Anna Nicole Smith and Brittney Spears

The death of Anna Nicole Smith on February 8th has been the #1 news story in the past few weeks…that, and the shaved head of Brittany Spears! When I heard about Anna Nicole's tragic death, unfortunately, I was not surprised. Who was? Before her death, Anna Nicole had become a routine punch line on Leno and Letterman. Today however, her notoriety takes on a different picture. Anna's story is now a modern day parable to the apostle Paul’s statement: "What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, but to forfeit his soul?" Anna reminds us all that you can have the fame and fortune, but still be bankrupt in Kingdom currency.

We see this proven everyday. Just pick up a People magazine on any given week and find the famous and idolized falling apart in front of the world to see. Most celebrity marriages have the life expectancy of a carton of milk and the rich and famous seem to be the depressed and shameless. One would think that the message of Anna Nicole's death, would be a wake up call to the Brittney Spears of the world.

Anna Nicole and Britney seem to have a lot in common. They both seem to be surrounded by entourages that don’t have the best of intentions. When you surround yourself with people that have the intent to profit from you at any cost, all sense of accountability is lost. Where were the people in Anna Nicole's life to stop her out-of-control behavior? The more erratic she acted the more her entourage exploited her shortcomings for profit. Who is speaking hard truth into Britney's life? Who tells Britney “No!” you can’t leave rehab two times in one week? I pray not only for the Britneys and Anna Nichols of the world, but their children as well.

To end with a glimmer of hope I want to bring to your attention a video that’s been posted on You Tube. It’s an interview with Anna Nicole. In it she talks about her faith. Sure it’s riddled with spiritual jargin and you don’t want to hang your hat on any of her theology, but it does give us hope that she was a believer in Christ. Here is the link to the interview: http://www.jesuslives.com/

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