Hume

With more than 35 years of journalism experience to draw from, Brit Hume currently serves as a senior political analyst for FOX News Channel (FNC) and contributes to all major political coverage. Hume also is regular panelist on FOX's weekly public affairs program, "FOX News Sunday."
Brit Hume, up close and personal. I had a chance to hear him speak yesterday in person at a function that was hosted by the "Bible in 90 days"
organization. It was a heartfelt, heart jerked account of some of the incidents that he has experienced both in his personal and corporate world.

He opened by saying that becasue he was a white house political correspondent...that he received a lot of attention that made him seem grander than he was. He admittted that there were many more folks who had a great deal more experience and knowledge but the spotlight had not been turned upon them. I personally am a fan of Hume's. I think he tells it like it is... not as it should be..yet he complies.with framework and boundaries no doubt of the Fox network. When we look at Hume and hear him speak...there is a visual confidence that he exudes...he remains calm and conditioned in the situations he is exposed to and seems to remain unruffled no matter how the winds are blowing.

But yesterday, he was transparent...he spoke of his family, expressed accolades of his wife who was at one time also in an executive position at Fox, now retired, the continued celebration of the marriage of his daughter several years ago, his two granddaughters...and his son Sandy. What many of you may know that I didn't, was the story of Sandy. An up and coming journalist, well liked, well positioned, basically a good guy...but one night he had too much to drink, was spotted by the police and tried to out drive them and ultimately was punished for his actions. Sandy could not get past the mistake and felt as though his life was forever ruined and took his own life. It was devastating, as many of you can not only imagine but some of you have painfully trudged down this very road.

Brit, as a young man had attended chapel every week, knew the Lord but will readily admit that his relationship with God was not ingrained in his front burner. When Sandy died...Christ came alive....to Brit. His story was touching of his spiritual encounter with God when he knew that without a doubt that it would be God that would lead him through this unimaginable tragedy. His daughter's wedding was scheduled less that two months after Sandy's death in March 1998, and was postponed until July of that same year.....a hot and steamy month in Washington as well. But on that wedding day a front blew in and the weather was crisp and beautiful....God was working through all the details...he had gone before them, was with them and would lead them to the next step, just as he has done and is doing with many of you who have lost loved ones.

My point of this story is two fold....
1) We seldom get to look through the private window of another's heart....unless we are really close to them. We don't really know what experiences have shaped them, what hurdles they have been confronted with and what tools they have had and have used to overcome them.
2) Which brings me to my second point....God through his son is the ultimate tool....for any of us in any situation no matter how dire or how trite it may be. God does know our hearts, he does know our obstacles, and he does know how to get us through or around or over or under them. But it is us who have to come to Him, know and seek who He is, and accept what He can do.

So.... God is real...and present, Hume realized. And since then his faith and trust in Christ continues to grow. He talked about his public, live aired comment about Tiger Woods...

January 2010,....On "Fox News Sunday" yesterday, Fox anchor Brit Hume suggested that Tiger Woods should trade his Buddhist faith for Christianity if he wants to make a personal comback. When host Chris Wallace asked the show's round table to predict the biggest sports story of 2010, Hume said:
"Tiger Woods will recover as a golfer. Whether he can recover as a person I think is a very open question, and it's a tragic situation for him. I think he's lost his family, it's not clear to me if he'll be able to have a relationship with his children, but the Tiger Woods that emerges once the news value dies out of this scandal -- the extent to which he can recover -- seems to me to depend on his faith. He's said to be a Buddhist; I don't think that faith offers the kind of forgiveness and redemption that is offered by the Christian faith. So my message to Tiger would be, 'Tiger, turn to the Christian faith and you can make a total recovery and be a great example to the world.'"

It was his honest and frank answer to Wallace....and little did he know at the time that such a statement by such a public figure would fire up the media nationally....and it would, from this point on, be a profession of his own personal faith to the watching world. This stamp would remain upon him and as noted in the bible there will be those who persecute you because of it. And he took some serious heat...but Fox stood behind him.

We don't know what motivates those around us to do or act as they do...life windows are not left uncovered and people most of the time do not choose to be exposed on any front. But what we know is that we all, if we are honest with ourselves,is that we all have something that we have stored in the closets of our thoughts and minds that has generated our actions and reactions.

A seed of the Lord was planted years ago in Brit's up bringing....it remained in his closet until at last it was revealed and embraced as reality and truth. God does use times of great tragedy, loss, failure and shame and a myriad of other situations and emotions to bring us to himself. Christ remains calm...in spite of calamities because he knows the outcome and he also knows how he will use this for His purpose of good.

Psalm 139:23 Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
1 Corinthians 2:9-11 However, as it is written:“What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard,and what no human mind has conceived” the things God has prepared for those who love him - these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God!
I was blessed yesterday by the stories...and hope you too will take this tiny story summary and apply it to your life. Is God in your closet...or have you chosen to acknowledge him in an upfront and personal and public way to those he has out in your path?

Dear Lord, We do not know what is going on or what has gone on behind the closed windows of others lives. May we take time to listen, be patient to understand, and slow to judge. And Lord, will you help us to see others through your eyes, knowing that as tough as life may seem at the time that you are working behind the scenes to accomplish your holy purposes in their lives as well as ours. Amen

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Praise God wherever you are and whatever situation He has allowed you to be in . . . His glory will shine through!