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by Jen Green

Presidential politics took a back seat to other more pressing and tragic news over the weekend.

JoePa No More

I’m writing this Sunday night, the eve of the announcement of the NCAA’s sanctions against Penn State. I grew up in Pennsylvania. After we moved there when I was 10 years old, I quickly adopted the Nittany Lions as my favorite college football team. I thought JoePa was the best coach in the world.

I was wrong, though, wasn’t I? Coaching is much, much more than just winning games, which we all know Paterno could do. Coaching is about mentoring, teaching, disciplining, molding, and honing (young) people, but above all, setting a consistent and good example for them.

JoePa didn’t do that, and although we are only finding out the extent of all the betrayal and obfuscation now after his death, he and Penn State still must suffer the consequences. Jerry Sandusky’s trial was the tip of the iceberg. Over the weekend, Penn State took down Joe Paterno’s statue, tomorrow (Monday) the NCAA will put the kibosh on their football program, three more officials still face trials, and the university will be paying out the nose to all the victims either through settlements or lawsuit verdicts.

All for the “W’s.” They demolished the lives of young boys and their families all to put a “W” in the column. I can’t even begin to imagine how it must feel to be one of the moms of one of these young men.

What Real Men Do

The country is still reeling from the theater shooting on Friday early morning. We still don’t know many details, but some of the profiles of the victims are emerging. Every lost life is a tragic story. Yet, proving once again that we are created in the image of God, some heroic stories are starting to emerge.

Three men lost their lives while saving those of their girlfriends. All three men did the same thing–once the shooting started and the mayhem ensued, they all threw the women they loved onto the floor as far under the theater seats as they could and then covered them with their own bodies.

“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” — John 15:13. Why? Because it’s a picture of what Christ did for us. These three women have a powerful reminder of what we’ve all experienced through Jesus’ death–sacrificial love.

No Pride, Just Shame

U.S. soldiers recently petitioned their government to allow them to wear their uniforms in a parade. Doesn’t sound so bad does it? The Family Research Council website tells us a little more of the story:

At San Diego’s gay pride parade, it won’t be the people who aren’t wearing clothes that attract attention–but the service members who are. In a decision that would have been unthinkable ten months ago, the Pentagon has bowed to pressure and granted a “one time” exception to the military dress code. For the first time in history, our troops will be allowed to march in tomorrow’s parade in full uniform. It’s a radical departure from the long-time policy which states that uniformed soldiers cannot provide a platform for a “political message.”

We can’t even see the shark in a rear-view mirror, we’ve jumped so far.