Seven Others

The Bible says in James chapter 4, “For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.” What a vivid picture of how quickly life can appear and then be gone in a moment. Like the steam coming off a pot on the stove, it forms then it disappears.

This verse was brought home to the whole world again this past Sunday. As we came home from lunch after church, Courtney begin to scroll through her Facebook and she said, “you are not going to believe it, Kobe Bryant was killed in a helicopter crash.” Of course, hearing this I begin to say to her, “no way, let me fact check before we get to far into this.” And of course, it was true.

So I turned on the news and sure enough, there was the crash scene front and center of our screen. What unfolded was tragic as we found out that not only was Kobe killed but also, His second-oldest daughter, Gianna “Gigi” Bryant, was also killed in the crash. She was 13 years old.

Then we learned from the reporters that there were also “7 others” killed as well. Did you catch that, here is how it went that day and every day since then – Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gigi along with seven others were tragically killed in the helicopter crash. Seven others. I hear it over and over on ESPN and the news, tragic death of Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gigi and seven others.

Don’t get me wrong, the world knows Kobe and as a result, he will get the lead when the names are mentioned. He had a large platform as one of the greatest basketball players of all time and even in retirement as speaker, coach, and businessman. The whole world knew Kobe. Even if you didn’t know Kobe, you felt like you knew him. That is how my Wednesday Bible study group we call Biscuits and Bibles felt as we talked about what had happened.

For those group of young men, they had grown up watching Kobe play, seeing him as an idol and someone to look up to as a person and a player. It hit them hard to be honest. They were blown away that he was gone. They were also blown away by how they felt and the way it made them look at their life. They were reminded that life is short just like their parents had been trying to tell them.

All of this is true. His death and that of his daughter was tragic and it even impacted me as I thought more of his role as a girl dad (his words) and the love he had for his girls, seeing as I am a very proud girl dad myself. I thought of his last measure of love was no doubt somehow trying to shelter his daughter and holding her close in their last moments on this earth.

But I cannot get away from the phrase – seven others. The other individuals that also tragically lost their lives in that crash. In many news reports, we have not even heard their names. They are just the seven others. But let’s pause for a moment and remember that they were not just “others” they were people, people with families, people with life to live, people who also made a difference and people who will also be deeply missed by their families.

It got me to thinking about all the others. On that very day of the crash, there were also others who died all over our nation, in big cities and small towns; older folks and babies; people of all colors and all backgrounds. Others. People that will be missed, people who made a difference and people that left their mark.

The seven others, even not known to the world, were most certainly known in “their” world. For instance, in her blog about these individuals, Missy Snapp (Snappshots.com) shares:

Christina Mauser was a 38-year-old assistant coach with a husband, Matt, and 3 children, ages 3, 9, and 11, at home. They knew their mom was leaving. They knew when she’d be coming home. And now they know a completely different set of facts that they can’t untangle or climb out from under. They miss their mom. She wasn’t known by the world. But she was their world.

Sarah and Payton Chester were a mom and daughter duo, with two teen boys and a Mr. Chester that also expected to get some texts about how the tournament went. Maybe some pictures. And an ETA about when they were headed back to Newport Beach.

The pilot, Ara Zobayan, was highly trained. Highly trustworthy. Highly requested by celebrities. But no one is immune to zero visibility. Sometimes the weather takes no prisoners. So little has been said about the pilot, but he had a family, too. A tribe that would trade anything to have him back.

And then there was the Altobelli family. John, Keri, and Alyssa. A community college baseball coach, and his wife, accompanying their 13-year-old daughter to her game with Kobe Bryant’s more famous daughter. When I read about them, I closed my eyes and wished with all my heart for Alyssa to be an only child. Because this was 3 family members going down on the same helicopter.
Alyssa was not an only child.

She had a sister named Lexi, who probably had things to do on a Sunday, and a grown brother working for the Red Sox in Boston. Lexi is in high school. Old enough to stay alone in the house for a time. Old enough to drive herself around. But nowhere near old enough to be an orphan. To lose her sister. To be alone in a house where her family should be. This story made me cry. I’m going to pray for Lexi Altobelli until I forget her name. I hope I never forget her name.

Here they are. The Seven Others. More than just a phrase, actual people. People who impacted their world, just like we all do one way or another.

So, what is the takeaway for me as I think about these lives and the truth of the Bible being lived out before our very eyes.

A couple of things:

• You do not have to have a large platform to make a large impact, just ask all the families of this tragedy. We all can make a difference every day of our life.
• We never know what a day will bring and so we must not just count our days as the writer of Psalms says, we must also make our days count.
• We are not to live in fear, but we are to live in faith, seeking to honor our Lord in every way for every day.
• The gospel I say I believe is not just true but vital. All of those who died in the crash and all the folks that die every day, are living somewhere in eternity right now. The gospel tells me that only through Jesus Christ can I be saved and go to heaven and escape eternity in hell.
• We must make that decisions while we live and cannot wait until our death.
• We can know for sure where will spend eternity and if we don’t know, we need to know before it is too late. As Johnny Hunt has said often, eternity is too long to be wrong.
• We need to not only show the love of Christ to every person but we must share the love of Jesus to every person knowing that this life we live is not all there is and every person we know or meet have an eternal destiny and need to know the hope and love of Jesus.

The bible says, it is better for us to go to the house of mourning instead of the house of feasting, because the living takes it to heart. In other words, we are better off if we go to a funeral than a party, but at a funeral we think about our own life and our own mortality.

That is what has happened to us all this week. Not just because of Kobe and his daughter Gigi, but also because of the seven others.

God help us to live out our days with eternity in mind. God help us to hold our loved ones close, tell them we love them, forgive them or ask for forgiveness and do whatever we need to do today, because we are not promised tomorrow.

Your life may never reach the status and stage of a Kobe, but that is ok. One thing about it, he used his stage for good. All of us have a stage, all of us have a platform. The question is, are you using yours for good or for yourself.

Remember, you don’t have to have a large life to have a blessed life and you don’t have to be known by the world to make a difference in your world.

God help us all to go live our life and be ready for the next one. Even if you just an “other.”

Pastor Michael