As a kid growing up, you always knew when the movie was over—it told you so! Big as life, it would come on the screen and say, “The End”. Not like most movies today, whether for the big screen or TV, that just end and have you saying, “Don’t tell me that’s the end!”
Call me silly or foolish but there was something comforting at the end of the movie when it told you “the end”. With those two words came a sense of closure; a setting that you walked away with that left no questions. In a world that every day seems to bring new questions and leave many unanswered, closure is kind of nice. However, life seldom is like the movies (at least the old ones where the couple lived happily ever after).
This past week, we saw three famous people in the news—all three reporting their death—Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson. All three of these people died at different ages and by different causes, but the end result is still death.
Ed McMahon is best remembered as the side-kick for Johnny Carson. Many people do not know that he was a retired Colonel in the US Marine Corps Reserve and was commissioned a Brigadier General in the California Air National Guard. He lived 86 years and was considered successful by almost any standard. At the end of life, he died an avowed atheist.
Farrah Fawcett, made famous by a one year stint on the hit TV show “Charlie’s Angels” had all the world offered; beauty, fame, fortune and tragedy. At only 62, Death had stalked her for years as she battled cancer and the world watched. Farrah was a professing Roman Catholic at the end of her life.
Michael Jackson, age 50, was an enigma. Jackson had talent beyond most that will ever live but that gift was overshadowed by the surgeries, the bizarre behavior, the ugly allegations, the court cases, the millions of dollars of debt. In 2007, fleeing his scandal back home, Jackson moved to Bahrain and announced he had converted to Islam.
Interestingly, all three lived their lives, became wealthy and famous and enjoyed all the good things this world has to offer. They started at different points, traveled different roads to get there and arrived at different times—and basically, left at the same time.
Christians know that death is not the end, but the beginning. Hebrews 9:27 declares, “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.”
For Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson, this week doesn’t mark the end. For them, it is just beginning. Given what is known (or not known) about their individual spiritual condition—that is a sobering thought.
If there 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. As Leonard Ravenhill so eloquently asked, "Are the things you’re living for worth Christ dying for?"
Only you can answer that question!

