On June 25th, the world lost two famous people: Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson. Many people who never knew either of these two personally have gone into mourning for them. Some are devastated by their passing but this is not the first time two famous people have died on the same day. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both died on July 4, 1826 while this country was celebrating its 50th birthday.
On February 12, 2000, I lost two of my boyhood heroes: Tom Landry and Charles Shultz. Even as an adult, I was devastated. Growing up in Shreveport, I was a huge fan of Tom Landry's Dallas Cowboys. Charles Shultz wrote the classic Peanuts and this was the first comic strip I read every day. As strange as this might sound, both of these men had a profound impact on my Christian journey.
Pop loved football so we often spent Sunday afternoons together watching the Dallas Cowboys on TV. As I got older, I started hearing about the faith Tom Landry had. He encouraged wide receiver Buddy Dial to start a devotional group for the team. Every football fan knows what a "Hail Mary" pass is but few remember the phrase was coined by the very faithful Roger Staubach. Tom Landry proved to me that Christians can be winners, too.
Can you imagine a Christmas without watching A Charlie Brown Christmas at least once? To me, listening to Linus tell the story from Luke (2:8-12) is "...what Christmas is all about." But Charles Shultz impact on Christianity does not end there. Every cartoonist from his era will tell you Charles Shultz made talking about Christianity in the comic strips acceptable. Robert L. Short even wrote a very Christian book called The Gospel According To Peanuts based on what had already been published in the comic strip at that time. Charles Shultz taught me writing about Christianity was okay.
Six billion people live on this planet. Each day, roughly 200,000 people die. Unless they die in a major accident or a war torn area where the United States military is present, we rarely hear about more than one person per day. Somewhere, someone is mourning for almost all those people who died yesterday. Jesus teaches us mourners are blessed and will be comforted. (Matthew 5:4) Do you comfort those who mourn?
Grace and peace in the power of the Holy Spirit.
(J. Wesley McComb is a published author and a member of Christ Episcopal Church, 1534 7th St, Slidell, 643-4531.)
© by The Slidell Independent newspaper; originally published on July 9, 2009. Used by permission of publisher and author.