Skip to main content

Denial

So, I'll confess to a guilty pleasure of mine - the American Idol auditions. Idol's early seasons contained priceless footage of people - sincere, well-meaning people - auditioning for a spot on the show. Tragically, what made their auditions so entertaining was their lack of singing ability. Some were so bad that they were able to ride that badness to greatness and enjoy their 15 minutes of fame. The past several seasons have been frustrating to me because the auditions seem less and less sincere. Now I feel as if I am watching people who are only trying to get on TV. But it is still fascinating to watch and wonder if these people really believe they can sing. Some seem genuinely shocked when they are told by the judges that they have no talent.

Here's something else that struck me last night as I watched the auditions - these people believe that American Idol is still their best and only shot at fulfilling the deepest longing of their hearts and making all their dreams come true. You can see it in the way they celebrate when they are given a spot on the show. One young woman wept bitter tears when she received her "golden ticket" to Hollywood, as if she had been fighting for her life and had just won the battle. What will happen to her if she doesn't win? Better yet, what will happen if she does? You would think that she would realize just how unsuccessful past winners truly are once the show is over. True, Carrie Underwood and Kelley Clarkson have sustained tremendous success so far, but who else? The others have tasted modest success, at best, and some have failed completely.

Hollywood has always held out fairytale promises to the gullible and the desperate, and always will, I suppose. I recall the voice of the man walking on the street at the end of the movie "Pretty Woman" shouting out, "This is Hollywood! What's your dream?!" Heath Ledger's death was shocking to me. I know who he is because he portrays The Joker in the upcoming Batman movie, and I have always loved Batman and The Joker is my favorite villain. We'll hear more today, but this successful Hollywood actor -famous, handsome, talented and respected - is now dead due to a probable drug overdose, possibly a suicide. Was all this his dream? Was this what called him out of Australia?

Within everyone of us there are dreams, desires, and longings that compel us forward to seek fulfillment. We long to find out who and what we really are, why we were placed on planet Earth, and what will make the desires of our heart's come true. There are many paths to go down in our search for significance, but only one path leads to life. Jesus said, "I am the way..."

"I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free." Psalm 119:32

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Her Own Woman

Kathryn is here now. She was born Sunday night, 5:57 p.m., and weighed 7 pounds, 10 oz., and measured 20.25 inches long. Kim was in labor since about 9:00 a.m. Saturday. After hours of waiting and miles of walking around that hospital, Kim never progressed beyond 6 cm. Every time we came close to making a decision about what to do next, it seems Kathryn would change the game on us and we would have to wait for another couple of hours to see what would happen next. We almost went to the OR at least twice before we finally did because Kathry would do this or that. She was letting us know she was in charge. After whe was born I stood with her in the nursery while they cleaned her up and checked her out. She cried for a while and then got real calm and collected. I watched her as she sized me up with her eyes, took a good look around the room, and then looked at me and kind of smirked knowingly. I got the distinct impression that she was very much amused by everything that had gone on the
7 comments
Read more

Racing with Horses, Walking on Water, and Accepting My Weakness

I am tired of Hurricane Harvey. I am ready for all of this to be done and for things to settle down. I long for the routine, familiar, and predictable. I have had enough of trying to limit or mitigate the effects of Harvey on my family and property. I have become worn out trying to control and make sense of how my church is recovering from the hurricane. I am just about through with the ongoing, and seemingly never ending, management issues related to hundreds of volunteers funneling through my church on a weekly basis to assist our community in the recovery efforts. The logistics of making it all work week in and week out, the delicate dance of being the pastor to all the personalities involved, is exhausting. Add to this my broken heart for our community. I receive gut punches every day as I listen to the stories of evacuation, recovery, and rebuild. I steel myself to being able to do what I can each week and letting everything else go. I am sick of people saying the Lord will
3 comments
Read more

A Eulogy for Dan Smith

One of my oldest and closest friends, Dan Smith, has lost his battle with cancer, but is now experiencing victory over death in the presence of the Lord. I am feeling so much as I write these words, but I want to capture some of what he meant to me…what he still means to me. I met Dan in August of 1989, the Fall Semester of our freshman year at Howard Payne University. We were both outsiders, of sorts, who were thrown together in one of those “get to know you” small groups they put you in at college boot camps. For some reason we clicked, and became pretty close very quickly. It must have been Dan’s cool Tom Selleck mustache. I couldn’t grow a mustache. For about two years we remained inseparable. Dan Smith taught me how to live in Christ. When I met Dan I was at a sort of crossroads in my life. I spent most of my teenage years as a juvenile delinquent, running from the Lord. By the time I wandered in to Brownwood to go to college I had stopped running and surrendered my life to Christ
1 comment
Read more