Blue like lint

I have been given an ample portion of body hair. I think it is from my maternal grandfather's Welsh side. So when I opened that "Have you ever wondered.." email that asked "Have you ever wondered why navel lint is always blue?" it was a lucid moment of realisation for me. You see, my "chest wig" is the ideal harvester of loose fluff. So I have regular specimens of navel lint to subject to scrutiny, and yes, navel lint IS always blue! It's one of those common human experiences that we share but find difficult to explain.


I was given a copy of "Blue like Jazz", by Donald Miller, as a birthday present. I am a few chapters from the end. (Finishing a book is a huge personal victory for me, but believe me, this one was easier to get through than most others I've tried). Donald Miller describes his book as "non-religious thoughts on Christian spirituality". I loved it. I connected with the author in almost every chapter.


The book makes you feel OK with the fact that you don't have it all together as a "Christian". He writes about the embarassing and underwhelming stuff that is common to everybody who is honest enough to admit it. Like blue navel lint.


He liberates the "Christian" from having to know all the answers in life. I admit, I don't know why navel lint is blue.


Are guys like Donald part of a new generation of believers that are so uncertain, so watered down, that they will become the weak link in the Christian legacy? I prefer to think of them as Western Christianity's only hope. Salvaging respectability for believers from the wreckage left behind by a preachy, smug, insensitive generation of delusionally "grand" church leaders.