Tim Russert and the Fruit of Character

Greetings…

Just a few thoughts.

I didn’t know or ever meet Tim Russert, the NBC host of Meet the Press, who died last week of heart failure. However, I know some people who did know and work with him.

As a broadcaster, he was a good role model for me in my own efforts as a journalist. Russert always did his homework, honored and challenged his guests without berating them, listened, and without a personal agenda attempted to find out the truth.

But beyond his broadcasting abilities, Tim Russert displayed the character of a man who embodied his core priorities of faith, family, and friendship. His wife, Maureen, son, Luke, and dad, “Big Russ,” and his church were at the top of that list; and with his co-workers, as the Washington Bureau Chief of NBC News, he built an extended family.

Last week when his heart stopped, he broke theirs.

Some time ago when Pat Robertson met Russert, Tim stated, “I am a Christian too, you know!” A Catholic Christian he was, and certainly the character of his life displayed that, as “a letter read by all men.”

God bless your memory, sir, and may the fruit of your heart and labor remain.

And now a transition that I hope is not totally divorced from these thoughts.

I have received numerous e-mails from folks asking me about a number of so-called church “revivals” that seem to be transpiring in various areas of the USA. CBN News has covered some of these, and although I have not attended any of the current events, I have done some research into two or three of them.

Some of the stories emerging from these gatherings seem to be quite spectacular, including purported physical healings and other supernatural manifestations. I know from Biblical accounts and from personal experience that God does demonstrate Himself in these ways. It was, after all, Jesus' calling card.

However, I do want to wave a flag of caution that there is a real mixture transpiring in many of these events. Not all of the occurrences are consistent with the character and conduct of Jesus Christ. It would behoove all who choose to attend these gatherings to go with an open heart, but with your feet planted on Scriptural ground, and to “examine the Word of God daily to see if these things are really so.”

The feelings, goose bumps, and hoopla will pass, but it is His Word that remains forever; and it is by the “fruits” (the character of their lives) of those conducting the meetings that you will know them, not their gifts.

Although I have been graciously gifted by the Lord both naturally & supernaturally, when it is all over and I am done on this planet, I would prefer to be remembered by the character of my life andnot my gifts.

It will take the rest of my time allotted to me here to work out with God’s grace the two commandments He gave us of “loving God, with my whole heart, mind and strength, and my neighbor as myself.”

I am trying to remember that now as I go into the voice over booth as Tim Russert did last week and breathed his last.

Thanks,

Scott