Watching the ASU-Missouri football game on TV last Saturday caused Sherri and I to remember a chance meeting with our good friend, Jim Peterson, at another ASU-Missouri game over 20 years ago.
Jim and I had become friends while working together in radio. When he walked through the front door of the station, I immediately recognized him. Jim had been a star pitcher for the ASU Sun Devils baseball team. He left after his junior season and signed a contract with the Dodgers organization. Arm problems forced Jim to retire so he returned to ASU to finish his degree in Mass Communications. He came to our station looking for a job and our manager hired him. Soon Jim and I were working together every day.
After a time I realized that Jim wasn't the person I thought he would be. He was not an ex-jock full of himself. Jim didn't brag about his accomplishments. He was a humble person who was more interested in talking about Christ Jesus instead of himself.
I learned a lot about Jim during the time we worked together. Jim knew the Scriptures. He relied on them for direction for daily living. He was passionate about telling others that faith in Jesus was the only way to heaven. He was a good apologist for the faith and easily shared the story of Jesus' suffering, death and resurrection with anyone willing to listen. Jim was a person I very much wanted to emulate.
Eventually, Jim got a job hosting a sports talk program on a Phoenix station and then moved into television. We lost track of one another for awhile. Then, out of the blue, Jim called me from New Jersey. He had moved there with his wife and had become a member of an LCMS congregation. We touched base every few months until he called one day with shocking news. He had been diagnosed with throat cancer.
Jim went through several surgeries along with chemo and radiation therapy. But the cancer was aggressive and I couldn't believe it when he wife called one morning to say that Jim had passed away.
I traveled to California for Jim's funeral service. As I opened the church bulletin, I read a message that Jim had asked to be printed. It read, "Don't talk about me...talk about Jesus Christ." It was pure Jim Peterson.
Give thanks to the Lord today for the people who have made a difference in your life. I'll do the same, beginning with my good friend and brother in the faith - Jim Peterson.
