Sermon Central
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Legacy: The Amazing Randi
Contributed by Johnny Wilson on Apr 26, 2009 (message contributor)
LEGACY: THE AMAZING RANDI
How many of you have heard of "The Amazing Randi?" He was a stage magician, "mentalist," and escape artist (in the tradition of Houdini). He once escaped from a block of ice and once escaped from a straitjacket while hanging upside-down over Niagara Falls. He once broke a record for staying underwater (in an air-tight coffin) for over two hours in a public pool in London, England. Today, he is something of a "debunker" who reveals the "tricks" behind some stage magic and alleged psychic powers.
But the real reason I bring up the Amazing Randi is that Penn Gillette is writing a biography of him and, in that biography, he has revealed that when the fellow was performing as a "mentalist" on-stage, he would awaken each morning and take a note out of his wallet, destroy it, write a new one, and put it in his wallet. The note essentially said: "I am James Randi. This is xx-xx-xxxx and today will be the day I die." That way, IF he died on that day, someone would find the note, believe that he had accurately predicted the day of his death, and his legend would live on. That’s a lot of trouble to guarantee your legacy when you’re not, by definition, going to be around to enjoy it.
What if we all had a sheet of paper in our wallet today? What if they all said something like, "I am Johnny Lee Wilson. Today is April 26, 2009 and I know that this will be the day that I die?" Would that day be spent doing something where we’re in control and comfortable, our version of a fishing expedition, or would that day be spent feeding lambs, tending the whole flock, and feeding the sheep? You see, I’m shamed by the useless dedication of the Amazing Randi to go through that ritual with the wallet when I have a Lord that can make sure that every day is His day—-even if it’s the day that I die. How about you?
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