There's the brevity of time the Bible
teaches; The brevity of time: "Behold thou has made my days as a hand breadth and
mine age is as nothing before thee" (Psalm 39:5). A thousand years in thy sight a but as
yesterday, when it is past and as a watch four hours in the night. "One day is with
the Lord a thousand years and a thousand years as one day" (2 Peter 3:8). Like the grass we spring up and like the grass we're mowed down. "My days are like a shadow that
declineth and I'm withered like grass but Thou O Lord shall endure forever and
thy remembrance unto all generations" (Psalm 102: 11-12). Every one of us here has been given the same
amount of time in a day. Fourteen hundred and forty minutes a day, one hundred and
six to eight hours per week. The days of our years are threescore years and ten
and if by reason of strength they're fourscore years. Yet is their strength,
labour in sorrow, for it is soon cut off.. and we're passed away and cut off. We start tonight with some breaking news.
And US media are reporting that basketball star Kobe Bryant has died in
a helicopter crash in California. LA County Sheriff's Department say that all
people on board a helicopter have died in a crash, and an investigation is
ongoing into the cause of it. We begin tonight with new reporting here
after the awful news that basketball legend Kobe Bryant was killed in a
helicopter crash along with eight others; tonight we've learned their stories too.
The news broke on Sunday the untimely death of the sports legend who was
flying to a youth basketball game with his 13 year old daughter and seven
others, no one survived. We have learned the helicopter was flying in fog that
had grounded other helicopters; the Sheriff's Department was not flying.
Tonight the NTSB with help from the FBI combing the scene of that deadly
helicopter crash that killed NBA superstar Kobe Bryant, his 13 year old
daughter Gianna and seven other people. The weather Sunday morning bad enough
that police departments did not fly their own helicopters but Bryant's took
off in heavy fog. How thick was that fog? (Witness) "It was thick! Imagine jumping into a
pool filled with milk and opening your eyes." Scott Daehlin witnessed the crash.
(Reporter)"You can hear the helicopter and you can't see anything?" (Witness) "I can't see anything.
Hearing the helicopter and all of a sudden the helicopters immediately above
me I can hear, it but I can't see it." (Reporter) Tonight we're learning the identity of
the pilot Ara Zobayan who according to the company that trained him, had been
flying for 20 years. Among those killed John Altobelli a baseball coach, his wife
Carrie and their 13 year old daughter Alyssa. Also on board Christina Mauser
an assistant basketball coach and mother of three. (Husband) "How do you tell a child their
mommies no longer with us?" (Jerry West) "This guy was like a Pied Piper. People would follow
him everywhere just to look at him to touch him, for him to say hello. For me
this is a God-awful day!" Parishioners at Our Lady Queen of Angels
where the Bryant family attends prayed a rosary for the lives lost. Father Steve
Sallot one of the last to see Brian alive; Bryant and his daughter Gianna stopped
by the church and received communion before boarding the fatal flight. (Pastor Steve Sallot) "He was here before the 7 a.m. mass and that's our first mass of the day so he would
obviously been in the prayer chapel before that, and he was leaving about
10:00 to 7:00." And he went to church regularly here at Our Lady Queen of
Angels Catholic Church in Newport Beach. (Pastor Steve Sallot) "He was quite a man of faith, quiet about it but certainly a man of faith." In fact pastor Steve Sallot says Kobe stopped by
the church Sunday morning just hours before the crash and talked about
wanting to take the Catholic ritual of confirmation. (Pastor Steve Sallot) "We chatted about that some day he needed to be confirmed. There was a little holy water on his forehead, so I
knew that he got into the chapel." Robin good morning and there are a
number of families in pain this morning after that crash here in this
neighborhood and the hills in this neighborhood behind me that killed nine
people. But in particular the loss of Kobe Bryant is hitting the LA community,
the NBA community, the sports world and in fact people all over the world really
really hard. People are in disbelief that this global and cultural icon could be
gone. Shock and heartache around the world at the news Kobe Bryant dead at 41
years old. Killed Sunday when the helicopter he was in crashed in the
hills of Calabasas, California. Also on board his 13 year old daughter Gianna
and seven others on their way to Kobe's Mambo Sports Academy in Newbury Park for
Gianna's basketball game Kobe was expected to coach. This photo was taken
at the gym filled with kids who had been awaiting Kobe's arrival, they kneeled on
the court upon hearing the news. Kobe often used helicopters to get
around LA; here he is in 2016 even regularly taking his own helicopter to
home games during the NBA season. (Stephen A. Smith) "He loved being in that helicopter he
certainly was never really concerned about it for him to be gone, particularly
through these means. It is incredibly tragic." Just weeks ago Kobe and Gianna known as
"GG" were spotted at a Brooklyn Nets game having a father-daughter courtside
moment that went viral. "I love this".. fans showed love for Kobe at the Staples
Center and tributes continue to pour in for the man his fans lovingly call the
"Black Mamba". One of the greatest to ever take the court, the proud father of four
daughters transcended sports, telling me he wanted a legacy beyond basketball.
(Kobe Byrant) "That's been what we do it's not who we are and we've all been something more outside of
our craft and we look forward to continuing to grown continue to evolve
as people." And no doubt weather we'll be a part of the investigation and in fact
in a lot of ways guys we saw so much of Kobe Bryant, we didn't lose him in the
prime of his career but to many people he feels like we lost him in the prime
of his life. He had so many other ventures, we talked about the Oscar's, the best-selling author and it seemed like he was just getting
started in a lot of ways. (Robin) "In so many ways." (Billy Graham) "What is your life? It's even a vapour that
appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away" (James 4:14). The brevity of time! That
brings us to the urgency of time. The Bible says redeem the time because
the days are evil. And the days in which we are living are very evil. The days
have always been evil. Evil and good struggling; the forces of the devil and
the forces of God locked in combat that ends up in every generation it seems in
war. And what a, what a thing it is when you think that you have just one short
life to spend and it'll soon be over. Redeem the time, the days are evil! The
time is urgent and then time also calls for immediate action. The fact that time
is short calls for something now. Now is the accepted time doesn't apply just to
the unconverted we talk too, it applies to us as believers.. to us as young
clergy. Now is the accepted time; the things we ought to do, the classes we ought to take,
the books we ought to read, do it now. The family that needs you, spend more time
now. Write that letter home now that you've been meaning to write. Money you
ought to give give now, time for study do it now. People you ought to witness to, do
it now. Every time the clock ticks, it seems to say now; today if you will hear
His voice. There may not be a tomorrow for you and for
me, because there's a warning to time. Time is running out for all of us. Time is too
short for indecision and vacillation. Do not halt between two opinions. Fools say
that time is long. Every morning we have 86,400 seconds to
spend and to invest and each day the bank named time opens a new account for
you and for me. It allows no balances and no overdrafts. If you fail to use the
day's deposits, the loss is yours. (Stephen A. Smith) "What did you learn from that whole experience
just having to go through what you went through?" (Kobe Bryant) "God is great!"
(Stephen A. Smith) "Is it that simple?" (Kobe Bryant) "God is great; don't get no simpler than that bro." (Stephen A. Smith) "Did you know that? I mean everybody knows that but the way you know it now, did you know it
before that incident took place?" (Kobe Bryant) "You can know it all you want, but until you got
to pick up that cross that you can't carry.. and He picks it up for you and carries
you and the cross.. then you know." News 13 John Lee joins us now and John, Crossfire
Ministry spoke to him about something beyond basketball in 2012. They had a
quick conversation about faith, now left with a picture of just how fragile life
can be. Randy Shepherd of Crossfire Ministry
says the sadness around the world also provides perspective. (Randy Sheppard) "We think about
loving our friends, loving our family, give then extra hugs, spending time with
them because life is short. This shows us that a great stellar athlete like Kobe
could be gone just in a matter of moments. Sunday Crossfire
re-posted a 2012 pic taken with Kobe in London at the Summer Olympics. And we were telling different guys about Crossfire Basketball Ministry, and Kobe was there. The photo opportunity happened quickly at the Team USA hotel. That encounter gave Shepherd
and Crossfire partner, Jamie Johnson a chance to ask about something bigger
than basketball. (Randy Shepherd) "He was gracious, his bodyguard just
stepped out away; and Kobe have you ever invited the Lord Jesus Christ to
come into your life as your Lord and Saviour? Question that I've asked a lot of
people from kids right to the President and he said "yes, I've done that." After posing
for the picture they gave him a Crossfire testimony gospel card. Now like
everyone else Shepherd is shocked. (Robert Shepherd) "It shows us John, that life is brevity. You know
the scripture tells us we're just a puff, we're just a vapour, we're just
passing through. And that you know, we can be here today and gone tomorrow. So that's
the importance of what we get to do as sports ministers; is to use that platform
to share the good news of a relationship with Christ." That image with Kobe now a
prized memento of their brush with an all-time great. (Billy Graham) Where the pressure is the
greatest, that is the deepest walk with God. We have pressures, you have pressures.
A different kind of pressure here, but we need men and women who walk with God. And
if you do that, you too can finish the work that God gave you to do. Shall we
pray. Our Father and our God we pray that thou would take these few thoughts on time,
and help us to realize the brevity and the urgency of time. And may we invest
what little time we have, in the Kingdom of God. But we ask it in His name. Amen.
