Thursday, April 21, 2016

PRINCE Died, and you will also...

Welcome everyone,

Well it happened again.  Another celebrity has passed away.  Today it was Prince Rogers Nelson,or Prince, or that symbol.  I imagine that Purple Rain will be playing on Cable TV this weekend.   I started to see the platitudes on Twitter and Facebook.  Another musical legend is done.  I can see some of the pedestal raising now.  The larger than life artist has died.  It was the same for Bowie recently, and, I presume, will be again for the next artist.

Now, I personally have nothing against Prince, Bowie, or other artists or celebrities.  We should celebrate their greatness, their art, and what they brought to our lives.  However, when it comes down to it, they, and we, are all human, and we will one day all die.

Mortality.  The word itself seems scary.  The word, Death also.  I will be turning 50 in a few days  (May 2nd), and realize that perhaps unless I live to be 100, that I have lived more years on this earth than I have left.  Soon AARP forms will be in the mail, and I will be asked about funeral pre-planning.  (Not done yet, but I have a will and life insurance in place)  When I was 20, I thought that 50 was old.  Now, I am almost one of them, and still believing that I am young at heart and in spirit.

We learn in our Men's Fraternity group at church that how you approach the end of your life, will determine how you will live it today.  Some live just for today, that this life is all their is.  Others, embrace a transcendent cause, and want to leave a legacy that follows them.    It defines your life.  Live for the moment, or live for a legacy.

Prince is leaving a legacy of his music.  It will live on after we are gone.  For some, the music will transport them back to another place and time.  He was a gifted artist and shared his talent with the world.  We should be so lucky.

In an interview, Prince said he was a devout Christian.  He said he had changed over the course of his life and was not the same, as in his younger days.  There are posts that he is rocking in Heaven,  Or he flying with the angels.  I don't know what he is doing right now.  I do believe that if he believed in Jesus, and received him in, then he is in Heaven.

As a Christian, that is what I believe in.  That Jesus died for me (and you) and that all who believe in him shall receive eternal life.  That there is life after death.  Death is a natural part of life, and we can live forever.  I believe in a relationship, not some hokey religion, or a set of rules.  A real relationship with an all-powerful, all-knowing and unseen God.    I heard this phrase before and is one way I want to live my life.

"I would rather live my life believing there is a God, then die and find out there is not one.  Then live my life with no God, then die and found out there is one."

So today, we mourn the loss of a great talent, and pause to consider our own mortality.  We all will die one day.  It's how we live that matters.

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