A North Carolina preacher has celebrated his 98th birthday by skydiving.

Roy Jernigan doesn’t have a doctor, hasn’t had a physical examination in 15 years, and is on no medication even at the age of 98. When asked about his secret for his long life, he credited the Lord and jokingly added black coffee as his key. To celebrate the preacher’s 98th birthday, he did something challenging even for younger people, skydiving.

“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 said in his preaching the night before his birthday. “I certainly appreciate everyone who was there.”

The North Carolina preacher served as a Naval Corpsman during the Korean and Vietnam wars and was an understudy as a clown in the Ringling Brothers Circus during World War II. Through the years he has lived on earth, he has experienced many unusual things, including walking on water.

“It’s a challenge and I’m not gonna say a whole lot more about that tonight, but Lord willing nothing happens on Thursday night I’ll give you a report of the experience. And as I told my son, Larry, when he was talking to me about this, I said, I have walked on water but I have never flown through the air. Got to give that a chance,” Roy said. “He said, ‘When did you walk on water?’ Well, I was in the Arctic Ocean and we were frozen in and I walked around the ship. The water was really cold, as a matter of fact, it was ice but it was water.”

Throughout his lifetime, he has dedicated it to serving other people, it’s something he never regretted. And he will continue doing so until his last breath.

“My advice to anyone is 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,” Roy said in an interview after completing the challenge with his daughter and granddaughter.

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