On October 12, William Shatner, who played Captain James T. Kirk on the old series Star Trek, will be heading into space for real aboard Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin rocket. Unlike the Enterprise’s five-year mission, this trip will only last minutes. Still, at the age of 90, it will make him the oldest person to travel into space.
People have made fun of William Shatner for the crazy things he sometimes does. But you have to give the old guy credit to be 90 years old and still doing crazy things!
“Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming, WOW !!!! What a ride!”
There are multiple renditions of that saying that pop up now and again on Facebook or Pinterest and other places. As I read it again this morning, I thought how aptly it applies not just to William Shatner and going into space at the age of 90, but how it also should apply to us as we follow our LORD and Savior Christ Jesus through this life.
Jesus was clear when He told His followers that they have to give all to Him. One of the hardest commands of Jesus is found in Luke 14:26: “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, and even his own life—he cannot be My disciple.” [HCSB]
Does Jesus really want us to “hate” those closest to us when He tells us in other places we are not even to hate our enemies? No, of course not. Jesus was talking not about actively hating, but comparatively hating. He wants us to follow Him so fully, so intensely, and with so much passion that all other attachments in our life look like hate by comparison.
That kind of passion for following Him as Savior and LORD, does not diminish as we age. I think it becomes stronger even as our bodies may become weaker. When the exterior trappings of following Him fade, the interior relationship becomes so much more intense.
So, William Shatner may do something crazy like going into space at 90, but if I am still around at 90, I hope and pray that those who see me will say … she totally wore herself out following her Savior and LORD! Amen.
