Michael Jackson--A Sad Man

I just got back from the gym where every television is showing Michael Jackson's funeral service. At first I tried to avoid watching as I wondered why there was such a global fuss and every network had to run the same thing--as if there was nothing of greater importance going on in our world. BUT...

Eventually I needed to get on the elliptical machine. Because I had nothing else to do as I puffed away putting my heart and body through it's needed torture, Iput on my earphones and listened and watched. It was at this point that my heart softened and I began to think of this sad man.

According to his own words, he was beaten severely as a child. That itself makes me so sad. As a sensitive and highly talented artist, you can imagine the emotional pain he suffered and the feelings of rejection he struggled with, even to the extent of rejecting his own color and face.

What the truth is about the charges against him of child sexual abuse no one knows, but the desire for love seemed like a huge sucking vacuum in his life. For all the fame, adulation, money and success, Michael Jackson died a sad man, addicted to drugs, with a mind and body that seemed unable to relax and sleep or enjoy all the good things that come without cost.

If only he had heard and experienced, on a deep, inner level, the invitation and promise Jesus gives: "Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest" Matt.11:28.