Rick and Bubba

As you all know by now, Rick Burgess' (of The Rick and Bubba radio show) 2-year-old son Bronner drowned over the weekend. If you've ever listened to the show, you may have heard him refer to Bronner as "Cornbread." I hope you have been able to tune in at least partially to The Rick and Bubba Show (it's on for 4 hours every morning!) over the last couple of days as I think it would have blessed your heart. Plumberboy and I set an alarm for 5:55 AM Monday morning since we knew "Bubba" Bussey was planning to be on air as scheduled. Man, I cannot tell you what a blessing it was to us as we laid there and listened, cried, prayed, and worshipped with others in the body of Christ via their show. These have been the most amazing radio broadcasts I've ever heard as they have used this tragic event as a platform to PRAISE AND WORSHIP GOD AND HIS SON JESUS as well as spread THE GOOD NEWS OF JESUS CHRIST. I truly count it a privilege to listen to The Rick and Bubba Show. From Bubba to James Spann to Scott Dawson, these folks are representing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in such a way that will surely garner a "Well done, thy good and faithful servant."

As for the Burgess family--in as much as the public can percieve their actions at this time--they are a blueprint for how Christians should deal with tragedy (and is there any greater tragedy than the loss of a child? Nonetheless, God understands this pain as He lost a Son as well.) They have risen to every occasion and completely flipped this situation from something meant for harm to something for God's glory. They are fighting the good fight. It's an amazing grace, peace that surpasses all understanding kind of thing. I think some people might be almost offended by their transparency. With their permission, Bubba has been very open about what happened and Scott Dawson (who was with Rick when he got that dreaded call from home) has even discussed the details of Rick's reaction to the tragic news. I do not believe one ounce of this is for ratings or anything other than God's glory and to fulfill The Great Commission. In case you missed it, Bubba prayed (in Jesus' name of course) on the air for an entire segment yesterday and verbalized a prayer that all the folks on the show would "get out of the way and let God do His thing." What a spirit-filled broadcast! They are reaching 50+ cities through the show and Bubba was even on Fox News' Fox and Friends this morning and laid it out there for the entire nation to hear. There is just so much I can't even cover it all here. Truly, truly...Praise the Lord!

The memorial service for "Cornbread" is today at 2 PM and Rick is expected to speak. They have opened this to the public and will even broadcast it on their website at some point. Again, this is at the family's request because they want to spread the good news of Jesus! My prayer is God will protect, comfort, and uphold the Burgess family and those personally affected by Bronner's death at this time.

From the get-go, I think everyone has wanted to know what they could do to help the Burgess family. While they are accepting flowers (the Birmingham area florists don't know where they will put all the orders they have for the Burgess family!) and have even set up a memorial missions fund in Bronner's name, they have specifically stated that the only thing they desire to honor Bronner is for His people to share the good news of Jesus. So in keeping with that, I want to lay out what faith in Jesus even has to do with this situation in the first place. I think there is somewhat of a misconception (albeit an understandable misconception) that somehow Christians are immune from situations like this. It seems that if there was any justice at all in this world, "Godly" families like the Burgesses wouldn't suffer this kind of loss. There's also the tendency (myself totally 100% included) to ask why wasn't the pool covered? Why didn't she set the alarm so the kids couldn't get out? Why didn't she wait until they went to bed to shower? Here's what I think about that and I'm speaking from the heart. I'm a safety-freak (some even rightly say "paranoid") and I'm with my kids about 99% of the time they aren't in school. STILL, there are times that, but by the grace of God, this wasn't us. There's just no way to 100% guarantee against an untimely death. In fact, until Jesus physically returns to earth, there is no way to avoid death at some point. So this is why we need Jesus. We need to know that there is so much more than this passing life. We need to know that Jesus has made everything all right. It's so, so, so very easy...all you have to do is first admit that there is indeed a God. To quote James Spann... you believe in the air/oxygen we breathe but you don't see it. (If we are all believing in a fairy tale, how are hundreds of thousands of us uniting in our reaction to this tragedy? We can't even agree on a presidential candidate!) Next you have to admit you are a sinner as we are all sinners, all having fallen short of the glory of God. (Does anyone really feel like they are 100% in line with righteousness?) You have to acknowledge that in the ULTIMATE ACT OF SACRIFICE, God sent Jesus down from Heaven to live life as a human then eventually yield (willing give) His life on a wretched cross. He then died a physical death, most likely went to Hell and kicked butt, and then physically rose again on the 3rd day to conquer the grave. In other words, if you believe this, there's nothing that can touch you! You can be afraid of the way you meet your end (I know I am though I shouldn't be!) but there's nothing to fear on the "other side"! They even discussed on Rick and Bubba today that they all have a sense of peace that one of God's agents (an angel or maybe Jesus Himself?) took Bronner right out of that pool and lead him home. I have had other personal experiences that maybe someday I can share that lead me to believe the Holy Spirit has revealed this to them. Anyway, without veering off point too much... I just want everyone who ever reads these words (today, tomorrow, in 10 years when they google "Rick and Bubba") to know that this freedom can be yours too! This applies to me, you, Billy Graham, Osama Bin Laden, and so on. It applies to everyone. You just have to acknowledge, beg, and then accept God's free gift. If you've done that today, let me know so I can rejoice with the angels. And live your life today for God's kingdom with His blessed assurance! We are weak but He is strong!

"Since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity so that by His death He might destroy him who holds the power of death--that is, the devil--and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death." Hebrews 2:14-15

Jesus said "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." John 16:33

One last thought: When thinking about the Burgess family tragedy and some things that have happened in my own life, I think it is safe to assume that all of us would do absolutely anything to keep our kids safe, to keep them from dying. How great is the Father's love for us that He could have stopped His own son from hurting, from dying, with the wave of His hand or the blink of His eye yet He did not for our sake. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!