Wednesday, September 4, 2002
Wednesday, September 4, 2002
But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many
senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.
Stephen Foster never intended to have his life end like
that. Nobody ever does. It rarely happens in a big gulp, but with
tiny nibbles. But the nibbles are deadly. One of the most
important prayers many of us could pray is "Lead us not into
temptation." Not that God ever does tempt us to do evil. Matthew
helps us here again by adding, "And deliver us from evil..." In
other words, "don't even let us near where sin lurks!"
May we all fee the temptations of alcohol and the other temptations of life.
(1 Timothy
6.9
NRSV)
The year was 1864. A man living on the street with a slashed throat
was brought into Bellevue Hospital in New York city. The man was
unable to recover from his injury because of a body weakened by
excessive alcoholism. He had a fever. He suffered intense pain
from the laceration on his throat. He lost a great deal of
blood. He was suffering from malnutrition. He survived for
several days until finally he died at the age of thirty-eight.
He died with only thirty-eight cents in his pocket. As the story
unfolded, however, they discovered that this was not just another
street person. He had been well known all over America, famous for
his songs. He had charmed America into singing "De Camptown
Races," "Oh! Susanna," "Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair," "My
Old Kentucky Home," and hundreds more. His name was Stephen C.
Foster. But on that cold wintry night in New York City, in 1864,
he died, leaving behind the legacy of a wasted life.
Dear God, please guard me from the destructive temptations of this world. Amen.
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