Thoughts from Whitney Houston's funeral

I'm streaming tears after hearing R. Kelly's rendition of Whitney Houston's last publicly available recorded song, "I Look to You." Whitney's life is a portrait of love and struggle. Her much publicized struggles easily blind us to the contrast of virtue and vice which we each are. Hers-ours- is a story of struggle yet grace. As we remember Whit's life, we need a revelation. We, the people we touch and relate with are people of struggle-people, not defined by their individual struggles but by our place as created beings-born to fill God's purpose and destiny. An honest appraisal of Whitney's life leads us to look inward and freshly reconsider where, who we are publicly and who we are in private do not synch. Whitney's addictions were well known, but ours are less known, whether they be the praise of others, personal ease, or other things; we each are addicts in some measure. Truth be told, we need to be honest with ourselves regarding where we are and where we're headed. Are our lives truly straight lines? Are we emptying our lives of what drains them? Duty, Christ's giving life, a heart for being our best requires we look to Christ to change us from the inside out. It was comforting to hear of Whitney's progress toward the end of her life-swimming, vocal exercises, kicking even cigarettes-preparing herself for a new break come August; at her life's sunset she was moving in the right direction. Ours is a simple responsibility. The onus on us is to continue becoming all we can be. Part of this is addressing the unseemly parts of us we know of and those blind spots others reveal to us. Listening to the song "Tomorrow" by the Winans reminds me of the first duty of every living human-to make sure of their standing with God. Heaven is available to all, who begin a personal relationship with Christ; but this is merely the beginning. To begin a walk with God is to begin a process of God-induced change, which the holy Spirit is powerful to help us make good on. Allow Christ to help you follow through on the personal development He is pouring into you. We are gifts to the world. Blessed bountifully, we need to ensure we are gifts that keep on giving by becoming the persons God destined us to be. His heart is that deep within we know that we're truly becoming all we ought be. Other will have their personal impressions of us, but are we growing, becoming, conquering as we should? Tomorrow may be too late. The time is today to tap Christ's power and morph into the mirror images of Christ we were created to be. What a special day to see Christ's Gospel preached freely on national television. His words-His life-is transforming. Let's start a revolution a- a revolution of honest, changed living-today.