Whitney’s life mourned
If you were to ask my parents about my childhood, there is no doubt Whitney Houston would be mentioned. As a 3 and 4-year-old, I had the entire soundtrack to “The Bodyguard” memorized. There are numerous home videos of my performances of “I Will Always Love You” that I am sure are bound to resurface since the unfortunate news of Houston’s death Feb. 10.
In the days since her death, there have been tributes from prayers and songs at the Grammy Awards to her televised funeral Feb. 18 which featured Alicia Keys, Bebe and Cece Winans, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin and several more artists and actors.
Many people remember her for the constant struggle she had with drug addiction or the poisonous marriage to singer Bobby Brown. However, events like her funeral at New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, N.J., reminded the audience and viewers of the faith instilled into her life from the beginning. She sang in the church choir where she probably got her real start to singing.
I have no doubt that Houston is in heaven today. Just because she had struggles and appeared at times to not be strong in her Christian faith did not mean she was not a believer. Hearing some Christians persecute those mourning Houston’s loss is not only offensive to me, but also sad. Every person on this planet has struggled with sin at some point in his or her life. Imagine you are a wealthy celebrity and have a large amount of money — the temptation is surely extremely hard and Satan is probably even more at work to throw you off the track of what is pure and holy.
People are always trying to find assurance and positive feedback to whether he or she is accomplished. This applies to anyone, but actor Kevin Costner said Houston tried to gain that assurance from her family, her church and others for her singing — wondering if she was good.
“When you sing before Him, don’t you worry — you’ll be good enough,” Costner said as he left the podium to a standing ovation.
I think this is a struggle that applies to all of us. No matter what we have done in our lives or how far we have strayed from God, He will always take us back and we should embrace Him.
I am an avid watcher of E! News and this entire week has been dedicated to the death of Whitney Houston. She is everywhere in the media. Even the magazines at the grocery store are stamped with Whitney on the front cover. While Whitney did have her struggles during her life, it seems the nation is choosing to remember her in light of her dark moments. We are finding the true impact Whitney had on the world after her death. The same occurred with other famous musicians such as Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson. During their lifetime, it was easy to criticize their drug habits or promiscuous lifestyle, however, now that they have been laid to rest, they can do no more wrong. We choose to remember these music legends as stars that have changed America for the better through their gift of incredible music talent. Whitney may have been one of the best singers to have ever lived, and her legend will remain unforgotten throughout history.