Sorry, but I have obviously slipped in to some alternate reality. When you see Shaun Ryder and Bez singing along to Summer Nights from Grease you know this cannot be real life. Celebrity Gogglebox.
I have to admit I have got a bit hooked on this programme. I look at it a bit like zoom bookshelf watching. The thing I find interesting is the background that comes out about the celebrity lives. This comes in two parts – the first part is the celebrity magazine stuff – what the celebrities have done. I’m not too interested in that. What really interests me is the list of things they have no understanding of.
I think they may have invested so much in their career that they may have missed a lot of the life others have experienced. Just a guess, but they certainly have some parts of life experience missing that many others have.
We all have dreams when we are young. I always wanted to be a garbage collector. Never made it though. I would love to get in to space, not much chance now. I challenge anybody to achieve everything in life. In reality we all choose a path at the expense of the alternatives.
This week saw the memorial for Gilberto. There was one thing that struck me.
Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we’d better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!
Hebrews 12:1-3
I’ve had a lot of things to do this week. The memorial challenged me to get a focus on a simple single goal and work toward that. When you look at a life well lived like Gilberto’s you can see a single hearted purpose – to love and serve others. Leave everything else behind and walk on.