Change of Pace

True to the title, this post won't have any splashes of randomness to make you smile but it's what's on my heart right now so I'm running with it...

The clip above is from the 1994 UA-UGA game, which is very special in my heart. I have a lot of good memories from that game. It's the first night game at BDS I remember (not saying it was the first, just the farthest back I can recall in my increasingly senile brain) and of course that game always makes me think of one of my good buddies from high school, the first real live Georgia fan I ever met. It was such a great game... great atmosphere, great competition, and ultimately a great outcome. In fact, until the game with Florida in 2005, this was the standard by which I measured all UA home games.

But what really sticks out in my mind when I think of that game is one of our tailgatin' buddies. He wasn't really a friend of mine seeing as he was a lot older than me (everyone was since I was, uhhh, in high school) but he usually hung out with our group before games. I remember him being around more often than not. He was definitely at this game and I remember his spiffy white Alabama shoes and smiling face as we passed him standing by a tree at Central High on our way to the stadium. I'm sure we exchanged "Roll Tides!" and went on our way, not knowing what a great game we were all about to experience. What we also didn't know was that it was the last Alabama game this guy would ever experience. He was shot to death two days later during a robbery. It's been 13 years and I still think about him sometimes when we walk past that tree. You see, this guy was on-duty as a police officer when he was killed... we knew him because my dad and all the folks we tailgated with were cops. His death hit me hard because it was really one of the few times that I had to face the dangerous reality of my dad's job (9/11/01 is one of the others but he had retired by then). It was also such a tragic situation: young son, pregnant wife, completely unnecessary situation. The shooter had gotten away; he turned around and shot this guy instead of just running. He died from AIDS a few years later in prison. I pray someone learned from his wasted life.

So as I sit here on a dreary day, thinking about this guy and that game while reading updates from our family friend whose 4-year-old son suffers from a rare and aggressive cancer, it reminds me how precarious life is... precarious at best. I could be screaming my guts out at an awesome football game tomorrow and dead the next. But you see, I'm fine with that because I know Jesus and His truth will set you free. And I'm telling you, if I didn't know Jesus, I don't think I could go on in this crazy world. It's my prayer that you know Him too...

PS-- Even though Jesus is the BEST NEWS EVER, there's some happy randomness above but obviously you've probably read them already since you're now here. Sorry, I couldn't get blogger to post these in "right" order.