Tuesday began like every other day of the week and it turned out to be extremely productive. In fact I was almost to the point of being proud of myself for all that I had gotten accomplished in a single day. As I was packing up my things for the day to head home I decided to check the news headlines at CNN.com. About halfway down the page I saw the title “Bandit star Reed dead at 71.”
To most people this would have hardly even given cause for a second glance, but to me it was something so much more. Jerry Reed was the co-star of my favorite movie of all time, “Smokey and The Bandit.” I do not argue that the movie is great movie, by all rights it is not. It is filled with foul language and makes a mockery of police officers, neither of which I approve of. But the movie holds a special place in my heart.
When I was five years old my parents took me to see this movie while we were on vacation in Knoxville, TN. It was my first movie in an actual cinema. The images on the screen were captivating; the fast car, the big rig, and a hero (The Bandit) that no police officer could catch and whom every man, woman and child found to be awe inspiring. The Bandit’s sidekick was Cletus “Snowman” Snow. He was the one who drove the big eighteen wheeler with the stage coach robbery scene painted on the side of it. He was the faithful partner, the trusted ally, who stuck by Bandit “for the money, for the glory, and for the fun – mostly for the money!”
In my eyes the two of them made up a duo to stand the tests of time. Like The Lone Ranger and Tonto, Batman and Robin, Fred and Ginger, or Lester and Earl. And even though I knew as a young boy it would be impossible to be them when I grew up, their fearlessness and flair for adventure would captivate my mind for years to come.
So to look on the computer screen and read that one of my childhood heroes had died took a little wind out of my sails. On Saturday I turned 36 years old. Still very young in everyone’s eyes but the teenagers. Still, old enough to face one fact; I must now watch all of my heroes from childhood die. That is, if the usual progress of life carries out I will have to watch everyone of the people that I have looked up to in my life pass away.
It is a very sobering thought and a very present reminder that life is brief and no one is exempt from the day that God will call them into his presence and our time on earth will be finished.
As I made the very short stroll home from my office to the parsonage on Tuesday I was reflecting on the passing of Jerry Reed and my upcoming sermon series that I have not yet put a title on. My aim is to spend the next several weeks looking at Jesus Christ and the picture that the Scriptures display of him for us.
A picture of God coming to earth in the form of a little baby. Taking on human flesh and growing up in the midst of a people that he himself created in his likeness. Living with and teaching men and women who were so sinful that they did not deserve to walk in his presence and then giving up his life on a rugged cross for the payment of my sins. Another hero placed in the grave far too soon.
This story, however, has no sorrowful conclusion, because the grave had no power over the sinless man that was laid in it and three days after his crucified body was wrapped in burial clothes and placed in the cold damp tomb God spoke life giving words to him and what once was completely lifeless took on new and everlasting life! And walking out of the tomb early on the first day of the week Jesus took his stand forevermore as a hero – my hero – who will never die again.
Seeking The Greatness of Christ With You Daily,
Pastor Mitch
To most people this would have hardly even given cause for a second glance, but to me it was something so much more. Jerry Reed was the co-star of my favorite movie of all time, “Smokey and The Bandit.” I do not argue that the movie is great movie, by all rights it is not. It is filled with foul language and makes a mockery of police officers, neither of which I approve of. But the movie holds a special place in my heart.
When I was five years old my parents took me to see this movie while we were on vacation in Knoxville, TN. It was my first movie in an actual cinema. The images on the screen were captivating; the fast car, the big rig, and a hero (The Bandit) that no police officer could catch and whom every man, woman and child found to be awe inspiring. The Bandit’s sidekick was Cletus “Snowman” Snow. He was the one who drove the big eighteen wheeler with the stage coach robbery scene painted on the side of it. He was the faithful partner, the trusted ally, who stuck by Bandit “for the money, for the glory, and for the fun – mostly for the money!”
In my eyes the two of them made up a duo to stand the tests of time. Like The Lone Ranger and Tonto, Batman and Robin, Fred and Ginger, or Lester and Earl. And even though I knew as a young boy it would be impossible to be them when I grew up, their fearlessness and flair for adventure would captivate my mind for years to come.
So to look on the computer screen and read that one of my childhood heroes had died took a little wind out of my sails. On Saturday I turned 36 years old. Still very young in everyone’s eyes but the teenagers. Still, old enough to face one fact; I must now watch all of my heroes from childhood die. That is, if the usual progress of life carries out I will have to watch everyone of the people that I have looked up to in my life pass away.
It is a very sobering thought and a very present reminder that life is brief and no one is exempt from the day that God will call them into his presence and our time on earth will be finished.
As I made the very short stroll home from my office to the parsonage on Tuesday I was reflecting on the passing of Jerry Reed and my upcoming sermon series that I have not yet put a title on. My aim is to spend the next several weeks looking at Jesus Christ and the picture that the Scriptures display of him for us.
A picture of God coming to earth in the form of a little baby. Taking on human flesh and growing up in the midst of a people that he himself created in his likeness. Living with and teaching men and women who were so sinful that they did not deserve to walk in his presence and then giving up his life on a rugged cross for the payment of my sins. Another hero placed in the grave far too soon.
This story, however, has no sorrowful conclusion, because the grave had no power over the sinless man that was laid in it and three days after his crucified body was wrapped in burial clothes and placed in the cold damp tomb God spoke life giving words to him and what once was completely lifeless took on new and everlasting life! And walking out of the tomb early on the first day of the week Jesus took his stand forevermore as a hero – my hero – who will never die again.
Seeking The Greatness of Christ With You Daily,
Pastor Mitch
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