Created In His Image

I've been listening to a lot of Johnny Cash the past couple days, in particular a song called "God's Gonna Cut You Down," which goes as follows:

You can run on for a long time,
Run on for a long time, run on for a long time;
Sooner or later, God'll cut you down.
Sooner or later, God'll cut you down.

Go and tell that long time liar,
Go and tell that midnight rider,
Tell the rambler, the gambler, the back-biter,
Tell 'em that God's gonna cut you down.
Tell 'em that God's gonna cut you down.

Well my goodness gracious let me tell you the news,
My head's been wet with the midnight dew.
I been down on bended knee,
Talkin' with the man from Gaililee.
He spoke to me with a voice so sweet,
I thought I heard the shuffle of angels' feet.
He called my name and my heart stood still,
When he said "John, go do my will."

Go and tell that long tongued liar,
Go and tell that midnight rider,
Tell the rambler, the gambler, the back-biter,
Tell 'em that God's gonna cut 'em down.
Tell 'em that God's gonna cut 'em down.

You can run on for a long time,
Run on for a long time, run on for a long time,
Sooner or later, God'll cut you down.
Sooner or later, God'll cut you down.

Well you may throw your rock, and hide your hand,
Workin' in the dark against your fellow man.
But as sure as God made black and white,
What's done in the dark will be brought to the light.

You can run on for a long time,
Run on for a long time, run on for a long time,
Sooner or later, God'll cut you down.
Sooner or later, God'll cut you down.

Go and tell that long time liar,
Go and tell that midnight rider,
Tell the rambler, the gambler, the back-biter,
Tell 'em that God's gonna cut you down.
Tell 'em that God's gonna cut you down.

I really enjoy that concept of God...my whole picture of God has been sort of wobbly over the years. I think it's foolish to assume that God actually gives a crap about the minutae of your life, but I think there's a certain insurance involved that he'll keep you from getting killed at random if you generally do the right thing and make good decisions. Doesn't that make more sense? When people haul out the "well, it's all God's plan" lines when someone kills themselves by driving into a tree at 90 miles an hour with a distillery running through their veins, it just about makes my eyes roll out of my head. No, he did not drive into a tree because it was His Will or His Plan. He drove into a tree because he decided it was a good idea to drink two handles of vodka and then try and operate a vehicle. That kind of blind faith scares me a little, because I have seen how people crumble when they realize that God is not always keeping tabs on you. It's impossibly sad - their faith can do so much for them in times of crisis, but eventually something will happen where you realize that all the prayer and worrying and abstention from "sin" is only making you feel better about yourself.

I like Johnny Cash's version of God...if you do bad stuff, God's gonna get you in the end. I tend to think that free will rules the Earth and God deals with you once you die. Really, not much will stop you if you want to do something bad, but I like to think that there will be consequences in the end. Sort of like an annual review...do well, and you get a promotion. Screw it up, get a demotion. (Heh. Okay, not going to lie, I am really proud of myself for that one.) I just wind up thinking about God as an actual religious concept pretty often lately. It sort of upsets me to see a good concept - religion as a guide for being a better person - twisted so violently for political gain these days. God does not care who wins the election! He cares about you not being a dick.

So anyway. Sunday was the Columbus Day Parade, which was fun. We had about 30 people there between the Booster Club folks and the Sharks office and some of the players. It was a TOTALLY gorgeous day out...I started out with a black turtleneck on under my Booster Club teeshirt, and that only lasted about an hour! It was a little hairy rounding everything up, but that's sort of the nature of the beast. There were the usual snags - one guy showed up with this real chatty-drunk vibe going on...I don't know if he was actually drunk (It was 10 am, so I would hope that no one was hitting it that hard so early in the morning. I dunno.) or what, but there were some attention issues and dumb behaviors going on. There was also the usual Boosters Are Creepy vibe from the usual suspects, and the Useless Information Fountain from the usual source. All in all it was fun. and a good time was had by all!