The BoormanBlog

Just heard that Tammy Faye Messner passed away yesterday of lung cancer. I just finished watching her last interview on Larry King two days before her death. I didn’t recognize her. My first thought was just simply “My God. I didn’t know a person could look that terrible”. She was, understandably, a visual wreck. Her weight was down to 65 pounds. Her voice little more than a rasp.

As the interview progressed, however, I noticed that her hair was done up, she had makeup on, as well as a necklace and a large ring. In other words, she still presented herself like she gave a damn. Though she could barely talk, she still cracked jokes, she still laughed. She still expressed affection for her new husband.

She was still fighting, less than 48 hours from the end. Not that she knew it. Tammy made it very clear that she didn’t have any predetermined expiration date. A great point for all of us. None of us know how much time we have. Some of us who are sick may have a great deal more time than we think. Some of us who are healthy and strong may have much less time than we think.

What impacted me most about Tammy’s last interview is her unshakeable faith in God, mentioning Jesus Christ by name (can they do that on CNN?). She stressed salvation by accepting Christ as one’s personal savior. Brave words.

It would be easy to dismiss Tammy Faye as just another disgraced televangelist who was in it for the money. The scandal. The mascara. The reality show. Just another punchline. It would be easy for Tammy to ditch “that whole God thing” after she left Jim Baker. However, Tammy’s reaffirmation of Jesus as her savior showed that she was no punchline.

There are many charlitains in every industry, and the ministry is no exception. In my book, if Tammy can still profess faith in God after the PTL scandal, the mistreatment at the hands of the media, and finally, a years long battle with cancer, then that faith is real in my book.

I suppose this is the part where the wiserthanhisyears blogger says something Hallmark like “Live every day as if it were your last”. Foolish, if you ask me. In my opinion if you live today like it was your last, it very well could be. If not, you may wish it was. So I’ll just say “Don’t waste the day”. Each day is a gift from God, but each day is a separate gift. Different gifts were meant for different ends. Some for work, some for play. Some for planning, some for doing.

Tomorrow I’m going to do some work, straighten up my new place, and have a meal with my family. I’m going to enjoy all of it.

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 21st, 2007 at 12:48 am and is filed under Miscellaneous mumblings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.