by Roy Exum
posted January 24, 2008
 Roy Exum |
The child’s name was William Bronner Burgess, but, to many people across the South, he was better known as “Cornbread” because his lovable daddy was always having fun when he would talk about him on his morning radio show.
Cornbread’s dad, you see, is one of “The Two Sexiest Fat Men Alive.” Rick Burgess and his best friend from college, Bill “Bubba” Bussey, are stars of the tremendously-popular “Rick And Bubba” syndicated radio show that is heard on over 40 stations in a dozen states every day. The show originates from Birmingham’s WZZK.
The show is wonderfully funny, but the tape that is sweeping across the country on YouTube is not funny at all. It is, however, so very wonderful because if ever there was a sterling example of how God can turn a tragedy into a triumph here it is.
The first thing you need to know is that the Rick & Bubba Show is a far cry from Don Imus and Howard Stern. Rick and Bubba make their show fit for a family to hear on the way to school. The two guys, now in their mid-40s, met one another at Jacksonville State when they worked together at the student radio station.
The way Rick got to Jacksonville State was because his daddy, Bill Burgess, was a high school football coach of considerable legend in Oxford, Ala., and had finally been lured away to Jax State, where in 1992 Coach Burgess’ Gamecocks won the NCAA Division II national championship.
So if you take the time to listen to Rick’s talk at his son’s funeral – and I pray to God you’ll do that sometime this weekend – you’ll find when he asks you to “get tough” and “step up to the next level” and “stay strong,” there is a lot of his daddy’s fire coursing through his veins.
When the two-year-old Bronner was found in the family swimming pool late Saturday afternoon, Rick was with 7,000 teenagers in Pigeon Forge at a youth rally. A devout Christian, he is in constant demand to mix his marvelous humor with an inspiring message.
And so as we scratch our heads and wonder aloud how the same God that Rick Burgess so gloriously serves could suddenly snatch away his baby, believe me when I say that Rick covers that real well in the message you’ll find on YouTube by going first to RickandBubba.com for the prompts.
Rick explains in his remarks that there is no way he could speak at his son’s service, which was held before a turn-away crowd in the huge Shade Mountain Baptist Church, “but God can and, through His strength and power, here I am.”
He also explains God has told his followers that they’ll have trouble in their life. “There is much more trial and tribulation in the Bible than happy times, but God also says, ‘Take heart, for I have long owned the world.’”
On the website, in addition to a picture of “Cornbread,” is the verse from 1 Thessalonians (5:10) which reads, “He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with him.”
So as you see where over 100,000 have already listened to Bronner’s dad plead that each one of us honor his child’s memory by asking God to come into our hearts, it becomes startling clear that Cornbread’s legacy, now in just the third day since the service, is very easily found in this message.
And, that in the face of overwhelming tragedy, there is a triumph to be found just as easily to those willing to take that step.
royexum@aol.com
) William Bronner "Cornbread" Burgess |
| Dining Out | Business | Movies | Focus | About Us |
| Church | Living Well | Memories | Outdoors | Real Estate | Student Scene | Travel |
