Sluggards and Escapists

I was chatting with a waiter the other day, and he gave me an interesting answer to a question I asked him. I usually say to waiters at some point toward the end of my meal, “Three questions for you.” They typically respond by saying “fire away” or “go for it.” I wait for them to give me an answer after each one. 

The three questions I ask are these:

1. Do you ever think about what happens when you die?
2. What makes you think about it?
3. What conclusion have you come to?

Nice, simple, non-threatening questions that usually lead to a neat conversation. This waiter said that he thinks about life and death whenever a celebrity dies. He mentioned that Pee Wee Herman had recently passed away, and his mind started thinking about all of this again.

Well, Jimmy Buffet recently died, and I thought about this waiter. I knew he would be processing the issues of life and death again. But the good news is that he knows what Jesus has done for him, and he has some materials he can read that will explain it to him further.

Singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett, who popularized beach bum soft rock with the escapist Caribbean-flavored song “Margaritaville” and turned that celebration of loafing into an empire of restaurants, resorts, and frozen concoctions, has died. He was 76. 

“Jimmy passed away peacefully on the night of September 1^st surrounded by his family, friends, music, and dogs,” a statement posted to Buffett’s official website and social media pages said late Friday. “He lived his life like a song till the very last breath and will be missed beyond measure by so many.”  

A “celebration of loafing”? When did that ever become a goal we should aspire to? Make so much money that we can just lounge around all day? Is that really how this life should be spent?

Proverbs:13:4The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing: but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat.
See All...: The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing: but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat.

From the same article: It’s pure escapism is all it is,” he [Buffet] told the Republic….“Pure escapism”? Well, he may have escaped some things down here, but Judgment Day will determine if he escapes the Lake of Fire for all of eternity.

They say that Jimmy Buffet had become a billionaire from all of his music, restaurants, and spin-off products by the time he died. Well, my Bible couldn’t be any clearer on that subject:

Mark:8:36For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?
See All...: For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?

—Mark Cahill (born March 16, 1962, author, speaker, and evangelist).