to a point--his life was more than the end of it. However, these same sportswriters seem to want to just sweep it under the rug, as in, let's just remember his football success, charity work, and how his teammates loved him. But you can't just ignore the fact that he was unfaithful to his wife and died as a result. His children will not have their daddy for the rest of their lives because he couldn't keep his pants zipped up. Harsh, but tell me I'm wrong.
So how should we remember him? As a very good football player, wonderful teammate, and questionable family man who brought on his own death by his adultery. If he was a mixture (by society's standards) of good and bad, then let's say he was a mixture.
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I liked watching Steve McNair play football ...Im not a huge fan of football but I was a huge fan of his style of play , his passion , his drive his leadership ....The last time I saw Mr. Mcnair was at a Little league tournament in Lavergne , his sons team was playing there ...it was hot , it was dusty , and Steve was there for the full day ...he was not signing autographs or promoting a book deal , he was helping with the team ...he spent most of the time in the dugout helping the team catcher take off and put on his gear ..He was being a Dad ...he would stop and watch his son at bat , cheer him on as he ran the bases ...this was about two weeks ago...Today the tragedy of his death and Sahel Kazemi is still tangible ...It is becoming more and more apparent that Steve McNair was occasionaly less of a Sports Hero and a little more of a human being ...reading the papers and watching the news ...it seems as if some people feel the need to speak of his " other side " ...almost as if they are surprised that there was another side ...Is it possible that human beings do not come with lables that clearly state all the ingredients inside ? That all of us struggle against temptation , that all of us make mistakes and are constantly just a few inches away from death ?
ReplyDeleteThat our lives are because of Gods grace ? Steves death reminds me of how much one person can do ...how much good ...how many lives changed , differences made and lives impacted ...There is a tendency for people who do little to be critical of people who do much . We demand excellence then when excellence is achieved we try to poke holes in it ...And we are sometimes forgetful ...forgetful of our own secrets , our own mistakes and struggles ....
When I reached my " independence " I know I was saved only by the Grace of God , I went places , did things that I am now ashamed and regretful of ...none the less I did them ...for several years I continualy put myself in situations so dark and so dangerous it is amazing that I was not shot , or seriously injured , many times I lost all sense of propriety and judgement ...As Dylan Thomas wrote " I ran my heedless ways, My wishes raced through the house high hay And nothing I cared, at my sky blue trades, that time allows " Steve was 36 years old full of promise , full of life and now that life is gone ...He was a person who was defined by passion , who was human and succeeded , who was human and failed , He was all of us in some regards and above us in others ...a tragedy ... I find it intersting that my last memory of Steve will not be one of football , but one of being a Dad ... A man not much older than I was when I first walked the mean streets and dark alleys of despair and poor choices ....there but for the grace of God go I