Whitney, we have to salute you one more time and perhaps many times over as the future unveils the impact of your influence. Today, as millions viewed your Homecoming, it dawned on me that there is one award that you have not won, that you certainly won today, posthumously.

Today, you have garnered a World-Wide Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the dramatic, 48-year old movie called “Life”.

You smiled, you sang, you danced, you bowed, you spoke, you dressed, you gave, you loved. You failed, you hurt, you abused, you angered, you cried, and still you loved. We watched you pose, marry, mother, and act. We did so from private lives and we watched you live yours publicly.

This is why you are so deserving of Best Supporting Actress. No, I didn’t make a mistake and I do not mean to offend you with the word, “supporting”. I know I speak for many when I say that as you acted out your role in life, given to you by God, you supported me and thousands if not millions of others.

I have been able to make my mistakes in private. My secret loves and personal passions are still in my closet and yet yours were exposed for everyone to see. Thank you for your support.

So many women were able to gain ground while you bellowed out “I’m Every Woman”, and as you supported us by living, we did as most “best actresses” have done movie after movie. We forgot to acknowledge your role.

So many marriages gained strength from your public marriage. While many married couples were able to have their “crazy moments” behind closed doors, reality television exposed all of yours for us to once again criticize and explore forgetting again to acknowledge just how often the one we choose to love is not always the best choice for us. Thank you, Whitney for your support.

It is obvious from everyone that loved you that you lived every single minute of your life aware of your Savior, Jesus, and aware of your frailty as a human. So many Christians have tentatively supported you afraid of what those religious among us might say, and your funeral once again reveals the expansiveness of your support for others. While many of us have prided ourselves in our good church attendance, Bible reading, and pious prayers in front of others, you reminded us that it is all about the personal relationship.

48 years. For 48 years you have supported us publicly as we lived privately. This year and for many, many to come, it is you, Whitney Houston, that deserves Best Supporting Actress for the most realistic movie never written, “Life”.

I only regret we didn’t give it to you when you were a live.

Rest in Peace and we receive the Peace that graced your life.