You Say I Look Like You

Meaningless stuff first...

(1) Idol, without at doubt, is meaningless. I like it, I watch it, but it is meaningless. I'm ok with that... I need to veg out sometimes. I have Idol. Jen has celebrity gossip. We all have our little hiding places where we escape from the world.

Last night was disappointing. Katharine has been my favorite girl from the beginning, but I've been tiring of her as she discovers how good she really is and how sex sells. Robyn forbade me to vote for her last night after she essentially showed the world her privates. If Kellie doesn't go home tonight, it will be only because of America's fascination with beautifully stupid people. Jessica Simpson = Kellie Pickler, on some sort of general level. If Elliott goes home tonight, it won't be my fault. He got 3 votes from me. He is humble, he is everyman, and he has an absolutely amazing voice. Chris, as usual, was awesome as well. Taylor is really good, but is inconsistent. Paris is also really good, but also is inconsistent. My prediction for who deserves to be the bottom 3? Kellie, Taylor, Paris. My prediction for who actually is the bottom 3? Kellie, Elliott, Taylor. Who do I think should go home? Kellie, unquestionably. Who do I think actually will go home? Elliott, sadly. We'll find out in 2 hours (as it's currently 7:00 on the nose here in my living room).

(2) I love cutting the grass. Much like Idol, cutting the grass is a refuge for me. I have the perfect amount of grass to cut. It's not the world's smallest yard, but it's still small enough that I can get it cut in a hurry in 30-40 minutes if necessary. I prefer to take my time. It's nice to have my own little piece of land to call my own and maintain. It's the perfect amount of yard for a nice bocce game. It's also plenty big for a nice round of cornhole or horseshoes. Come on over sometime and play these wonderful games. It's a nice little piece of land. Of course, it probably used to belong to some native American. Now I feel like I should declare myself the Room 113 Chach of the Day for living on what is rightfully someone else's land. DMB's "Don't Drink the Water" anyone?

(3) I sang to Toby tonight. He was marginally frustrated, on the verge of tiredness. (Robyn and I were frustrated as well, as he is always tired and frustrated.) I thought "what the heck, this song is stuck in my head, I might as well sing it." The song is "Sing" by Jars of Clay from their Who We Are Instead album. Toby LOVED it. He just smiled and stared at me, waiting for the next line, excited at every melodic change. I loved it, too. This song 'gets' me every time. One day, I listened to it probably 20 times, and teared up every time. I don't know exactly what Haseltine was thinking when he wrote it, but, for me, it runs the whole gamut of emotions that go along with knowing Christ:

Chorus
"You make me wanna say, you make me wanna sing another love song..."

Amen. Period, end of story. He is a God that is worthy of praise. I wanna sing another love song...

2nd verse
"Bury my head full of shame--You pick me up and say I look like you
Though it makes no sense to me, you make me believe that I could trust someone"

How many times do I try to avoid God because I feel dirty? And yet, every time, ultimately I am reminded that we are not strangers... I am not my own... I am covered in the blood of the lamb... He picks me up and says I look like him??? Only the greatest of fathers would do that. Only the greatest Father could be the standard we should all look like. My son looks like me. And yet, he'll need to look a whole lot more like a bigger father than me to find life. Of course, I love that he looks like me, but I so much more want him to look like Jesus someday.

3rd verse
"I walk through flames, I touch the fire, you know I still burn for you
Flood, water, rain, crash down, soak the ground, still I thirst for you"

Let it burn. Catchafire. Rush, River, Rush. Burn, Spirit, Burn. I wanna feel the flames. Take me away.

So maybe this can be my song with my son. The song of Scott & Toby. He seems to like it, and I like the message. And heck, if he decides that he doesn't like that song, we can always resort to everyone's favorite Gretchen Wilson song, "I'm Here for the Party." The Tobe always seems to like it when I sing that one to him...