Thursday, May 22, 2008

When Idol Doesn't Matter...

Yes, I'm excited about the Idol results. Yes, things turned out as they should have.

But they don't always.

I heard this news this morning from my friend Marie. She'd heard it on the radio. Steven Curtis Chapman's little girl was killed when she was hit by a car in their driveway. One of SCC's sons was driving the car. That story contains fifty kinds of pain and grief that I can't even begin to grasp. It absolutely breaks my heart.

Though I didn't blog about it at the time, last week I read this article about Dottie Rambo's death. If you don't follow southern gospel music, you probably haven't heard of her, but she was quite a song writer. I think something like 2500 songs? That's significant. She wrote some of the greats like We Shall Behold Him and He Looked Beyond My Fault and Saw My Need. I knew she was over seventy, and I knew that several years ago she'd had health problems, so when I heard the news, my first thought was "Wow, I didn't realize she'd been sick." She wasn't. She was riding in her tour bus to a Mother's Day morning singing engagement in Texas, when high winds caught the bus and it crashed.

So for as excited as I still am for David Cook and his win...I'm reminded that there's much more to life than Idol results.

7 comments:

Amy R. said...

My heart is breaking for Steven and his family! Thank you for posting this.

Tina said...

I heard about this at work this morning. How his son must feel... Grief and guilt to depths I could not imagine. May God's grace and love physically surround them

I didn't know about Dottie. On Mother's Day, so sad... Some of her songs are my favorite hymns. She's a role model for me about writing lyrics for God. I can't wait to get to heaven and hear the choir God's been assembling.

So glad David Cook won. As you said, this is a dim light in the shadow of the grief these two families are feeling.

SkyePuppy said...

I read about this late last night, and it highlighted (not in a good way) the difference in my reactions to this news (how HARD that's going to be for his son for a very long time!) and the news about Ted Kennedy's cancer. I have almost no sympathy for Kennedy, and God is not pleased with me about that.

I'm keeping the Chapmans (and the Kennedys) in my prayers.

Chris said...

Thanks for your perspective, Bekah. I appreciate your heart!

Malott said...

On Michelle Malkin's site there are two youtube videos that feature the little girl and Chapman. His love for her is so evident...

http://michellemalkin.com/2008/05/22/maria-sue-chapman-rip-2003-2008/

And it breaks your heart.

Bekah said...

Chris - I'm glad you offered the link, because I hadn't seen that second one posted anywhere. Wow - what a precious little girl!! I still can't even imagine....

Sarah said...

I saw that on the news. That's so sad, especially for the son who must feel so guilty.