Coming Back to "Reality"

I just returned yesterday from leading a group tour to Israel. It was an amazing experience, and even though this was my seventh time, I never cease to learn and to experience wonder while there. One thing we all commented on was the chance to take it in, to study our Bibles along the way, and to talk about so much without the intrusions of pop culture or the news.

Then we flew home.

On our flight, we had our choice of a few hundred movies, TV shows, video games, or a moving map of our plane's route on our personal screens.

At the Atlanta airport, we watched a tearful governor confess that he may have run on family values, but he didn't live them. Surprise--a national profile, plus stupid (not to mention immoral) behavior, will indeed destroy your career aspirations, at least if you are trying to appeal to those who believe in morality. If not, don't worry (think Bill Clinton)unless you break the law (think Eliot Spitzer).

Getting home, I checked my email and my home page news was in mourning over the death of Farrah Fawcett. Her ubiquitous poster and once universal hairstyle notwithstanding, she was not one of our great actresses, she was a celebrity.

Then last night, Michael Jackson's death shocked us all--especially those who, like me, remember his trifecta of hits that dominated pop music--Billie Jean, Thriller, and Beat It, all from the Thriller album of 1982. They were the soundtrack of the early 80s, and that doesn't seem so long ago to me. The media is going into the same hagiographic mode it did when another musical king, Elvis Presley, died (I remember that, too). Both were stars whose time had passed and were trying to recapture their lost glory. In death, Presley became bigger than he was when he died. Jackson will probably do the same.

But as I think about this today, I wonder if life was better during those days when we were in Israel thinking about the flow of God's plan through history, instead of being inundated with commentary about people and events at a level that far exceed their importance. I don't want to get caught up in all the "drama" people seem intent on creating about these things, or acting as if I am overly connected to them (look at all the Twitter and Facebook postings of people who never saw "Charlie's Angels" about Farrah, or those who go on and on about Michael Jackson but never paid much attention to his music, only his rather strange and malleable public persona over the years).

Politicians' failures should be a reminder (and an encouragement) that our trust is not in people, but in God who rules the affairs (no pun intended) of men. The death of celebrities reminds us that the applause of people does not make anyone immortal, and whatever is achieved in this life will be measured by an eternal standard. And when someone whose life has been so much larger than life passes away, we should remember that he, she, and all of us will stand before the righteous judge, and either be vindicated by the righteousness of Jesus Christ, or condemned by our own unrighteousness.

Let current events be reminders, or signposts, pointing us to the paths of biblical truth.

"Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things (Phil. 4:8)."