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'IDOL WORSHIP': (an excerpt from chapter two of 'Walk With You' by Pat Keady)
"Everyone has an idol. In 2003 the hit talent-quest reality TV series ‘Australian Idol’ took off around the country, cramming SMS airwaves with frenetic votes from heart-struck fans for the most popular performer. The winner that year was ‘the bro with the fro’, a funky singer from Adelaide called Guy Sebastian. Well my idol wasn’t quite as funky as Guy Sebastian (sorry). He was a modern jazz pianist by the name of Ahmad Jamal.

I idolised lots of muso's growing up. Billy Joel, Huey Lewis, Bruce Springsteen (you're like 'who?' Yeah, I'm old - Sshhhh!). I thought they were like untouchable, unreachable. Then suddenly I found myself living in LA and they were no longer so far away. Except now my idols were jazz muso's.

I was just in time to see two of the worlds greatest jazz trumpet players play before they died - Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie. What a contrast! One was brooding, searching, and always seemed unsatisfied: the other was happy, fun loving and enjoyed entertaining a crowd. Both were brilliant.

Now the day finally came when AHMAD JAMAL was playing in town. Not just anyone now – my idol. Get it? THE Ahmad Jamal - the one and only. I had listened to his CDs a hundred times over and copied his piano style as my own. Now he was playing 'around the corner' in a small jazz club off Hollywood Boulevard. I made sure I was there with bells on.

I watched Ahmad perform three times in the one week. But by the last time something had begun to become clear to me; Ahmad Jamal was a human being. He was an awesome piano player, no doubt about it. But as I saw him interact with his band I saw him frown sometimes, displaying frustration and impatience towards them. No one likes a show-off with attitude. It became obvious to me that my 'idol' was not a happy camper.

HOW!? How could you be so brilliant and yet such a (use your imagination) ‘difficult person’ to be around? What a blow to my worldview. It sunk in and it sunk in until I sat down that night and put pen to paper. This is what I wrote;

THE CHOICE
Man is just man and nothing more
Why try to pretend – what would it be for?
But God is still God and much, much more
I need to remind myself of that,
and even 'the score'

For we cannot be gods, nor can anyone else
And I shouldn't raise others
to be on the same shelf
For we are all human and in the same boat
On a journey to heaven, for Jesus (I hope!)

And for those who may not be, yet blow me away
Like Ahmad Jamal; well…I hope you're OK.
I thank God for your greatness, a gift unto thee
I just hope my dear friend
that you'll come row with me.

A lot of us have the tendency to do this. We worship rock stars, boyfriends, sports, careers, money, anything that becomes larger than life in our eyes. But the truth is, God is greater.

We end up living for something that in the end doesn't really matter. That's what I was doing: my idols were ‘music and fame’ and any person I admired from that category. But God wanted to 'smash my idols’, just like the people of Israel needed to smash their golden calves, asherah poles and wooden carvings of other Gods in the Old Testament. Why?

Idols distract us from true reality and can occupy our whole lives if we let them. Music, stars, TV, money, success, sports, cars etc. aren't bad in themselves; but putting them first is.
My idol – the thing I lived for - was changing from being a 'thing' to a Person.
Ten guesses Who.

Exerpt from 'Walk With You' by Pat Keady
(c) 2005 Emmanuel Resources