Envision your Finish

What a week! Two celebrity icons pass away on the same day. Two journeys come to an end. Two lives so similar and so different. Two very clear messages.

Farrah spent most of her life celebrating and marketing her God given gift of beauty. She didn't just rest on the bank ability of her looks. She learned acting. She created works of art. She lived and loved. Just when you may have thought this was her life's journey, she is thrown a loop by being diagnosed with cancer. Instead of opting to privately endure her battle, she invited the cameras in to document the suffering that goes with it. So many of us have experienced a loved one fighting cancer, but when a celebrity brings it to a headline, it makes us more aware of what so many are going through. I think Farrah's true mission was to remind us that everyone feels pain, loss, and faces death, no matter who they are. Farrah lived as an icon, but died as the real, fragile human being that she was. The pretty facade hid a strong will and life with purpose.

Michael Jackson was raised in the spotlight. Constantly under the microscope, he spent his journey seeking privacy and a childhood he never had, while using his God given talent to fill the world with music and entertainment. Constantly re-inventing himself, he was the comeback king. But, like Peter Pan, he never seemed to grow up. He never wanted to. I can't help to wonder what he would have been like had he "put away such childish things" and embraced adulthood. A lot different, but I'm not sure he would have had to worry about things like tabloids and paparazzi. His masks drew more attention then deflected. But a child wouldn't know any better. Normally our childhood ends and we mature with what we learned as children. Michael never let it end. And now he leaves the world unfinished by choice. It kind of makes you appreciate being an adult.

From the ends of these two journeys, we are reminded that our journey too will end. Probably when we least expect it. Are we ready? Can we face God knowing we gave of what he asked of us to others? That we led others to Him through example and words? That we represented Him through our actions and our heart? If He ends our journey tomorrow, have we packed and prepared today?