Skip to main content
Christian anthropology is hard. Or at least tests are hard. I was verbally answering the questions for a test I was taking, and there could be that moment where you realize, "Oh, wait. I have no idea what I'm talking about." I had to go goof off before I injured myself or others out of spite. It's a take-home, spoken into a recorder, so no harm, no foul.

Deb was over last night, teaching me about singing. Why am I doing this, you ask? Because I love to sing, and I want to be better. Do I need another reason?

I think I have more range than I showed last night, but we'll see. Given my experience wooing girls and in karaoke bars, I think I have at least a little bit to work with. [You can't forget about all that singing you've done in the Jetta of Decision.--ed.] Oh, yeah. Poor Confirmation Sponsor Guy; he probably still hasn't recovered.

All I can say is that I didn't sing at all until I got baptized. I can remember this. I was afraid to do it, and wasn't sure about what these people believed. At least I'm sure I did not love the Truth I was coming to know. Now, I sing almost anywhere, anytime. If you believe what you are singing about, if you love it, people know. They can tell. And the technical proficiency matters a little less. How much more is this true with God?

But I want to get better for that reason. God and his songs are more important than say, Whitney or Mariah. Why should my best singing be when I'm alone listening to pop songs? On one hand, it's not my fault that sacred music these days is either horrid, difficult to sing, or both.

I gotta stew on this for a second. Did the struggles of my youth stifle my joy in such a way that only the forgiveness of sins could bring out the real me? Heavy, man. And probably true. I'm a total diva; that freakishly outgoing thing that performers/theater nerds/Robin Williams have, that is me. I just didn't even begin to figure it out until I was 21.

JK's Unsolicited Advice For The Day: You gotta find the real you as fast as you can. Find yourself in God; that's the realest you. And go with it. No one else can tell you who you are. They might be tasked with telling you a truth you'd rather not face, but we are still us, even if we need to change. There is no better Person than God to change us without destroying us. That's why He's God.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

My Thoughts On The Harrison Butker Commencement Speech

Update: I read the whole thing. I’m sorry, but what a weirdo. I thought you [Tom Darrow, of Denver, CO] made a trenchant case for why lockdowns are bad, and I definitely appreciated it. But a graduation speech is *not* the place for that. Secondly, this is an august event. It always is. I would never address the President of the United States in this manner. Never. Even the previous president, though he deserves it, if anyone does. Thirdly, the affirmations of Catholic identity should be more general. He has no authority to propound with specificity on all matters of great consequence. It has all the hallmarks of a culture war broadside, and again, a layman shouldn’t speak like this. The respect and reverence due the clergy is *always due,* even if they are weak, and outright wrong. We just don’t brush them aside like corrupt Mafia dons, to make a point. Fourthly, I don’t know where anyone gets the idea that the TLM is how God demands to be worshipped. The Church doesn’t teach that. ...

Dear Alyse

 Today, you’re 35. Or at least you would be, in this place. You probably know this, but we’re OK. Not great, but OK. We know you wouldn’t want us moping around and weeping all the time. We try not to. Actually, I guess part of the problem is that you didn’t know how much we loved you. And that you didn’t know how to love yourself. I hope you have gotten to Love by now. Not a place, but fills everything in every way. I’m not Him, but he probably said, “Dear daughter/sister, you have been terribly hard on yourself. Rest now, and be at peace.” Anyway, teaching is going well, and I tell the kids all about you. They all say you are pretty. I usually can keep the boys from saying something gross for a few seconds. Mom and I are going to the game tonight. And like 6 more times, before I go back to South Carolina. I have seen Nicky twice, but I myself haven’t seen your younger kids. Bob took pictures of the day we said goodbye, and we did a family picture at the Abbey. I literally almost a...

A Friend I Once Had, And The Dogmatic Principle

 I once had a friend, a dear friend, who helped me with personal care needs in college. Reformed Presbyterian to the core. When I was a Reformed Presbyterian, I visited their church many times. We were close. I still consider his siblings my friends. (And siblings in the Lord.) Nevertheless, when I began to consider the claims of the Catholic Church to be the Church Christ founded, he took me out to breakfast. He implied--but never quite stated--that we would not be brothers, if I sought full communion with the Catholic Church. That came true; a couple years later, I called him on his birthday, as I'd done every year for close to ten of them. He didn't recognize my number, and it was the most strained, awkward phone call I have ever had. We haven't spoken since. We were close enough that I attended the rehearsal dinner for his wedding. His wife's uncle is a Catholic priest. I remember reading a blog post of theirs, that early in their relationship, she told him of the p...