Well done!

Chuck, a friend of ours, died yesterday, on a Saturday afternoon, slipping away when most of the world would not notice his passing.  That was just the way he was.  He ran all the way to the finish line.  Even at 80, there was no time to rest or retire --too much yet to do.

This was not the race Chuck intended as a young ambitious man.  He was destined for the halls of power and achieved it as a young lawyer.  He was energized by intimidating others and threatened at one point that if he had to, he would run over his own grandmother if she stood in his way.  He was known as a hatchet man, a conniver, one who worshipped at the altar of political corruption.  He stooped at nothing, and appealed to and fanned the flames of his boss’s dark side…that is, until all was revealed and President Richard Nixon’s tower of deceit collapsed under the weight of the Watergate scandal.  His special counsel, Chuck Colson, was convicted and endured seven months in federal prison.

But something happened along the way and Chuck returned a different man, he claimed, “born again,” a label for which he was scoffed by the media and the church alike.  “You’re kidding,” the world declared, waiting for his true motivation to emerge.  Those he knew, and even the media, recognized that something was different, but they just couldn’t comprehend what happened, accusing him of deceit and greed, unable to realize the effects of grace or that there could possibly be an alternative to the depravity of man.

And Chuck responded with a transformed life, letting redemption speak for itself.  Upon his return from prison, turning aside lucrative offers from top law firms, Chuck started a ministry to the outcasts of our culture, an outreach to prisoners and their families, all over the world, advocating for justice and even distributing Christmas gifts to their children.  He did not just run a ministry.  His hands got dirty, loving people into God’s kingdom.

That was the Chuck Colson that my husband and I knew.  In 2006, we studied Christian worldview for a year with Chuck, seeing before our eyes a life redeemed, the outcome of what happens when Christ changes a person at the very core of their being.  He possessed the most brilliant mind I have ever encountered.  But it was his change of heart that produced such a warm and compassionate man, serving and loving others with dignity and fervor, no matter a murderer on death row or a king in a palace.  He was a man of great vision and a prophet in our midst.

He slipped away, leaving behind him a huge wake of broken people now redeemed and restored, who have come to realize – as Chuck had – what Good News really means.

I stand in awe of a man who dared to live out faithfulness to the end of his days, to love others unconditionally, and to defend the truth.  He would dare me to do the same.

 

Love the LORD your God

with all your heart

and with all your soul

and with all your strength

and with all your mind;

and your neighbor as yourself.

                   Luke 10.27