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Chip Shots from the Ruff of Life
by Tom Kelley
There was a very quiet birthday last week. A thirty-first birthday. There was no fanfare. There was no celebration. On August 9,1975 the New Orleans Superdome opened to a sellout crowd of 72,000 people. It opened as the most impressive structure of its day. It dwarfed the Astrodome in Houston and quickly became the favored site for such events as Super Bowls and NCAA Basketball Final Fours. In fact, to be part of a live event at the Superdome carried a great deal of weight.
Last year when it turned thirty the Superdome was housing a live event of a different sort. This modern marvel of architecture had been assaulted by an angry lady named Rita. She had laid waste to New Orleans with her winds and torrents of water. The Superdome was no longer that giant gleaming structure of old but a battered warrior struggling to keep its head up. Where once it housed people to watch their beloved Saints play it now became a saint of a refuge for the displaced residents of New Orleans.
This fall it will again be home to the NFL’s New Orleans Saints Professional Football Team. I wonder if the specter of Rita will continue to loom in the aging structure. I wonder how many of those whose affluence affords them luxury boxes will remember that thousands of thousands of less fortunate than they were housed where they now cheer. I wonder if they will understand that during their joy for a long run or a great defensive stop that there are people whose lives are still fractured.
It is a most sobering thought that something that was built for exulting in sports achievements will probably be most remembered by its neighbors as a refuge from a horrible tragedy. As everything around was lost or decaying from the effects of the floods of water from Lake Ponchartrain, the Superdome stood as a reminder of man’s folly and excess. This once proud symbol of athletic excellence now has a huge footnote in its resume. It is no longer just a facility for entertainment. It now represents salvation for thousands who felt lost.
For generations the cross was a symbol of man’s cruelty to man as it was one of the most tortuous execution devices ever known. A person hung on a cross died a horrible death of a number of problems. Yet, the Almighty God chose the cross as the site of His greatest expression of love as He offered His only Son as our sacrifice for sin. So great is that love that the apostle Paul wrote, “But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” Galatians 6:14 What was once an emblem of cruelty now represents salvation for all who are lost.
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...He was the Minister of the Minorsville Christian Church located near Stamping Ground, KY.
...Becky and Tom have three children; John, single and in worship ministry in Nicholasville, Kentucky; Sean, married (Jennifer, elementary school teacher) with twins (Grace and Patrick, b.d. 10/31/04) and regional director of Papa John's Pizza in Central KY; Kara, married (Vince Taylor, prison guard) and working with Hospice East in Winchester, KY.
...Tom went to be with the Lord on November 13, 2009 after a lengthy battle with cancer. If you have been touched by Tom's writings please send an email to Tom's son at jkelley@catalystchristian.net
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