How Fleeting is Life

-by Andrew Strom

Most of us heard the sad news last week that in one day two
pop icons passed away. Farrah Fawcett was 63 and died
after a long battle with cancer. Michael Jackson the "prince of pop",
aged only 50, died in even sadder circumstances. How tragic that
even the vast machinery of fame cannot shield its many lost sons
from a lonely, miserable existence and an unhappy end.

No doubt Farrah Fawcett could look back on the glory years when
young women around the world imitated her hairstyle and her "look".
I can remember as a kid watching "Charlie's Angels", though I have
to admit far preferring "The Six Million Dollar Man" as a 10-year-old.
She will be remembered as a battler to the end, an icon of her era.
But oh, how fleeting is life. And oh, how empty is fame. And oh,
how pointless is earthly success when eternity stretches before all.

Michael Jackson could have looked back on years of pop glory
and superstar fame - when his dance moves dazzled the whole
world. But then came the surgeries, the bizarre behaviour, the ugly
allegations, the court cases, the hundreds of million$ of debt.

Like another famous "prince" of pop (actually - his father in law -
Elvis Presley), he seemingly died unhappy and alone, his
"comeback" unrealized, his fame a chain around his neck, his
death a shock in one still so young. Elvis died at 42, and now his
son-in-law Michael at 50. Fame seemingly does not take good care
of its own when they pass their "use-by" date. And so the ephemeral
idols of our shallow culture continue crashing down.

"For what is your life?" asks the apostle James. "It is a vapor that
appears for a little time, and then vanishes away."

"Vanity of vanities," says the Preacher of Ecclesiastes, "All is
vanity... All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to
dust again."

If it is one thing we can learn from the life and death of every 'icon'
on this planet, it is that we all must live with eternity in view, not
the fleeting charade of this present world. As Leonard Ravenhill so
eloquently asked, "Are the things you're living for worth Christ dying for?"

Make it a great day!

-Pastor Randy