A Timely Mistake

Because I am such a muppet I left my much beloved sunglasses at Abercrombie & Fitch in Staten Island (of all places). Now I have nothing against Staten Island, it's just that it is so far away. But I had to get my sunglasses back. So I went, thinking that this was just going to be another wasted afternoon.

And yet God brings good even out of my careless stupidity, and I pick up a free book at the Activities' Fair from the nice people from Intervarsity Christian Fellowship (thanks guys!) - "Blue Like Jazz" by Donald Miller, "Non religious thoughts on Christian Spirituality" it says on the front. It's a great title. It's also a great book. I highly recommend it.

I read it on the Metro, on the ferry, on the bus, at the food court in Staten Island Mall, and then on the way back.

It was exactly what I needed.

It's just so amazing how God never lets us go.

"In America, the first generation out of slavery invented jazz music. It is a free-form expression. It comes from the soul, and it is true."

"I was watching BET one night, and they were interviewing a man about jazz music. He said jazz music was invented by the first generation out of slavery. I thought that was beautiful because, while it is music, it is very hard to put on paper; it is so much more a language of the soul. It is as if the soul is saying something, something about freedom.

I think Christian spirituality is like jazz music. I think loving Jesus is something you feel. I think it is something very difficult to get on paper. But it is no less real, no less meaningful, no less beautiful.

The first generation out of slavery invented jazz music. It is a music birthed out of freedom. And that is the closest thing I know to Christian spirituality. A music birthed out of freedom. Everybody sings their song the way they feel it, everybody closes their eyes and lifts up their hands."

- Donald Miller, "Blue Like Jazz"