O' Wrecking Ball, Where is Your Sting?

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I haven't listened to Bruce Springsteen's song "Wrecking Ball" since Clarence Clemon's death, and today I listened to it in an entirely different light.  The song was written for the final shows at Giant's Stadium which I had written about in a previous blog* The song personifies the stadium telling the wrecking crew to bring it on! The song also is an allegory for the aging process and ultimately death. Bruce had just turned 60 and was defying death itself, saying, "Bring it on!"  Although I admire the Boss's zeal, I could not help to think today that the wrecking ball came to E Street, and there was nothing anyone could do to stop it--not even the Legendary E Street Band.  I am not at all trying to be callous or flippant--this is serious.  I cried a lot the week the Big Man went home, and I did not even know him personally.  However, death is inevitable and is part of life even if you think that someone is "too f___ing big to die."*  BUT, the good news is there is a way we can defy death and sing, "Bring on Your Wrecking Ball!"  There is a section in Clarence's book, Big Man and Tall Tales where a store clerk in Hawaii asks Clarence, "Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior?" Clarence repsonds with a difinitive "Yes!"  For me, this is Clarence's wink to me that all is OK.  Death is excruciating, and the most painful element we face in life, and if God chose to leave us in the dark about it all, I would consider God to be a cruel prankster.  But He does not leave us in the dark.  One of the missions of Jesus was to "bring light and immortality to life."  In other words, through the gospel of Jesus Christ, God is bringing us comfort and hope during the most painful trial in life.  He wants us to know something great lies beyond the grave.  He wants us to know that the pain of separation is temporary; He wants us to know that His grace and mercy is available during our darkest hour.  Here is the entire verse: "This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, 10 but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel."  (2 Timothy 1) Jesus Christ destroyed death, Jesus Christ died voluntarily, Jesus Christ said, "Bring on Your Wrecking Ball, and only Jesus Christ was too f____ing big to die "because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him." (Acts 2:23), and the good news is that all who believe in Jesus Christ have eternal life. 1 Corinthians 15 tells us that death has lost its sting and the grave its victory calling death, the final enemy, and Jesus defied death and defeated it once for all, and because of that I can say, "Bring on your wrecking ball!"
*see blog from 2009 "My Jersey Roots"

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