LOBEL GONE - JUST LIKE THAT!

“But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee:  then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?” (Luke 12:20)

If you read my post entitled “A ‘Retreat’ or an ‘Advance’?”, you know I’m leaving very shortly for the “John 17:23 Fellowship Retreat” which will take place today and tomorrow in Shrewsbury.  I was up fairly early this morning on this sunny but somewhat blustery day and I decided to take a walk.  I love taking walks!  I walked up to McDonald’s on Route 30, had breakfast there, and then walked back.  There are several newspaper vending boxes in front of the McDonald’s.  Just before going in, I stopped to look at the headline of the Boston Herald and I was shocked to learn that sportscaster Bob Lobel and several others at WBZ channel 4 are losing their jobs.  I did not bother to buy a paper (as I often do) but waited and went on line to www.bostonherald.com when I got home to read the story.  Not only is Bob Lobel being “given the boot” but so are Joyce K. the Arts & Entertainment reporter (I can’t even ATTEMPT to spell her last name!) and Scott Whale the anchor man.  The article talked about their ridiculously huge salaries which cannot be justified in today’s world where the ratings of traditional television news broadcasts are plummeting.  In addition, CBS in general is having a bad financial year.  

I do watch FOX channel 25’s news pretty regularly and once in awhile, I watch channel 7’s news.  Only occasionally do I “pop in” on channel 4 or channel 5 to watch the news, so I guess I’m part of the reason for these people losing their jobs, but the news “was rather sad” in the words of the old Beatles song.

There was a time when a person with a “big gig” on a news broadcast in a “top ten” market like Boston had it made!  I’m old enough to remember the days of weatherman Don Kent and anchorman Jack Chase on channel 4.  Those guys had those positions for years and years and years until they retired...I think Chase retired in the early 1980s and Don Kent in the late ‘80s.  They were both “legends” and “institutions”. The same was true of the somewhat younger Chet Curtis and his one time wife Natalie Jacobsen at channel 5.  How times have changed.  I guess I’ve got too much of a heart, because I think that instead of “buying out their contracts” and showing them the door, it would have been better to just not renew their contracts next time and kind of sweetly say “good bye”.  That’s why I’m not much of a businessman!

You can’t take ANYTHING for granted, can you?  This Sunday morning I’ll be preaching from Luke chapter 12.  The above passage describes a guy who thought he had great security.  His farming had produced bumper crops beyond his wildest imagination.  He saw nothing but long life and success ahead. God called him a fool.  He was to die that very night!  Nobody expected the train crash in Canton last week.  For what matter who (outside of Al Quida) expected the events of Sept. 11, 2001?  

I did not expect Bob Lobel and the others to “get canned”.  There’s just no SECURITY in THIS life, now, is there...?