In a scene reminiscent of Michael Jackson’s life, today’s memorial service at the Staples Center promises to be a media circus unlike anything LA has ever seen.
Seventeen thousand fans are expected at the arena, with thousands more watching the event in 50 theaters across the country. And police are gearing up for thousands more to crowd the streets around downtown LA in an attempt to catch a glimpse of the service on the video screens outside.

And in a most fitting coincidence, Ringling Bros. circus is scheduled to open tomorrow at the Staples Center; this morning the elephants will walk from the train station to the arena. Jackson would have loved that.
As LA gears up for the final Jackson extravaganza, I’m left thinking about the man who was Michael Jackson. Over on my Examiner.com Christian Living columnI’ve mused a bit about Jackson, but there’s one point that I really want to share with you:
Michael Jackson was just a man. A talented man, to be sure. But a lonely man amidst the crowds, a man with children he loved and friends who loved him and family that drove him nuts. A man with problems, but a man who put on a smile every day when he went to work.
In other words, a man just like you.
As fans work themselves into a frenzy over the King of Pop, take a moment to look around today and notice someone like Michael Jackson, someone who needs a friend, who may be struggling with personal demons and who needs a shoulder to cry on.
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