the world was not worthy

the world was not worthy

11:57pm l san francisco, ca

Right now I’m watching nonstop “September 11th” type coverage of the death of Michael Jackson dubbed the “King of Pop” and by many of the media as the “greatest entertainer of all time.” It is a very tragic, sudden and sad story of a confused and disillusioned man carrying a God-given strong destiny that was thwarted and cut short. Farrah Fawcett, named an international “sex symbol” after her pin ups broke records in the 70’s, also passed away today from a long battle with cancer. It’s somewhat hard to even find news on her flipping through the channels tonight.

The most neglected story of the day comes from the North African nation of Mauritania. I would not have even found it had not my wife stumbled upon the story this morning when browsing through the “world” section on a news website. A body from an American was found next to a heap of trash in a gutter with multiple gunshot wounds, soaked in blood. A few hours after the body was discovered, Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for the brutal slaying of “the infidel” 39-year old Christopher Ervin Leggett because of his “successful Christianizing activities.” “Erwin” had been living in Africa for 6 years with his wife and four children sowing their lives into the nation believing for the Kingdom to break through the darkness This morning he was hunted and gunned down like an animal on streets of Nouakchott by Muslim radicals filled with hate at the current breakthrough and revelation of Jesus Christ spreading throughout the land. The associated press feeding us the most important, urgent, and consuming stories of the day paid little attention to this thread and absolutely no honor to this life as they chose to use a picture heading the article of his dead body laying in the dirty and trashed filled gutter.

Hebrews speaks of “others” who died in faith, of whom “the world is not worthy”. Clearly this man joined their ranks today.

But what does the near total neglect of this major story, and the non-stop coverage of Michael Jackson’s death tell us about our media, our nation, and ourselves? What does this coverage contrast tell us about who our models and heroes are, and what our values are? These are almost rhetorical questions and painful to contemplate.

Erwin lived a life of love in light of eternity. Today he was shot dead and died alone in a gutter by the very people he was serving in love. But today he also was welcomed into glory by the great cloud of witnesses and received his reward. He was known by heaven far more than he was known on earth. His legacy will last deep into the stretches of eternity and long after the consumer pop culture mourns today and moves on tomorrow.

That’s an example worth following, even if the world is not worthy of it.

Sean Feucht
Caleb Klinge

www.burn24-7.com

ps – here is the link to the story – http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,529034,00.html