It was truly a storybook season – until just seconds after the last heroic play that led to a 20-0 season for the Fennville Blackhawks in Michigan.
Wes Leonard was a star player at age sixteen. The gifted young athlete helped his team to a perfect season and even scored the winning shot that brought that exciting dream to fruition. The crowd went wild as the team and fans celebrated the amazing accomplishment. But it would all be short lived. Very short!
Leonard sent the ball through the hoop from close range with less than 30 seconds left in overtime to secure the a 57-55 victory over Bridgman High. As the teams exchanged handshakes and began scrambling to organize a team photo to commemorate their undefeated record, the 6-foot-2 inch, 215-pound player collapsed before 1,400 stunned fans. The problem was apparently an undetected enlarged heart condition which caused cardiac arrest, Despite all medical intervention, the young boy’s life came to an abrupt end the very next day.
"Thirty seconds earlier, he was laying in the winning bucket," said Ryan Klingler, the basketball coach in Fennville. And then 10 seconds later... everything's pulled out from under you, from out of nowhere." The shocked and traumatized team has decided to go on to the state tournament in memory of their fallen comrade.
There are some things that are just not natural and not supposed to happen in life. A child is not expected to experience death before his or her parents. But we live in a fallen and sinful world, and as the coach said, “This came out of nowhere”. And it is exactly for these kinds of consequences that Proverbs 27:1 wisely declares, “Do not boast about tomorrow, For you do not know what a day may bring forth.” And this truth is exactly why Paul wrote to young Timothy, “For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.” (1 Timothy 4:8)
Physical death is a painful reality – one that stems from the spiritual death all enter into at the moment of birth. That is the sad news. But there is also good news – very good news! God has made it possible for fallen and sinful man to experience both peace ‘with’ Him through salvation in Christ and peace ‘from’ Him when life turns difficult, ugly, and even unthinkably tragic.
Peace with God and forgiveness of sin is related in passages like 2 Corinthians 5:21: “For He made Him (Christ) who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him". And in 1 John 1:6-7 we read, “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”
Then for those who have trusted in Christ’s atoning sacrifice and finished work on the cross, there is made available through His indwelling Holt Spirit a special and unique peace only attainable for a true believer to tap into. Paul speaks of that in his letter to the Philippians in chapter four. He states there: “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus". (Philippians 4:6-7)
Life can be hard, and sometimes very hard. It certainly is that today for the family and close friends of Wes Leonard. But for those who are ‘in Christ’ there are positive and life-altering promises of comfort, power and peace that the world cannot know or experience. This supernatural ability can make all the difference in this world and the life to follow. Jesus explained it this way prior to His departure as He spoke of His soon arriving replacement in the person of the Holy Spirit.
“And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever - the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.” (John 14:16-18)
Bill Breckenridge
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