“I am leaving you with a gift—peace of
mind and heart. And the peace I give is
a gift the world cannot give. So don’t
be troubled or afraid. John 14:27 (NLT)
In
the world of professional sports nothing much surprises me anymore. Donald and Shelly Sterling have owned the
L.A. Clippers basketball team since 1981 when they bought the franchise for
about $12 million. They’ve found a buyer
for $2 billion….TWO BILLION! That’s
like, two-thousand million.
I’m
just about speechless! (Nobody at our
church would believe that).
It’s
not that a group of buyers are willing to pay that much. The cost of a sports franchise reaching nine
zeros goes along with the big business genus; big business costs big bucks. What I have a hard time getting my mind
around is how the sports and financial business is so much bigger in all this than
integrity and fidelity.
Consider
what started the firestorm that is the Sterling-NBA headline squabble: Donald Sterling was recorded uttering racial
slurs in a (supposedly) private conversation with an African American woman he
was pursuing.
Sterling,
a white, lawyer-billionaire who has little respect for his players (who are
mostly African-American), was cheating on his wife, chasing a black woman whose
integrity was tied to a digital recorder.
The National Basketball Association was pushing to get the Sterlings out
of ownership while the Sterlings threatened lawsuits.
So, there you have it, Los Angeles drama at
its finest: sex, racism, legal
posturing, money and headlines.
Where is Integrity? Where is Fidelity? Where is Respect?
Or it just big business, power and unrestrained hedonism?
Sounds
like the rarefied air of the fast-lane version of the American dream is more
nightmare than sugar plums.
Where
is peace of heart, soul and mind in any of that? Answer…absent!
By
contrast, Jesus did not stutter when he told the disciples that the
world (and all of its riches, power and fame) cannot give you a
single cubit of peace. But his gift is genuine
peace; it’s a heart that is calm and a mind that is opened to life
abundant.
And
the fact that God’s gift of free will to us allows us to choose what we will
pursue in life sets-up the Garden of Eden all over again for each of us. What will it be? Shall we respond like mesmerized sailors to
the siren calls of the mermaids of modern culture, where you’re promised
bigger, better, more and more…all you ever wanted or dreamed of?
Or
does your inner being require something more substantial?
For You, Today…
There’s
a better gift for you waiting in the wings; peace He gives!
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