The artist known as Prince, then formerly known as Prince, then as Prince again passed away on April 21, 2016. He is known as a singer and songwriter with a flamboyant and masterful stage presence. Selling over 100 million records worldwide, few have ever or will ever reach as many people as he did through his art, as testified to by seven Grammys and both an American Music and Golden Globe award. Rolling Stone called him “the most influential artist of the rock and roll era” and ranked him 27 on their 100 Greatest Artists list.

Among his many successes and public romances with celebrities, Price adhered to a vegan diet for some time, then later described himself as a vegetarian. He sought answers to life’s deepest questions when his first-born son, Ahmir Gregory, died at only one week after his birth in 1998. He and his wife would divorce three years later. A year following his divorce he entered a private dialog and debate about God with fellow musician Larry Graham and, two years into it, capitulated and became a Jehovah’s Witness.

While he was involved in many charitable causes, he never spoke about them publicly. He donated money to several causes and regularly attended a Kingdom Hall near his home. Unfortunately Prince never found the peace he sought and died from a fentanyl overdose at his Paisley Park recording studio and home in Chanhassen, Minnesota, on April 21, 2016, at the age of 57. He lived a remarkable life that should have ended better. While he may have been ready to die, he was in no way ready for death.

In stark contrast to the ups and downs of Princes life stands John Glenn. Glenn, navy fighter pilot and hero in both WWII and the Korean War, became an astronaut in 1958, circled the earth in orbit three times in 1962, and became a US Senator in 1974 (serving until 1999). All this you likely heard from news outlets after his death on December 8, 2016, what you might not have heard much about is the man’s resolute faith. “To look out at this kind of creation,” Glenn said in an interview, “and not believe in God is to me impossible.” Then later the devout Presbyterian stated, “It strengthens my faith.”

Upon his return from space he preached a sermon titled “How I Know There is a God.” In it he detailed some of what he learned looking back on the planet as only a few people ever would and the way it increased his faith. “Now what is the point I am making?” he asked the congregation. “It is the orderliness of the whole universe about us, from the smallest atomic structure to the most enormous thing we can imagine…. “Could this have just happened? Was it an accident that a bunch of flotsam and jetsam suddenly started making these orbits of their own accord? I can’t believe that. This was a definite plan. This is one big thing in space that shows me there is a God. Some power put all this in orbit and keeps it there.”

It is unfortunate Prince never met John Glenn. The astronaut’s faith and the answer’s he found in life and in outer space may have lead the struggling musician and artist to the Prince of Peace. He did have his opportunity, however, when he met Christian singer and songwriter Steve Camp in a hotel elevator in the 1990’s. Camp spoke of the chance meeting at concerts, admitting his nervousness but pushing forward to take advantage of the few minutes they had together. Prince, while gracious, rejected the gospel that saves. Camp recalls the moment saying, “We just had three minutes for me to talk and so I told him about Jesus, told him the Gospel, told him what it meant to be a Christian. Prince wanted to know that. That was about all the time we had. But I told him I'd be praying for him and I think he was a little moved by that…” Unfortunately not moved enough. This year we mourned the passing of Prince, and celebrated the graduation of John Glenn. May this remind us, not just at Christmas time but all the time, that we are to be ready to tell others about the Creator of the world, our savior, Jesus.