"The world just got a little less funny. He will be missed dearly." says friend George Clooney of Bernie Mac who died suddenly of Pneumonia.
Reading about his life brought to mind how much we miss seeing the whole picture of someone's life because of their fame.
We start thinking that his character consisted of only what we see on television.
While reading about Bernie Mac this morning I saw several things that can help what he brought to the world be continued.
I'm not referring to being a comedian. I speaking of the qualities that made up who he was and how he got there.
Mom Believed in Him
Mac's mother died of cancer when he was 16. In his book, Mac said she was a support for him and told him he would surprise everyone when he grew up.
"Woman believed in me," he wrote. "She believed in me long before I believed."
People in our life can effect us two ways: either to quench the fire that burns in our souls or fan the flame. His mother chose to fan the flame. It was that flame that kept his dream burning at times when the world seemed cold.
Estranged relationship with Father
Mac had only seen his dad about dozen times.
This where we could make a choice about the legacy we leave for our own families.
Do we follow the road of pain? Or do we set the foundation of a new legacy. He chose the latter.
His daughter described he as a great dad. In one of his books he described how he felt about being a dad and said he couldn't stop looking at her. He would wake up in the middle of the night just to see her face. He didn't understand how anyone would leave a child.
He broke a legacy that could have continued by making a choice to be a great dad to his daughter who was by his side when he died.
Husband for 30 years
His wife who was also at his side when he died said that he was
her best friend. They were together through the ups and downs of his career. What impressed me about his wife was from his autobiography. When they had to move into his grandfathers apartment he felt like a failure. He told his wife one night he was sorry. She told him that he didn't have to be sorry and that they were going to make it.
How awesome to see support in the midst of feeling humiliated. Impressive and true to self of Mac was being able in that time to be honest with what he was feeling with her. He spoke about trying to keep the poison of feeling like a failure from effecting his family, but it seeped out anyway. The important thing is that the end result was honesty to reality surrounded by the love of someone who believed in him.
Bernie Mac the Producer
"When I showed up to work, he said something to me that had never been said to me on a set before," she says. "He said, 'Baby girl, the script here is not the Bible. Do you, and I'll follow. I got mine, you get yours.' When he said that, I knew everything was going to be all right. I was happy to have the freedom to make up some funny with him. It was simply delicious."
Adds Nash, "My working experiences with Bernie were so amazing, that from that point on, I wouldn't have cared if he called me in the middle of the night to come and be in a scene where I didn't have anything to do but sit in the background and eat cereal. I would've just done it because I loved him like that."
What I loved about this focus on his life was how he related to his fellow actors. God used this quote from the actress to impress on my heart what Biblical Submission looks like. Whether it is in marriage, career, etc.
I cringed when I looked at the word submission. It reminded me of when I was told by clergy to submit to an abusive spouse because "God hates divorce."
That's until I met the true God of the Bible for myself and found a Church that shows his character with truth and Grace. Like God intends.
Going back to the Bernie Mac example, He gave this new actress a gift that seals submission: freedom and kindness.
Notice Niecy Nash's response - "I wouldn't have cared if he called me in the middle of the night to come and be in a scene where I didn't have anything to do but sit in the background and eat cereal."
True submission personified!
Authenticity Need Only Apply
Bernie Mac refused succumbing to altering his personality for television.
Bernie Mac is a comedian that refused to change his image for Hollywood and says that his life in Chicago is who he is and there is nothing that will change that.
The TV and film industries of the 1980’s were not interested in Mac;
While success was a long time coming, he is now a household name.
Mac said: "I'm not a star, and I don't want to be a star. Stars fall. I'm an ordinary guy with an extraordinary job."
He traveled a road that many of us try to hop and skip over today: building his success while shaping his character. Many times we fall prey to movies like the secret that tell us that all we have to do is imagine this and that and poof- out comes millions of dollars. I got swept up in this whirlwind for a quick second. Knowing you have a desire in your heart that you feel its fire with no place to release the heat. This primes us ready for two options: Marketers that know you want to make money and live the life of your dreams so they cater to your needs without fulfilling their promises. I reaped the consequences of a promise failed and off to the next victim they go a little richer and you a little poorer in both funds and hope.
Back to the story, Mac allowed his character to shape his career. He didn't form a television persona to project to the world based on "trends" he set the trend. God didn't make any two of us a like. Yet in our society we strive to be the same while profession individuality.
True success is driven by God with laser focus on his will. No one can take that away from you. Society ebbs and flows on trends. God remains the same yesterday today and forever. Amen.
Last Words from this Bernie Mac Brief:
"I came from a place where there wasn't a lot of joy," Mac told the AP in 2001. "I decided to try to make other people laugh when there wasn't a lot of things to laugh about."
What broken things from our past can we give to God today through Christ that can be turned to glorify him in the earth? Start today. And live fully.
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