I've been to South Africa several times - and I love those accents. But not when they're talking about an inspirational sports icon killing his girlfriend.
There's a lot we don't know yet. What we do know is that South Africa's Olympic hero admittedly shot his girlfriend four times. Accidentally, he says. On purpose, the police say.
It's all the more disturbing because he's been such an overcomer. A double-amputee, running on carbon-fiber blades, competing last year as an Olympic runner. He made history. And inspired people around the world. Now he's behind bars, charged with first degree murder.
It's the most recent - and most extreme - in a growing list of fallen sports heroes. One observer said, "It seems like it's almost one a month these days."
Let's see - the world's greatest biker says he did it with dope...the world's greatest golfer admits he's cheated on his wife...Hall of Fame-bound baseball stars are derailed by the discovery that those biceps were built with steroids.
It feels like our pedestals are anchored in quicksand. Because our heroes keep falling off their pedestal and into the mud.
It's not just athletes. Sometimes it's an influential politician...an admired entertainer...a respected business leader...or even a gifted preacher or musician. You start to wonder, "Who's next?"
What makes us put someone on that pedestal is they do something really well. Performance. And then there's character - "what you are when no one's around," or "what you are in the dark." That's the real gold medal stuff.
Personally, I've decided that pedestals are a bad idea anyway. Either putting someone on one or wanting one myself. None of us should be too enamored with compliments, awards, or "wins."
From God's viewpoint - and what should be ours - it's your character, not your performance, that makes you truly great. You can get awesome headlines and have an awful heart. Or be a hero in the spotlight and a zero at home.
The Bible says that "man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7). His eyes "range throughout the earth to strengthen those hearts are fully committed to Him" (2 Chronicles 16:9). Those who will "medal" in heaven are those Jesus will greet with, "Well done, good and faithful servant!" (Matthew 25:21). Not "good and successful" - it's "good and faithful."
The true hero is the person who's a hero outside and inside. The closer you get to them, the better they look.
What matters most is not what the folks who know the "platform me" think. It's the people who know me best - who see me unplugged, unguarded, when there's no one to impress. Do they say, "Yup - he's the same guy all the time?" Or, when I'm "doing what I do," are they asking, "Where did that great guy suddenly come from?" Or, "if they only knew..."
An EKG can reveal that someone who's the picture of health on the outside may have a deadly heart condition on the inside. Which, according to the Bible, we all do. "The heart is deceitful," it says, "and desperately wicked" (Jeremiah 17:9).
That's why I need a Savior. Not just a religion about a Savior. All that can do is make me look healthy on the outside. I need the Master Heart Surgeon who alone can "cleanse you from all your impurities" and "give you a new heart" (Ezekiel 36:26). In fact, the sin-cancer is so horrific that it took blood to cure it - Jesus' blood, shed on the cross.
He makes unheralded people into authentic heroes - because they have a heart like His. You're blessed if you know one. Even more blessed if you are one. Because they leave a Jesus-trail wherever they go.