Sad story from Little Rock today. It reminds me of the sad story last week when we lost a 13 yr old.

Channel 4 KARK in Little Rock and several other stations are reporting on this. Here is what the Arkansas Times Blog had to say:

LRPD: 14 year old dead, driver being questioned in chasing down thief

Posted by David Koon on Thu, May 3, 2012 at 2:55 PM

• Brian Chilson
• JUMPED CURB: Neighbors say a van driver jumped this curb to chase bike rider who’d taken his wallet up the small hill.

• IN MEMORY: Cross was erected to “Lil Flip,” where Michael Stanley was fatally injured.

Police say a 14-year-old boyis dead after a robbery victim chased him down in a van and ran him over in a vacant lot near 24th and Oak Streets in Little Rock. 

LRPD spokesperson Sgt. Cassandra Davis said that Michael Sadler, 58, was coming out of the Asher One Stop convenience store, at Asher and Maple, just after 11:30 this morning when a 14-year-old boy identified as Michael Stanley snatched his wallet and fled on a bicycle. Davis said Sadler pursued the boy in his van, veered off the road, and struck him about two blocks south of the store.

Davis said police are investigating reports that Sadler then got out of the van and assaulted the boy as he lay on the ground. The boy was later taken to Arkansas Children’s Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 12:28 p.m. Davis said the boy’s mother lives on W. 23rd Street in Little Rock. A woman at the scene was crying, “My baby,” as neighbors erected a small cross in his memory where he fell.

Sgt. Davis said detectives are currently questioning Sadler. “I don’t know what charges, if any, he’ll have,” Davis said, “but it could be a homicide, manslaughter [or] negligent homicide. It just ranges by what the detectives feel comfortable changing him with, if anything at all.”

Davis said if the theft had occurred in Sadler’s home, he would have been within his rights to protect himself. Given that the crime happened outside, however, he may be charged in the case. “He got in his van and chased him down,” Davis said. “You can’t chase somebody down. We suggest you just get as much information as you can and notify law enforcement.”

A neighborhood resident, who spoke to our photographer Brian Chilson, described the chase. He said the boy was riding up a hill on a vacant lot near the store. The van driver jumped the curb and followed him across the lot and struck him near the top of the small hill, knocking the bike to the ground. According to him, the driver then beat the boy. He was among those placing the cross you see in the photograph above.

• Brian Chilson
• WHERE CHASE BEGAN: Asher One Stop.

Success does not bring satisfaction in life. How many times have we witnessed that play out.  I am truly sorrow that Junior Seau chose to take his life. He was always happy go lucky on the outside. Arkansas Razorback Tony Bua played with Junior Seau at Miami and one time Michael Jordan walked in the door and Bua said to Junior, “Wow that is Michael Jordan!!!” Junior responded, “Hey, I am Junior Seau!!!”

Below is a portion from John MacArthur concerning Solomon’s search for satisfaction and at the bottom of this post are links to other posts that deal with suicide and the possible solutions to the problem of suicide.

The Washington Post reported:

Winslow Townson, File/Associated Press – FILE -In this July 28, 2007 file photo, New England Patriots linebacker Junior Seau smiles during NFL football training camp in Foxborough, Mass. Police say Seau, a former NFL star, was found dead at his home in Oceanside, Calif., Wednesday, May 2, 2012, after responding to a shooting there. He was 43.

By Associated Press, Published: May 2AP

NAME: Tiaina Baul Seau Jr.BORN: January 19, 1969, San Diego.

DIED: May 2, 2012, Oceanside, Calif.

DRAFTED: Fifth overall, 1990, by San Diego out of Southern California.

TEAMS: Chargers 1990-2002. Dolphins 2003-05. New England 2006-2009.

ACHIEVEMENTS:

— Six-time Associated Press All-Pro, 1992-94, 96, 98, 2000.

— Voted to 12 straight Pro Bowls from 1991-2002.

— Chosen for 1990s All-Decade team by Pro Football Hall of Fame.

— Played in 268 NFL games in 20 seasons, with 1,524 tackles, 56.5 sacks, 18 interceptions, 18 fumble recoveries, 1 touchdown.

— NFL Man of the Year 1994.

— Selected to “All-Time Greatest Chargers” team in 2009, franchise’s 50th anniversary season.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

John MacArthur delivered this message in 1975:

Human Wisdom Disappoints

The book of Ecclesiastes has some interesting things to say about human wisdom. This book was written by Solomon, and it chronicles human wisdom. The Lord put it in the Bible for a very special purpose: to show us the frustrations and the inabilities of human wisdom. 

1. Solomon’s Fervent Search

Now Solomon, who was a very intelligent man, said in 1:13, “. . . I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven. . . . ” He’s saying, “I decided that I would apply wisdom and figure out all the answers. ” Continuing in verse 16, he said, “I spoke to mine own heart, saying, Lo, I am come to great estate, and have gotten more wisdom than all they that have been before me in Jerusalem; yea, my heart had great experience of wisdom and knowledge [I was so educated there wasn’t anybody as educated as I was]. And I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly [which was the opposite of wisdom]; I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit. For in much wisdom is much grief; and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow” (vv. 16-18). 

2. Solomon’s Futile Solution

Then, in 2:1 he said, “I said in mine heart, Come now, I will test thee with mirth; therefore enjoy pleasure. . . . ” In other words, “I looked for wisdom and I found it. When I summed up all my wisdom, I had nothing but a troubled spirit because the more I knew, the sadder I became. ” If you’re honest with yourself, you will find that the more you know, the less you really know. Solomon sought to cover up his troubled spirit by living it up:  “. . . I will test thee with mirth; therefore enjoy pleasure. . . . ” But then he said, “. . . this also is vanity” (v. 1b). In verse 3, we find Solomon seeking satisfaction from wine. That didn’t do him any good either. 

Read what else he did: “I made for myself great works; I built houses; I planted vineyards; I made gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all kind of fruits; I made pools of water, to water therewith the wood that bringeth forth trees; I got servants and maidens, and had servants born in my house; also I had great possessions of herds and flocks above all that were in Jerusalem before me” (vv. 4-7). Those are the same things that the world does. The people of the world work hard for gain, possessions, and money. “I gathered also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces; I got men and women singers, and the delights of the sons of men, as musical instruments, and that of all sorts” (v. 8). Music is a pacifier for our world today, too. You can’t go anywhere without hearing music. People don’t want to live with their own thoughts. They’ve got to have somebody else putting other thoughts in their mind. 

Continuing in verse 9, he said, “So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem; also my wisdom remained with me [whatever he learned, he remembered]. And whatsoever mine eyes desired, I kept not from them. I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labor; and this was my portion of all my labor. Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labor that I had labored to do; and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun. And I turned myself to behold wisdom, and madness, and folly; for what can the man do that cometh after the king? [What could I do now? I’ve done everything there is to do. ] . . . Then I saw that wisdom excelleth folly [It’s better to be smart than stupid. ]. . . . The wise man’s eyes are in his head, but the fool walketh in darkness; and I myself perceived also that one event happeneth to them all. Then said I in my heart, As it happeneth to the fool, so it happeneth even to me; and why was I then more wise?. . . ” (vv. 9-15a). 

Isn’t that amazing? When all that he did came to an end, the wisest man in the world said, “I was a fool. ” Human wisdom doesn’t have anything good to offer us.

________________________________________

What is the answer to the spiritual search that we all have? I have found total satisfaction in my life through putting my faith alone in Christ.

Our views below (this material is from Campus Crusade for Christ) concerning how to go to heaven.

Just as there are physical laws that govern
the physical universe, so are there spiritual laws
that govern your relationship with God.

God loves you and offers a wonderful plan for your life.

God’s Love
“God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever
believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16, NIV).

God’s Plan
[Christ speaking] “I came that they might have life, and might have it abundantly”
[that it might be full and meaningful] (John 10:10).

Why is it that most people are not experiencing that abundant life?

Because…

Man is sinful and separated from God.
Therefore, he cannot know and experience
God’s love and plan for his life.

Man is Sinful
“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

Man was created to have fellowship with God; but, because of his own stubborn
self-will, he chose to go his own independent way and fellowship with God was broken.
This self-will, characterized by an attitude of active rebellion or passive indifference,
is an evidence of what the Bible calls sin.

Man Is Separated
“The wages of sin is death” [spiritual separation from God] (Romans 6:23).

This diagram illustrates that God is holy and man is sinful. A great gulf separates the two. The arrows illustrate that man is continually trying to reach God and the abundant life through his own efforts, such as a good life, philosophy, or religion -but he inevitably fails.The third law explains the only way to bridge this gulf…

Jesus Christ is God’s only provision for man’s sin.
Through Him you can know and experience
God’s love and plan for your life.

He Died In Our Place
“God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

He Rose from the Dead
“Christ died for our sins… He was buried… He was raised on the third day,
according to the Scriptures… He appeared to Peter, then to the twelve.
After that He appeared to more than five hundred…” (1 Corinthians 15:3-6).

He Is the Only Way to God
“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life, no one comes to
the Father but through Me’” (John 14:6).

This diagram illustrates that God has bridged the gulf that separates us from Him by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross in our place to pay the penalty for our sins.It is not enough just to know these three laws…

We must individually receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord;
then we can know and experience God’s love and plan for our lives.

We Must Receive Christ
“As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children
of God, even to those who believe in His name” (John 1:12).

We Receive Christ Through Faith
“By grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God; not as result of works that no one should boast” (Ephesians 2:8,9).

When We Receive Christ, We Experience a New Birth
(Read John 3:1-8.)

We Receive Christ Through Personal Invitation
[Christ speaking] “Behold, I stand at the door and knock;
if any one hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him” (Revelation 3:20).

Receiving Christ involves turning to God from self (repentance) and trusting
Christ to come into our lives to forgive our sins and to make us what He wants us to be.
Just to agree intellectually that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that He died on the cross
for our sins is not enough. Nor is it enough to have an emotional experience.
We receive Jesus Christ by faith, as an act of the will.

These two circles represent two kinds of lives:

Self-Directed Life S-Self is on the throne -Christ is outside the life -Interests are directed by self, often resulting in discord and frustration

Christ-Directed Life -Christ is in the life and on the throne S-Self is yielding to Christ, resulting in harmony with God’s plan -Interests are directed by Christ, resulting in harmony with God’s plan

Which circle best represents your life?
Which circle would you like to have represent your life?

The following explains how you can receive Christ:

You Can Receive Christ Right Now by Faith Through Prayer
(Prayer is talking with God)

God knows your heart and is not so concerned with your words as He is with the attitude
of your heart. The following is a suggested prayer:

Does this prayer express the desire of your heart? If it does, I invite you to pray this
prayer right now, and Christ will come into your life, as He promised.

Now that you have received Christ

On this web site:
Copyrighted 2007 by Bright Media Foundation and Campus Crusade for Christ.
All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Permission for use from the publisher,
Campus Crusade for Christ, 375 Highway 74 South, Suite A, Peachtree City, GA 30269