Mary Crosby was the actress who played Kristen Shephard, the character who shot the series leading man, JR Ewing. Mary is the youngest child of actor/singer Bing Crosby and his second wife Kathryn Grant, and for a short time in the late 1970’s and early 80’s she was the “talk of the town” Since her brief flirtation with fame, she has made a few movies and guest appearances on largely forgettable TV shows, like “The Love Boat” and “Beverly Hills 90210”
Mary discovered what so many others have discovered…that fame is fleeting. It was C.S. Lewis who wrote, “The personal triumph of an athlete or a girl at a ball is transitory: the point is to remember that an empire or a civilization is also transitory. All achievements and triumphs, in so far as they are this-worldly achievements and triumphs, will come to nothing in the end. Most scientists here join hands with theologians; the earth will not always be inhabitable. Mankind, though longer lived than man, is equally mortal. The difference is that whereas the scientists expect only a slow decay from within, we reckon with a sudden interruption from without-at any moment.” 1
For a short period
Mary Crosby was a cult figure, she was hero worshipped by many, elevated to an
artificial status, but as she herself has said, now she is just a trivia
question. The utter silliness of her
position was lost to all who her placed her on
a pedestal, and the false worship of her make-believe character was ultimately
doomed to go the way of all flesh…into oblivion.
The Apostle John expressed that eventual futility this way… “Because all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passes away, and the lust of it, but he who does the will of God abides forever. John 2:16-17
The Message Bible
puts those verses this way… “Practically everything that goes on in the
world--wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear
important--has nothing to do with the Father. It just isolates you from him.
The world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting is on the way out--but whoever
does what God wants is set for eternity.”
Isaiah, inspired by Holy Spirit, wrote of a far better option than fleeting fame and notoriety…. Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat. Yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
Why do you weigh silver for what is not bread? And toil for
what never satisfies? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and let
your soul delight itself in fatness. Isaiah
55:1-2
… Why does mankind
feel so empty in the 21st century when, in more than any other age, we
have succeeded in satisfying all our needs and making over the world for our own
use?
Why? Because we have
failed to satisfy our real needs, we have, in the words of Isaiah… “Toiled for
what never satisfies” We have spent our energy on that which will never
satisfy, on that which is ultimately, empty.
There is no contest; fleeting fame, or eternal life… “I call Heaven and earth to record today against you. I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore, choose life, so that both you and your seed may live, so that you may love Jehovah your God, and that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him. For He is your life and the length of your days, so that you may dwell in the land which Jehovah swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give it to them.” Deuteronomy 30:19-20
1 C.S. Lewis, Earth’s Last Night and Other Essays.
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