Jesus busy helping the Weavers...

I've always loved the Amazing Race. Unlike other reality shows in which the contestants sit around and scheme, the Amazing Race's contestants actual do things. They fly around the world in pairs of twos, finding clue locations and overcoming clue obstacles to get the next clue before the pit stop at the end of each leg. It's pretty compelling TV because you have people relying on faith, luck and ingenuity in order to remain in the race. There are no vote offs and alliances are easily shattered as teams that intend to stick together end up giving up as soon as one team slows them down. Plus, it's a chance for personalities to shine and personalities to shame. Some teams take the race in stride, appreciate the diverse locations and learn from the experience. Other teams seem to fall into that category of people that bitch about every other team, bitch about every location and bitch about their position in the race. I love it.

This year, CBS tried to change things up by having a family edition of the Amazing Race. For the first time, they have fielded teams of four and kids. As a result, the producers have chosen to keep the main race in the United States with a lone trip to Central America as the overseas trip. I thought it would be neat for people to jaunt around the United States, but in the end, it's just not compelling. Plus, having parents scream at their kids just is plain disturbing. I ended up feeling sorry for the kids whose dumb as parents tell them the wrong way to drive and then blame them for going the wrong way.

There are a variety of teams that you love to hate for a variety of reasons:

• There was the New York area family that spent most of their time screaming at each other.
• There was the family with two young kids.
• There was the family of sisters that all seemed to be giggling with each other one minute and then hating each other the next
• There was even a family with a step mom who spent a lot of her time yelling at her step kids to stop fraternizing with other teams, which was met with "She's such a bitch" comments by the son.
  

Then, there was/is (as of the last show), the Weaver family.

They are a family of a Mom, two daughters and a young son from Florida that have found God more in their lives after the Dad was killed on a racetrack. I can see why they took to religion in a time of crisis. Some people need faith in their lives to make sense of everything, but these people have taken direction from God and elevated it in a new direction.

From the very start of the race, I knew I was in for a long season when they get their first clue and have to drive somewhere.

"Dear Lord, please give us direction."
"Jesus, please help us find the clue box."
"Jesus, help us find the road sign."

These were just some of many examples of guidance they were searching for. I'm not religious by a long shot, but I would like to think that if I was, I would pray for something more substantial than clue boxes or road signs. While I realize that you could say that maybe God wants them to win the million dollar prize, I would like to think that God has more important things on his mind. That would be a crappy message: "Your father died so that you may win a million dollars on a reality TV show."

Which reminds me, seeing as their father died on a race track, they freaked out when they had to go to a race track for a clue. Then they freaked out more when they had to go to the track itself and ride a tandem bike around the track. On another leg of the show, they ended up going to a (gasp!) go-cart track, to which the kids freaked out again. The Mom ended up doing the go-cart challenge and they moved on. I can understand pain from having a relative die, but come on people! It's just a go-cart track! It's not as if they asked you to drive an actual race car while trying to dodge pit crew workers on the track. It's called facing your fears and it makes you a stronger person.

What absolutely kills me about the Weavers is their total disdain for the other teams. They claim to be the one team that is trying to live a respectful, Christian life, but since I've been watching, they've been the team that has complained about everything. One team's member was trying to console the daughters about how hard it must be to do the race track challenge and when that person walked away, the Weaver daughter murmured, "I hate them! They're so fake!"

Being as they're from Florida, I'm sure they're shocked that there are actually states that aren't perpetually green. When they made it to Utah, they made fun of the surroundings (I've been there. While I don't want to move there, it was a nice blend of desert and mountains.). The young son intoned that when God was making the world that "God must have skipped Utah." One of the daughters complained that if she ever met someone from Utah, they'd say, "I feel so sorry for you!"

Later in that race, they pass a bike rider on a mountain. The son, Rolly, leans out the window and says, "You think you're Lance Armstrong, but you're not!" Oh. Ha Ha.

Every week for the past several weeks, we've seen the snotty Weavers bemoan why no one likes them at the end of the show? Could it possibly your holier-than-thou attitude? I'm thinking yes.