Ron Hutchcraft Ministries - Ron Hutchcraft's Blogs

Since Whitney Houston's sudden death Saturday night, the world's been fixated on replaying iconic - and now poignant - performances of her signature songs. What's stuck in my mind is video they've shown of one of her first performances and one of her last.

The early video shows her as a young girl, singing in her Newark, New Jersey church, belting out "just a little talk with Jesus makes it right." The other video was called "Whitney's last public performance." It appeared to be an impromptu duet. The song - "Yes, Jesus Loves Me." I thought, "Bookends of her life."

Clearly, Jesus was part of the life of this legendary performer whose singular way with a song brought people to call her simply "The Voice." But the effusive tributes and the flashbacks of Whitney's unforgettable musical mountaintops are punctuated with the disturbing images of her personal life spinning tragically out of control. Her "turbulent marriage," her battles with admitted drug addiction, the troubling pictures of a beautiful woman in disarray and decline.

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I know you shouldn't yell. Especially on a Sunday. But I did. This past Sunday. During the Super Bowl.

But, hey, my New York Giants were playing for the championship. And they needed my help, my encouragement, my suggestions. How could they hear if I didn't yell? I know it's just earth stuff, but it sure was fun to watch them win. Especially since I have a special attachment to the Giants that goes back to our years in the New York area, when I used to speak for some of their pre-game chapels.

What most people don't know is that some of the Giants' dramatic late-season turnaround is traceable, in part, to a chapel they had last November. The speaker was challenging the attendees to be "all in" as husbands and fathers, as spiritual leaders and followers of Jesus. Then he gave them something I don't ever expect to get from my pastor - a poker chip.

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So everybody wants to talk about the commercials. Great. I want to talk about the Giants.

Yes, my team won the Super Bowl! Who cares about the commercials? Answer: the news, the blogosphere, social networks, gazillions of people at the water cooler. Of course, at $3.5 million for each 30-second ad, advertisers are hoping we're talking about their commercial. And buying whatever they're selling.

I didn't see all the commercials, but one of them blew the others away. It wasn't funny or suggestive. It was just compelling. A still photo from it is, in fact, the first thing I saw on my USA Today.

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Another sad story from the "entertainment capital of the world." There's a lot of it behind all the Hollywood hype.

The sadness behind the stardom hit me again when I read about what just happened to a woman who has been, at times, the highest paid actress in Hollywood. She's been married to two of Hollywood's biggest actors and a cover girl on national magazines.

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