My Friend Bob Hostetler posted this to his blog today and I thought it was really worth posting as a memorial to a great man. Shame on the Washington Post for a headline that totally ignored the last 40 years of the man’s life. There is a hideous double standard in the media which should not be tolerated. Chuck Colson did some dumb things in his political career, and then he met Jesus and devoted the rest of his life to making a difference and he did.
Dave Weiss has done a LOT of dumb things in his life and my prayer is that I too will leave the legacy of a changed life, like Colson did. Meeting Jesus SHOULD do that in us all!
Here’s Bob Hostetler’s post…
‘An Army of Colsons
Charles Colson died today.
The Washington Post shamefully headlined his obituary, “Charles Colson, Nixon’s ‘dirty tricks’ man, dies at 80.” The headline ignored nearly forty years of the man’s inspirational and influential life since he committed crimes related to the Watergate scandal. He became a follower of Jesus, pleaded guilty, and after serving a prison term, started Prison Fellowship, a ministry to prisoners and others around the world. Colson turned his biggest failure into a God-glorifying triumph that changed the lives of many.
What if everyone did that? What if, say, starting now, every one of us took our most miserable, humiliating failure in life as an opportunity for God to do through us what he did through Charles Colson? What if everyone who has ever served time ministered to those who are serving time? What if every shattered marriage produced a person who is passionate about preventing or healing shattered marriages? What if every recovered addict became a rescuer of other addicts? What if every person whose pride, bitterness, or gossip has ever split a church devoted himself or herself to preserving and restoring unity in the church?
What if my greatest failure is what God wants to use to bring about glory for himself and blessing for me? What if your greatest disappointment in life is something God longs to use? What if God unleashed hundreds–or thousands–of Charles Colsons on this earth?
Or even just…one more?
