Doug Van Pelt

Confession is Cool

I am a late, late man. What I mean is that I'm finally getting around to reading the book that everyone's been raving about since 2003 -- Don Miller's Blue Like Jazz.

What he does is he confesses all of his strange habits, selfish thoughts, and deep human fears. He confesses his sin. He honestly writes about how selfish and narrow-minded his thoughts tend towards. In doing this, though, he reveals the same narrow-minded selfish thoughts that are common to us all -- or at least close enough to home that it makes us laugh. And it makes the guy cool. Everyone I know (except one) that's read his book is fanatically devoted to the guy and loves what he does. I, too, will have to read everything he writes. I missed his talk at GMA this week. I'm kicking myself.

It's funny (and pathetic) that I found myself being jealous of one of my friends, who is a good friend with Don Miller. I found myself being jealous of his friendship with this seemingly fun-loving must-be-a-great-guy-to-hang-out-with and current buzz author. 'Why can't I be Don Miller's friend?'

What a shallow, self-centered stupid little ego-centric nimwit am I. Wow. The thing that this awareness drives me to, though, is appreciating each and every friend that I have. It makes me not take for granted the treasures in people that I know. It's funny how the world opens up and becomes a giant treasure box when I can destroy the myth that the world revolves around me. It's weird that someone could actually somehow keep this childish notion alive from infancy. One of the major paths to adulthood is realizing that and looking beyond one's self, so how does an adult even have these petty, immature thoughts? I don't know, but it's pretty stupid and common, at least for me.