MICHAEL JACKSON

Michael Jackson died last week. So did Farrah Fawcett, Dave (the television sales guy), Steve McNair, and a whole lot of less famous people. By the media attention, you would clearly think that Michael's passing was the most significant. Not everyone, though. We took a group of kids from the church to a professional baseball game and when Michael Jackson's image was flashed on the big screen on the scoreboard, a 10-year old girl asked, "Who is Michael Jackson?"

Michael Jackson was part of my youth. I still remember when this diminutive singing and dancing dynamo burst on the stage belting out, "I Want You Back!" while his older (and much taller) siblings sang back up. Michael's heartfelt, "I'll Be There" stayed on my personal top 40 for a very long time.

I confess that when he began trying new musical styles and entered his androgynous stage, I pretty much lost interest in him. The one time I paid attention was when he moonwalked his way through "Thriller." But then he descended into the narcissism and self-indulgence that many with too much money and too few boundaries claim. And when he turned Wonderland into a disturbing testimony to "child love", I was through with him. I am still bewildered by the adulation heaped upon him. There are MANY wonderful African-American artists who pioneered minority acceptance in a white music world. And his resistance to a responsible moral compass sent many an inappropriate message to young people of all races.

Michael's passing, however, reminds me that I should not dwell on an assessment of him. The final verdict on his life has already been decided by his Maker and Judge.
As a Christian, I need to remember that I have an obligation to be judging myself. I am responsible for being faithful to the values and will of my Heavenly Father. And I am responsible to live in such a way that my influence is clear and correct about what a life transformed by God truly means. For I, too, will someday stand before my Maker and Judge.