We’ve All Been to Chappaquiddick

Another well-known public figure dies and once again, God reminds us why He alone is qualified to judge a life.

I do not know the state of Senator Ted Kennedy’s soul. It is not my place to know nor is it my desire to speculate. The reporting on his life, however, can serve as a lesson for us all.

Because the truth of it is, that we all have our own personal version of Chappaquiddick.

When the young senator left the scene of a car accident caused by his own drunk driving and resulting in the death of Mary Jo Kopechne, he chose his own self-interest over what was right. And it haunted him even into death.

Today, anchor people and radio announcers sort through Ted Kennedy’s life and try to determine if his was a story of redemption through good works or a life that could have been brilliant but whose potential was marred by tragic personal choices.

Each of us lives our own version of that same story. For we are each capable of brilliance, goodness and altruism that astonishes and yet, we know too well, we are also capable of villainy, self-serving acts of cowardice and deception for the sake of saving our own skin.

God calls it sin.

Ted Kennedy’s life should be the answer for those who wonder – can’t I just live a very good life and have the good outweigh the bad? God tells us it doesn’t work that way.

He knew we could never overcome the results of our sinful choices even if we followed them up with a million choices for good.

God’s answer?

Salvation lies in Jesus Christ alone. He lived the only perfect life. He died as the payment for all the Chappaquiddicks in all of our lives. Trusting His sacrifice as payment for our sins is the only way to find redemption. That’s it.

My prayers are with Senator Kennedy’s family. I did not know him but I am grateful for the lesson of his life.

One reporter speculated this morning that “perhaps we no longer make room in our lives for stories of redemption.” I hope that isn’t true because redemption through Jesus Christ is the ONLY story worth telling for eternity.