"My heart is aching!!!!"

As we sat eating lunch with my dad and a couple of dear friends this afternoon the headlines flashed:............."the King of Pop rushed to the hospital with cardiac arrest!!!" I could hardly believe my eyes. I immediately sat up and paid attention to the TV as I watched the newscasters flock around the motorcade that carried Michael Jackson to an LA hospital. I watched intently to see what else I could gather from the news scrolling across the bottom of the television. As I went back to my conversation with the people at the table I got lost in what we were discussing not thinking to much more about it, other than the fact that they he would somehow survive and have a strong comeback to his upcoming tour. Unfortunately as we left my dads house Shelley(our middle daughter) sent me a text message that said: "OMG!!!!! Michael Jackson passed away!!!!" I was immediately saddened by that news!!! My heart sank!! I remember listening to him "all" my life from the time I was a little girl to the very present!!! He was one of my "idols," if you will. I never, never missed American Bandstand, Soul Train or any other show I knew he and his brothers, The Jackson Five, would be on. I think I had every album they ever made. Over the years I watched his rise to fame and all the pitfalls, his failures and his successes. I paid particular attention to any news that may have related to him, rebuking those who accused him of horrifying things!! No matter what he ever did to himself, I still believed in him whether he made wise decisions or poor choices. I always had the strong inclination to pray for him. In so many instances I felt even though he was surrounded by the trillions of fans, he was still very alone and afraid in a great big world many times. Some of his songs screamed so loudly that he was in need of someone who cared. There was always a strange connection that I felt to him, maybe the musical inclination in both of our lives, I don't know. I absolutely loved his music from the time I was young until this very day. Some Christians, I know, will disagree with me and tell me I'm wrong, but that's ok. Everyone has the right to their own opinion.

For some reason God said today was the day Michael would stand before his Maker face to face. Sadly enough there were so many lose ends that he left untied. Young children still unraised and although I'm sure they'll be well taken care of monetarily, they will not have the physical presence of their father. And whether or not they had any contact with him, they will still feel the impact of his death. And I am very sure all the tabloids will focus on his failures and his fame and all the other things that surround the lifestyle he lived, but I can assure you, not one of those tabloids will be concerned where he is now spending eternity. Some will say he did not go to Heaven, some will swear he did. I'm not to say. My only hope is that one day in his lifetime he made the decision to accept Christ as his Saviour. There were many situations in his life that would have given him opportunity to do so. It seems that put in the right position, you always look to God to be your help. Maybe, just maybe in one of those very lonely, isolated times that he had here, he cried out to God for help and found his salvation in the one Whom he stands before today.

And isn't it strange that millions and millions will mourn the death of Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett for many years to come, yet those same millions have no recollection of the One who hung on a cross and gave us what neither of them would have ever been capable of!!

I, in no way, want to discount the fact that many will hurt over the loss of these two great legends in their own time. I myself, will mourn the death of Michael Jackson. My prayer will be that God will minister to those left behind that loved them and that He will send someone to them that will be able to share Christ with them. However, my point is that there is no one, no thing and no amount of money that can keep you living and breathing here on this earth when God says your time here is through. When that time comes, the choice is no longer up to us.

While the choice IS still yours:

"Seek the LORD while He may be found; call to Him while He is near. "
(Isaiah 55:6)