Blazing Glory!

      Do you remember Bon Jovi’s phenomenal song, Blaze of Glory? The crack of the snare, followed by Bon Jovi’s explosively rich, gravely vocals screaming with deep conviction, “I’m goin’ down in a blaze of glory!” The song intimates the passionate fire burning in each human heart yearning to leave behind some heroic legacy bespeaking our courageous impact in the world.

      In our culture, success carries weighty connotation. “Climbing the ladder of success” entails a variety of meanings, the most familiar one - “Living the American Dream!” Richard Stearns (author of The H0le in Our Gospel) acquired a position with Lenox, Inc. as president and CEO, the consummation of his vocational endeavors.      Surrounded with the ornamentation of corporate success, it was then, at the very pinnacle of his career, God’s call on his life came. A phone conversation in January 1998 threw Stearns into what he terms his “dark night of the soul” (see pages 28-36). During the momentous inner turmoil, one jarring question captured his thoughts: “What if my cowardice costs even one child somewhere in the world his or her life?”

      When we say that we want to be Jesus’ disciple, are we willing to be open to God’s will for our life? Hear the penetrating words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” If we are willing to break through the cowardice and desire to end the silence, Frederick Buechner offers this encouragement: “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”

     If the world portrays Richard Stearns as plunging from the zenith of success to accept God’s call, then Christ’s Spirit proclaims with deep conviction, “He’s goin’ down in a blaze of glory!” Our most courageous, heroic act is our willingness to follow Christ. For those whose lives we touch, they will experience the blazing glory of God’s compassionate grace and forgiveness - of God’s blazing glory found only in Christ. Join us as we journey through the H0le in our Gospel.

Jeff