(Above: Rick & Bubba discuss Robin Williams’ death)
Birmingham-based, nationally-syndicated talk radio hosts Rick Burgess and Bill “Bubba” Bussey reacted to the apparent suicide of actor and comedian Robin Williams Tuesday, urging their listeners who struggle with depression to find peace in eternal things, rather than what the world has to offer.
“He went into a depression that he couldn’t come out of. They said that’s what ultimately led to his final decision,” said Burgess. “I know depression is a very real thing — I really do… It doesn’t matter how much worldly success you have, if you don’t have peace, it’s all fleeting.”
While listening to everyone trying to understand Robin Williams death. I here the words Jesus in John 16:33. We all want peace
— rick burgess (@bigvox) August 12, 2014
“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” – John 16:33
You can have everything the world has to offer and if you don't have peace, hope and joy…it's meaningless. The flesh is never satisfied
— rick burgess (@bigvox) August 12, 2014
Here’s a lightly edited transcript of the rest of Burgess’s remarks:
I watched the video of him when he finally had that moment in his career — he’d already been successful and there was more to come — but there was a moment where he finally broke out of the ‘Hey, I’m the funny, zany guy that did Mork from Ork’ and was given an Academy Award for his job in Good Will Hunting. I bet when he went home that night he probably said, ‘You know what, I’ve made it.’ But what happens, you see — that moment that night, it went away. It’s over.
I’m thinking to myself about the pinnacles that we’ve been able to see in our lives. But they’re over. Some people (say), ‘They can never take that away from you.’ Well, that’s true, but it’s still over. It’s fleeting. Everything the world gives you, it just vanishes. Solomon talked about that when he wrote his final book that, hey, I’ve experienced it all but this stuff is a vapor. All this stuff the world hands you it’s just like trying to hang on to a vapor. It just vaporizes. So you have to have something bigger than that. There has to be something that is eternal. If all you have is temporal, it’s like enjoying a good meal, but then the meal is gone. The meal does not last forever. Once it’s consumed, it’s over.
Follow Cliff on Twitter @Cliff_Sims
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