SOMEONE ELSE PAID A GREAT PRICE

“[Jesus Christ] gave Himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for Himself a people that are His very own, eager to do what is good.” (Titus 2:14 NIV)

The late radio broadcaster, Paul Harvey, used to tell a story about Lieutenant Commander Edward Henry "Butch" O'Hare, the Navy's number-one ace in the Second World War and the first naval aviator ever to win the Congressional Medal of Honor.  Chicago's O'Hare International Airport is named for him.

What Butch O'Hare became, however, was made possible because someone else paid a great price.  That someone else was Butch's father, Edward J. O'Hare, a slick lawyer for the gangster Al Capone.  "Artful Eddie", as he was known, had money and power, but one day he squealed on Capone.  The reason for this sudden change of heart?  He wanted to give his son a break, he said.  Before long, the mob silenced Artful Eddie with two shotgun blasts.

But because of Eddie's courageous change of heart, his son Butch was accepted at Annapolis:  Eddie's confession and subsequent death satisfied admissions people that the family's mob connections were severed.  Artful Eddie paid with his own life for his son's chance to make good, something that Jesus Christ did for each of us on the Cross. 

-- Steven D. Mathewson 

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