Idol Worship?

You may be wondering, what does the Bender family do for fun when basketball season is over? Tonight, we packed up the family van, headed down to the Summerfest grounds, parked 2 miles away and hoofed it to an extremely crowded Harley Davidson stage to watch our hometown hero, American Idol favorite, Danny Gokey, sing about 5 barely audible songs over a blown out speaker booming mostly bass. Did I say watch? I meant listen, because the crowd was so gigantic that none of us could see him at all. Then, as we were walking the two miles back to the van, we heard the sound of police sirens and saw the motorcade that carried our hero to the Brewer Game where he would sing the National Anthem. What a thrill it was as he waved at us while we screamed "We love you Danny!" That's it! That was our entire fun night out! And the best part of all? It was absolutely free! That's right! It didn't cost us a single penny! As we were driving home, our children thanked Paul and I for taking them out and showing them a good time. Honestly! Even the teenagers!

Do you think God is offended by our worship of this mere mortal simply because he has a good singing voice and he comes from our wonderful city? My hope is that he is not offended, my hope is that he is overjoyed, because Danny Gokey not only has a good voice, but he also has a good character. He is well known for his Christian values and is a good role model for children. He knows that God is truly the only one worthy of Idol worship.

I pray that God is so pleased that our family can enjoy a simple night out with each other, get along reasonably well and remember to be grateful for it all, that he won't be the least bit slighted that our purpose was to see an "American Idol". In our hearts, there is truly only one Idol, and our Idol is so big and so great that he is much bigger than an "American Idol", he is a "Universe Idol". There is no one else who created everything, loves everything and everyone and only longs for us to love him in return. It is with great joy that we do love him in return, and work to bring others to love him as well. I think that even Danny Gokey would agree that the only true Idol in all the world is our one and only heavenly Father, God!