Just Grass

"As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more. But the steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him" (Ps. 103:15-17a)

My friend Tony Merida posted that this morning as his status. Yesterday was a weird day in America, we lost two pop culture icons, Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson. Also earlier in the week Ed McMahon died. Now I do not know any of these people only the personas that were out there for the world to see. I know that each had an impact on American and even world culture to some degree.

I grew up with Michael Jackson, he was just five years older than me. As a kid I was more than a little teen idol crazy, my favorite was Donny Osmond. The Osmonds and the Jackson walked parallel tracks to stardom in the 70's and were in all the same magazines. My older brother used to like to tease me by taking my Donny Osmond poster and turning it over to put Michael's face on my wall instead. When I need to smile, I pull out my Jackson Five CD and listen to ABC or I Want You Back. I remember staying up late to watch the "Thriller" video debut on Halloween night and the Pepsi commercial filming when Michael's hair caught on fire. As he got older, he got weirder. In my mind I have to attribute some of that to never really having a normal childhood of any kind and to the reported abuses by his father. He was a man with a sick heart, not physically but spritually, looking for love and acceptance in changing his appearance, spending money like it was water, remaining and child and perhaps doing unthinkable things to children. Depending on the Michael you first knew, I think your perspective on his passing is different.

My brother had "that" poster of Farrah, the one of with all her hair and teeth in that one-piece red bathing suit. We were avid watchers of Charlie's Angels. My cousins and I used to pretend we were them. Heck, I even have a picture of me and some friends doing the Charlie's Angels pose at a wedding a few years ago! She married, then divorced Lee Majors. She fought to be seen as a serious actress and not just a pretty face. She had a long, rocky, and crazy relationship with Ryan O'Neal. Three years ago, Farrah contracted malignant anal cancer. Even as a cancer survivor the sound of that just makes me cringe. In these past months especially her fight with this disease has been in the spotlight, she took cameras with her to document her journey. I didn't see the documentary, but from what I heard it was powerful and insightful and knowing the indignity of cancer treatment certainly brave.

Then there was Ed McMahon. The jovial sidekick of Johnny Carson. The host of one of the original reality show, "Star Search" and pitchman extraordinaire. For me, Ed will always be remembered as Jerry Lewis' sidekick on the MDA Labor Day telethon. Up until a few years ago, I never missed that telethon, crying through the whole thing. Ed lived to be 86 and really only in the past few years had struggled with health issues and had financial problems. Ed had a number of physical ailments at the end that took him including cancer and pneumonia.

So, like Tony posted this morning. All of us are like grass. Sometimes grass grows tall and long and dies after a long life (for grass that is). Sometimes grass gets sick and dies slowly and painfully. Sometimes grass gets burnt up quickly in a firestorm. Ed, Farrah and Michael, grass. You and me, grass. The real question is for whom did the grass live? Did they live for themselves or fame or their families or did they live for God and trust in Jesus to save them.

Today we will indulge in remembrances of those lost. Perhaps the media will get carried away (okay, they already have). It's my hope that these losses will remind us that we are all grass and we need to focus on who we are living for and how we live Jesus out and share Jesus with those around us.