Heath Ledger, Dead at 28
Heath Ledger died yesterday at the age of 28 from an apparent sleeping pill overdose. While I wouldn’t say that I really followed his acting career (I think I’ve only seen two of his movies…The Patriot and The Order), it jars me a little when something like this happens (regardless of who the person is). And when it’s someone well known, especially a person close to my own age, I get to thinking about my own accomplishments and what people would say about me if I were to meet an early demise.
While I know that I have already accomplished a lot, there is just something “there” that drives me further each day in the pursuit of whatever the bigger picture may be for my life. It’s a little hard to put that “fire” into words, but for anyone who has been following Indianapolis Colts head coach Tony Dungy’s football career, it’s sort of like that. (This is what I do…for now. If I can’t continue to do it well, I’d rather step aside and let someone else have a shot. This isn’t what I want to do forever, but as long as it is where God wants me to be, I’ll continue. And at the end of the day the two most important things to me are my God and my family.)
Now that I’ve set a somber tone for the day, throw open the curtains, bask in the sunlight, then at some point head outside into the brisk January air, close your eyes, arms wide open, head towards the sky, take a deep breath and just thank God for the opportunity to live and breath yet another day. You never know how many more you might have, so treat each day as it is your last and as the gift that it is.
