Influence of a life

Today is Easter Monday, a national holiday in France. After a couple of busy weekends in a row, it's nice to have a calmer day at home.

While skimming the Internet, I noticed this morning the recent deaths of 2 brothers in Christ.

The first was of Darryl Stingley, the former wide receiver for the New England Patriots who was paralyzed at age 26 in 1977 after a vicious hit by Jack Tatum of the Oakland Raiders. For the last 30 years, he lived as a quadraplegic.

Tatum never publicly asked for forgiveness of Stingley for injuring him. In fact, the only time that he formally sought reconciliation with Stingly, it seemed like it was only to promote a book about himself and his reputation as a tough player. Despite this lack of reconciliation, Stingley seemed to have forgiven Tatum and come to peace about the situation.

In 2003, when he learned of that Tatum had part of his leg amputated in 2003 because of diabetes, Stingley told the Boston Globe:

Maybe the natural reaction is to think he got what was coming to him,
but I don't accept human nature as our real nature. Human nature teaches us to
hate. God teaches us to love.

I feel for him in that situation. ... It was like the situation between
us coming full circle. I know how that will change his life forever. ... Now
[Tatum] has a cross to bear. I just hope maybe it will open his
heart.

The Veggie Tales story Little Joe tells the story of Joseph and his brothers and the need to forgive. Through Stingley's positive attitude during the last 30 years of life after his injury, he probably marked the world in a greater way than he would have as just a great receiver.

The other death was of cartoonist Johnny Hart, the creator of B.C. about a caveman. His award winning cartoon appeared in more than 1,300 newspapers worldwide. He died of a stroke at age 76 at his favorite place: his storyboard.

Later in his career, some of his cartoons had contained religious themes reflecting his own Christian faith. An artist who is Christian doesn't have to have every piece art contain a dove or cross or blatantly Christian symbol. However, when one does look at the whole of one's work over the years, then that artist's Christian worldview should come through one's painting, sculpting, writing, acting, etc.

Like fellow believer Charles Schultz's cartoons in Peanuts, he influence the world through his art of cartooning.