Just Another Day

Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.

Psalms 116:15

For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. 

So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.

Romans 14:8

Back in the mid-70's while I was a student at Jim Hill HS, a new fresh out of college, Bobby Walden showed up at our school.  I knew him as a large built man who had played football at Mississippi State. Dressed in a green shirt and polyester old gold coaching pants, I watched Coach Walden march the sidelines, ranting at and comforting his players during and after the football game.  

Not only was he a big man but he had a big heart.   Conservative in nature, he was a loving husband, father and grandfather.  

Several years later, after my wife and I married, we attended Daniel Memorial Baptist Church.  It was there that Bobby Walden was my Sunday School teacher.  He had a love for the Lord and did not mind sharing it with you.  As time passed and we went in different directions,  I would see Coach Walden and his wife, Libby, out in public every couple of years and we would get a quick update on how each of us were doing and what was going on in our lives.

This past Saturday, this 60 year old man was out riding his motorcycle when a rainstorm came up.  He pulled his motorcycle under a bridge overpass.  A car hydroplaned on the pavement and ran over Bobby Walden.  On this past Saturday, a day like any other day, Bobby Walden met what would be the end of him.  No sickness, no lingering health problem, just another day.

Bobby Walden has reached the end of this world.  He will be missed by many especially his wife and family.  May we all realize how precious life is and how at any moment, our lives may end.  

A BRIEF TESTIMONY BY BOBBY WALDEN

www.fbcj.org/BookOfLife/Walden-Bobby.html

You may have to take it on faith but I have been in athletics most of my life and received all kinds of awards: Jackson Public Schools All City Football Player both defense and offense for two years, All-Big Eight Conference Football Player, Parade Magazine 2nd team All American in Football, the H D Huddleston Award for Best Defensive Lineman, Most Valuable Lineman in the 1969 Mississippi Bowl, Mississippi High School All-Star, Mississippi Track record in the Shot Put, and a scholarship to play football at Mississippi State University to mention a few.

I gave my life to Christ in a Fellowship of Christian Athletes meeting at Central High School in the fall of 1967. I played with being a Christian till I got to Mississippi State where I was playing football. While at State, I made some good Christian friends who helped me gain assurance of a personal relationship with Christ. I learned that Christ indicated that if I opened the door of my life and asked Him to come in He would come in and would never leave me nor forsake me.

Today I have a wonderful family and the best wife in the world, but as I look back over my life and look at the awards and all the special things I’ve received or have been a part of, I consider it all lost compared to my relationship with Jesus Christ.

Thank God for the life of Bobby Walden and may his family find the comfort and peace needed to make it through this very difficult time.