Brian McLaren on Steve Irwin

I told myself that I wouldn't blog on Steve Irwin. It just didn't seem appropriate. I was saddened to hear of his death, especially at the thought of his kids growing up without him. His death is tragic and there's no way around that. Having said that, I can't deny thinking, "Well, this isn't really surprising is it? You hang out with wild animals long enough, something like this is bound to happen."

The reason I wouldn't have posted that is because it seemed silly to put it out there. It's not an earth shattering thought nor a thought countless others haven't had, either. So why the change? Well, I guess as an example of my failure to think of others as better than myself. Brian McLaren has a gift for recognizing the best in others and he has done that once again in Steve's case. (Thanks to Mike Nyman for pointing me to this article.)

And this is one of the main reasons why I love Brian McLaren, little nuggets like this that litter his speech and writing:

I don'’t recall Steve speaking of God much. But every time he said, "Isn'’t that a little beauty!" I think he was speaking for God, the One who notices and loves the smallest goodness of every created thing.

So there you have it. You can, like me focus on what made Steve different or odd, or you could, like Brian, focus on what made Steve a unique child of God.