Waiting for the NFL Pro Bowl to begin this past Sunday, I saw the unbelievable announcement made on TV with Kobe Bryant’s picture and written underneath 1978-2020. What? No. Nooooo!
Stunned and shocked would be the common emotions I think we all felt as we learned of the recent tragic deaths of Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna, and seven others who were children, parents, and the pilot of the helicopter traveling to a basketball game out of town. A basketball game … engaging with life … something families do every weekend to allow their kids to experience the joy of the game, the thrill of the competition, and the community of other youth and parents who want to participate in sports. An everyday occurrence. If you haven’t encountered youth sports by playing it, your kids or your grandkids probably have or will.
We will for a long time remember Kobe Bryant’s basketball greatness, his dedication to excellence, and his work ethic to be the best.
Our prayers are with the Bryant family and the families of the other victims of this unspeakable tragedy.
You don’t have to be a basketball fan to appreciate the level of sadness this is. A young father and his 13 year-old daughter along with two other young teenagers and their parents and coaches … gone … in just a moment. This really hit me as a parent. How many times did I take my kids to little league games and cheerleading competitions out of town … not even thinking about the potentiality that tragedy could be just a few moments away.
“You do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.”
James 4:14
Life is a vapor … not a real happy thought for me today … but I must confront it. Maybe it takes the publicity of these kinds of awful events to get me to confront it … because it is not my natural inclination to want to do so. I’d rather shelve it. Not deal with it. But, while life is a vapor, it is certainly not meaningless.
The thought that life is a vapor propels me into making every moment count … enjoying the good gifts of God … being about Kingdom minded things and living according to the hope I profess that God is in ultimate control … for that is what I truly believe.
How does living your life knowing that we are all but a vapor change how you live it?
“I am God’s Child and I am in his hands”
I do want to live now … make it count … do something meaningful with the time I have on the earth. In times like these, when we lose a bigger-than-life figure in our culture, we think inwardly, contemplate our lives, and we consider what it means by “this world is not our home.” There is something beyond this … there is something … More.
What is that Something More?
–It is the abiding presence of God.
So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
1 John 4:16
–It is eternal life.
This is eternal life; that they may know You, the only true God, and the One You have sent—Jesus Christ.
John 17:3
–It is assurance.
Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful.
Hebrews 10:23
Gianna Bryant
John Altobelli
Keri Altobelli
Alyssa Altobelli
Christina Mauser
Sarah Chester
Payton Chester
Ara Zobayan
Real Faith Matters 
Very good message. Not only does an illness or a tragedy like Kobe’s cause you to think about how you can be here one minute and gone the other and bring one closer to God, so does being an 80+ with the health problems that crop up. You know you aren’ t going to live forever, but you don’t feel like doing things that you would like to do. You are doing well to do what you WANT to do. Just another example, and I don’t mean to be morbid; it is just a reality.
LikeLike
Certainly there are many instances, seasons, and situations in life that would cause us to consider our mortality. Perhaps we need to give it more thought as it relates to our eternity. You are so fortunate that you have had over 80 years of life … I’m sure in that 80 years there have been times to contemplate the afterlife. I think what is so hard when life is snuffed out quickly, like in this situation, is that we are reminded that we don’t get second chances. It shocks us and brings us into reality. It makes everyone stop, think, and hopefully turn to Him who gives us eternal life. That’s our great hope.
LikeLike
Kobe Bryant was a true devout believer, in that he went to Mass daily, including that morning, along with his daughter. He received communion that morning.
LikeLike