Roy Jernigan, a North Carolina pastor, recently celebrated his 98th birthday by going skydiving. Jernigan went skydiving accompanied by his daughter and granddaughter and shared his birthday celebration plans on his Facebook page. He also said that he had a birthday party attended by 75 people which was “a joy and a blessing” to him.
Christian Headlines reports:
A longtime North Carolina preacher celebrated his 98th birthday on Tuesday by going skydiving with his family.
As reported by The Christian Post, pastor Roy Jernigan recently when skydiving for the first time in his life. He went with his daughter and granddaughter.
A day before skydiving, Jernigan shared insights on his birthday celebration on his Preacher Roy Ministries Facebook page.
“Before I get into tonight, tomorrow is my 98th birthday. I had a lovely, lovely, birthday party on Saturday night at Parker’s barbeque in Wilson. There were 75 people there. I didn’t know I had that many friends in the world but what a joy and a blessing,” he quipped. “I certainly appreciate everyone who was there.”
“A lot of people say why in the world are you at your age [going skydiving]. I said because I couldn’t get up the nerve any younger,” he added.
After his skydiving adventure, Jernigan offered some advice regarding how to live one’s life. He said that if one is blessed with a long life like him then one should “burn out” their life “living for others.”
After completing the jump on Tuesday, Jernigan offered some words of wisdom about growing older.
“My advice to anyone: if God blesses you and gives you the number of years that he’s given me, burn out your life living for others. You’ll never regret it,” he told WECT News 6.
“I didn’t think he’d go through with it […] not much surprises me these days from him. He’s a risk taker, I guess,” granddaughter April Lintner told the outlet.
Pastor Scott Netterville of the Bourbonnais, Illinois-based Ambassador Baptist Ministries told The Christian Post that he was not surprised to hear about Jernigan’s latest endeavor.
“That sounds like something Jernigan would do,” Netterville, who has known Jernigan for around six years, said.
“The first time I met him, it was summertime down in South Texas. He was up on a ladder working on the siding on his house. I think he was 92 years old,” he added. “He is a very fit man.”
Jernigan has had a life full of interesting experiences, including serving as a Naval Corpsman in the Korean and Vietnam Wars and understudying as a clown in the Ringling Brothers Circus during World War II.
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