Kobe’s life influenced many people around the world. This man had a work ethic unlike anyone else in the league during his career. And if anyone else in the NBA had a work ethic like Kobe’s then their talent didn’t match because Kobe was the most dominate player in the league during his years with the Lakers.
People are even more moved by his tragic death. And everyone took different lessons from this tragedy.
Don’t hold grudges and anger. I heard about Kobe’s death while watching the Pro Bowl. That Sunday I was also not speaking to my wife because I was still mad about something that happened that morning. After hearing about Kobe dying in a helicopter crash I just let that anger go and talked to my wife. I talked to her about Kobe, then the conversation moved to what we gone have for dinner, and then we were on good terms for the rest of the night. It’s like dang. My wife could have went to the store and got into an accident. How would I feel knowing I was holding onto anger?
We can’t idolize celebrities. I’m not saying that Kobe sought praise and worship from people. But I know the world was shocked because we just don’t expect tragic accidents to happen to celebrities. Especially when the death doesn’t fit the lifestyle. Like Kobe was a good person. He was a family man. He went to work and took care of his family. He got drafted to the NBA at 18 years old. He had all the excuses to live a wild party life. Yet he got married at 21 and never divorced.
I believe the hardest part about believing Kobe could die in such a tragic death is because he lived like such an extraordinary human. Helicopter and airplane crashes are not common but they’re not unheard of either. It’s scary to think that it could have been you on the plane, but it’s not a death that shakes the world. Just last month in December a helicopter crashed in Hawaii killing the pilot and two passengers. It didn’t make headline news. And I only heard about it because I got friends who live in Hawaii.
It makes you wonder why bad things happen to good people. Why Kobe of all good people? Yeah he had the sexual assault case in 2003. But I don’t understand why the media wants to bring that back up because he wasn’t found guilty. Doesn’t matter if you think he did it. He went to court and the case was dropped. If you weren’t a fan of Kobe just because he was accused of sexual assault, then just saying nothing at all.
What I took away from the death is that we’re all human. It’s easy to look at someone as above everyone else when they got money, fame, raw talent. Money and fame does protect you from things that most regular folk go through, but death don’t care who you are.
At the end of the day it’s something we all have to accept and move on from. The last death that shook the world like this was Michael Jackson. There will never be another pop star like Michael Jackson just as there won’t be another basketball player like Kobe. Yeah Lebron James passed Kobe on the all-time NBA scoring chart. But, Lebron James switched teams during his career. Kobe stayed with the Lakers for all 20 years.
And that’s the blessing about life. You have a purpose. When you fulfill your purpose then people will truly feel like they lost something when you die because no one else will do what you do exactly like you.
ArmstrongTimes 
With all respect and condolences to the life of Kobe and the Bryant family, I have a different take on the tragedy. I did not know Kobe Bryant personally, but I have heard nothing but wonderful accolades about his life. Many people remember him for the legacy in which he left behind and they feel a great loss.
However, I would agree that Kobe Bryant lived his passion; but not his purpose. The saddest reality of that horrific crash was the fact that everyone was aboard that helicopter on their way to a game. The saddest reality was that sports was and is more important in some societies on Sunday morning than finding our way into some house of worship to praise and to give thanks unto God for all that he has done for us. He gives us six days in a week and only require one to be set aside for him. And we can’t even give him honor on that.
The tragedy is the legacy left behind that sports is more important. Because, the fact of the matter is, if they all had been in church that Sunday morning, they would all still be alive. Sunday sports like games and the super bowl in America have become the God of America. It is what Americans worship and the players are who Americans idolize. Kobe’s death proves this.
The greatest thing he could have ever done was take his family to church and introduce them to Christ. Those people died putting their sports above God, and now everyone wants to make them angles in God’s heaven. It doesn’t work that way. Kobe lived his passion for basketball, but he did not know his purpose in life because he did not know God. The purpose that The Lord gives to every soul is a purpose to fulfill their role in the Kingdom of God; and I can say with 100% certainty, it is not to play sports. Sports has no productivity in The Kingdom of God, it does not interest God in saving souls.
And despite all of this, Americans will still worship their idol gods of sports. Celebrating sports on Sundays will continue to be bigger than worshipping God. Yet when tragedy strikes, the world wants believers to pray to the God who they ignored. I would above all things wished that Mr. Bryant had led his family to The Lord, because now we would know for certain that he and Gianna were together with The Lord. Worse than the loss of life, is the loss of an eternal soul. I would above all things wish that Mrs. Bryant would find the forgiving Grace of Yahweh as a result of this tragedy and introduce the remaining of her children to it. And lastly, I would above all things wish that America would either remove “In God We Trust” from their money or repent of her sins and actually begin to Trust In God!
Just my take on the tragedy and my opinion based on God’s word.
Shalom.
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Well, the news channels said that Kobe and his daughter went to 7am Mass that Sunday. And, if he didn’t then it doesn’t say anything about his relationship with God. Church is a religion, not a relationship with God. Athletes define God’s greatest design of what the human body can physically accomplish. How would human ever know the physical limits that the human body can achieve without athletes?
Every profession on earth has no purpose in the Kingdom of Heaven. Not sports, not technology, not education, politics, plumbing, etc. So to say that Kobe’s purpose wasn’t sports is incorrect. He lived his purpose by praising God through sports and living righteously. Yeah he made some mistakes, one being obvious through the rape accusation. But Kobe was a family man (biblical), executed focused hard work (biblical).
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You are correct, there is a news report that Mr. Bryant and daughter Gianna attended an early morning mass at a Catholic parish.
My statement that I made earlier was “the fact of the matter is, if they all had been in church that Sunday morning, they would all still be alive.” Indicating that worship services usually begin at either 9am, 10:30am or 11am, and if either of them were there at that time, they would all still be alive. The crash happened between 9:45am and 10am that Sunday morning.
Devils attend Sunday services, this is no indication of salvation. And I am not implying that Mr. Bryant or anyone else aboard that flight was a devil. But it is a statement to reveal that attending church doesn’t make a person a born-again believer no more than sitting in a garage makes one a car.
My dear brother, study to show thyself approved, rightly dividing the word of God. The word Church comes from a Greek word meaning “Body.” It is used in reference to a living entity, not a structure made by hands. The living entity in which it refers to is The Body of Christ. It is the modern use of the word that has been changed from its original meaning into the descriptive place where Christian believers meet. Christ gave birth to the Church on the cross, and one cannot give birth to a building.
Being that we now understand the true meaning of the word Church, we also understand that God teaches through his word that salvation comes by faith, through his Son Christ Jesus in a continuous relationship with The Father. If you say that church is a building, then how can a building be a religion? Usually man attributes an adherence to some form of beliefs as a religion, correct? Yet, The Body of Christ indeed isn’t a religion, but a living entity of people who have forged a continuous relationship with God The Father through his Son, Christ Jesus who is the head of The Body/Church.
For those who have this relationship with God Almighty, they have an understanding that a relationship means to whole heartedly obey the voice and word of The Lord. They do not compromise God’s commandments with their own agendas in life. Born-again Believers do not mix a love of mammon together with a love for God. Man cannot serve two masters, attending a mass service on Sunday prior to doing sports doesn’t make the act righteous. Many in today’s society make this mistake. They get up early and go to whatever service before going out hiking, biking or whatever else they do on Sundays. But God said, if you read his word, the whole day is holy unto The Lord.
Since God is the one who created man, and not we ourselves, only God can define what man’s purpose is. God could care less about man’s personal endeavors on earth that have nothing to do with him. God is in the business of Salvation, it is the whole “purpose” why Christ came to the earth. And when we become born-again, we as The Body of Christ pick up that purpose and carry the torch. You are correct when you say “every sport on earth has no purpose in the Kingdom of Heaven.” And by this statement alone, you validate yourself that a man’s purpose of God could not be sports. I believe you are getting a God-given talent mixed up with our God-given purpose, these are two separate things.
The word of The Lord states that: “we were created to show forth the praises of him who hath called us out of darkness and into his marvelous light.” And, “we hath been redeemed to be witnesses unto the Salvation and goodness of The Lord.” Not to play sports. Our talent is what God gives us to earn a living, like Christ was a carpenter. But if carpentry was all he did, none of us would be here today. His gift and passion for carpentry did not get in the way of his purpose to save souls by going to the cross that all might have a way to the Tree of Life. We would be some sorry puppy dogs if it had.
One does not live righteously by praising God through sports or any other venue, one lives righteously by exchanging their sins for the righteousness of Christ through repentance, by keeping a relationship with the author of Righteousness, and by obeying the word of The Lord in every day life. And the first order of obedience is: “Do not put any other god before me!” And unfortunately in America, sports and the love of money is her god.
When God speaks unto us and shows us a more excellent way, it would behoove us to adhere to his voice. He often speaks through his word and Christ’s Body on the earth. If the word of The Lord comes to us, it is for a reason. Who knows what word those nine individuals received from God that day or prior. Whatever it was, they did not listen, but it was business as usual, then an irreversible tragedy struck.
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