Thanks BJ - For Being My Man in the Mirror

Truth be told, it could have been any one of us.

Any one of us could have been the person with the blowout. Any one of us could have been the people living close by that came out to help. Any one of us could have been the man that stopped his truck to help. And any one of us could have been the reckless teens that ran into them all.

In the blink of a moment, on a Saturday night, evil had its moment - 4 dead, many injured and hundreds of lives changed forever.

Brian Jennings, aka BJ, was an old college friend of mine that died that night. He was the one that stopped to help. He was hilarious, fun loving and a white version of Michael Jackson. He had moves like Jaggar – and now he is gone.

At one time, BJ was a crazy young man like the teens that killed him. He lived it up and was the life of the party. The center of attention and always putting on a show for anyone and everyone that dared to watch.  I remember that BJ too. He was cool – even taught me a few moves I’ve long forgot.

Then he got real with Christ and years later he was dedicated to a life that was centered on loving teens just like him. They were his man in the mirror.

This has weighed heavy on me. Any number of times I could have been those teens that night. I’ve done my share of real dumb, selfish things. Yet other times I’ve just “been standing there” to watch my life flash before my eyes only to be spared in the end. Happened to me the very day this happened to him.

There by the grace of God go I.

Still. In the wake of such a loss our humanness cries out for justice. We are angry. We are hurt. We mourn. Yet, we all know too well, that if Brian had lived through it all, he would have likely been the first to forgive them and find a way to help those kids “get right with Christ”.  

Every one reading this has been “those kids” at one time or another. Now we get the chance to be like BJ for BJ’s sake.

BJ died at the hands of the very type of people he lived to love on.  

So did Jesus…

Talk about the man in the mirror.

"For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known." I Corinthians 13:12

 

© 2013, J. Brady Speers

“I say it how I see it and I make no bones about it."

 

for details on this tragedy - click here.