"God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast and when I run, I feel his pleasure."
Tommy Burns
Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints Psalm 116:15
This week saw the death of a legend of Scottish football, Tommy Burns, who lost his battle with cancer. He was only 51. TB made a total of 352 league appearances for Celtic, scoring 52 goals. He also gained eight caps for Scotland. He was manager of Kilmarnock and Celtic as well as an assistant coach of Scotland. Until shortly before his death, he had been working as Celtic's head of youth development, as well as maintaining a role on Gordon Strachan's Celtic first-team coaching staff.
I met him once when he spoke clearly about his faith is Jesus Christ. In a TV programme, the interviewer said to him: "Mr Burns, I've read that you go to church every day. You must be a very holy person". His reply, "Quite the opposite. It is because I am such a sinful person that I need to go to church every day". Sinful but forgiven.
What Paul Azinger said at the funeral of his friend and fellow pro golfer Payne Stewart is also true of Tommy Burns: "Payne Stewart fought the good fight, Payne Stewart finished the race, Payne Stewart kept the faith. Now there is in store for Payne Stewart the crown of righteousness".
Tommy Burns was a sinner like the rest of us but he believed in Jesus, and when his race was finished, Jesus was there to give him the crown of righteousness.