Can you imagine your name inscribed in granite? No … no, not your tombstone. That’s not difficult to achieve. I’m talking about Hollywood Boulevard. Can you fathom being so famous you have a star in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre? To get there, you would have to distinguish yourself in one of five categories: Live Theater, Motion Pictures, Radio, Recording or Television. What if you were so famous you earned a star in all five categories. That’s only happened for one person … Gene Autry.
Anyway, you’d be in an elite group. From the 1920s to present, only 2600 people have been awarded stars. That’s a bit of a misstatement; three of that number were dogs and eighteen were fictional characters. Still … who wouldn’t want to be as famous as Lassie or Godzilla?
Have you secretly dreamt of fame and fortune? Maybe it wasn’t as a performer. You just wanted to stand out in your career. You fantasized about inventing the “next big thing.” You had lofty financial aspirations. You wanted to be a published author. Some of you even realized your dreams.
Fame can be fickle though. When I was researching the “Walk of Fame,” articles kept talking about celebrities being “immortalized.” That’s seems a ridiculously overblown description for having your name in a granite monument less than a hundred years old. How long it will endure? Is your star secure? James Stewart, Gregory Peck and Kirk Douglas all had their stars stolen. Donald Trump’s star for the Apprentice TV series was recently hacked to bits by a man venting his political opinions. Most of the stars, which have remained intact, have fallen prey to another vandal … forgetfulness. That villain eventually erases almost everyone from public memory.
Despite these realities, I still treasure one dream of fame. There’s a group of luminaries which I long to join. The renown will not be ours, it will not accrue to our personal glory … but it will be truly immortal! There’s a day coming for honor … or shame. God told His prophet Daniel,
Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever. Daniel 12:2–3
