All in Sabbatical Sketches

Feb 14
Feb 14 The Willfinity Saga

In yesterday’s Monday Mixtape, I made this random comment while talking about Will Smith’s “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It”:

This makes me yearn for a simpler time when Will Smith was known for party jams, blockbuster movies, and party jams that re-told the plots of blockbuster movies. Do you know how awesome it would be if Will Smith decided to record a double album that went through the entire MCU song by song? It would be amazing for his career! There could be songs titled “Cool Like a Winter Soldier,” “Thwip Thwip (Spidey’s Coming),” and “Ragna-rock.” Let’s make this happen, Will.

My brain has this habit of latching on to ludicrous ideas and not letting go. As a result, I came up with song titles, an album title, and an album cover. I even wrote a few lines of one of the songs, but decided not to go that far down the rabbit hole. So I present to you The Willfinity Saga, a double album in which Will Smith party jams tell the story of the first three phases of the Marvel Cinematic Universe:

Feb 13
Feb 13 Monday Mixtape: 1998-2001

Chris Cox

Monday Mixtape, Sabbatical Sketches

1998-2001
As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, EA asked to specially curate a playlist for our last few years of high school. So it only seemed right to ask her which songs she thought should make the cut for this Monday Mixtape. A couple of these songs were actually released before this 3 year window, but they were definitely on the radio by the time 1998 rolled around. Songs are in the order in which they were released. Also, the commentary for the below songs are totally from me and do not necessarily represent the thoughts and feelings of my wife.

1. “Tubthumping” by Chumbawumba (1997)
Come for the epic singalong chorus and then have fun answering questions for your kids about the verses. Yep, those are about getting sloshed and singing songs that make them happy. Although, if you replaced the lyrics with “O Danny Boy” with something like “Amazing Grace” and we’re suddenly talking about your hip local church that holds a Beer & Hymns night at the local pub. Also, Chumbawumba is definitely on the first ballot for the Fun Band Names To Say Hall of Fame.

2. “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” by Green Day (1997)
In which I always said something loudly to drown out the muttered profanity right before the guitar starts strumming. They never heard it because they would have definitely said something if they heard it. We don’t look like the best parents so far. I promise we are trying our best with them. Also, it is wild to me that I discovered this song because of a montage shown right before the series finale of Seinfeld. Even more wild that the montage made me tear up considering that Seinfeld was notorious for its “no hugging, no learning” rule.

3. “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It” by Will Smith (1998)
Pop quiz: How many na’s are there each time before the former Fresh Prince says “Gettin’ jiggy wit’ it”? This makes me yearn for a simpler time when Will Smith was known for party jams, blockbuster movies, and party jams that re-told the plots of blockbuster movies. Do you know how awesome it would be if Will Smith decided to record a double album that went through the entire MCU song by song? It would be amazing for his career! There could be songs titled “Cool Like a Winter Soldier,” “Thwip Thwip (Spidey’s Coming),” and “Ragna-rock.” Let’s make this happen, Will.

Feb 12
Feb 12 Choosing the Highest Road, Messing Up, Choosing Again

Chris Cox

Sabbatical Sketches, Weekly Lectionary

The Deuteronomy passage—in which Moses tells the people of Israel that obeying God’s commands will bring blessings, but disobedience will bring death—popped up yesterday in a devotional book that I am reading. And the gist of the reflection was the standard to which Moses calls the people was unattainable, but that it was intentionally unattainable because it all eventually points to Jesus.

It didn’t sit right with me. I know that it is a riff of something that Paul does where he discusses how a person’s inability to follow God makes one aware of their sin. Yet that also makes it look almost like a long con on God’s part. As if God knew the mistakes that were going to be made, let them play out for a few thousand years while human beings suffered just to make the point that they couldn’t do it. It seems insulting to the Jewish people who genuinely tried to follow God to make them props in a massive point.

And maybe I’m wrong, but I feel like when Moses says “Choose” or when Jesus says “Follow me” that this is a legitimate offer on the table. It’s not just a setup to demonstrate how messed up we are but a calling to be the Good that we are intended to be. That capacity exists within each person because they are made in the Image of God.

Now will we always choose the right? Good Lord, no. In the Gospel passage, Jesus raises the stakes and says that calling a person a fool is like murder or lusting after someone is akin to adultery. He does not just want his followers to take the high road, he wants them to take the highest road.

Feb 9
Feb 9 Body in Motion, Soul at Rest

Chris Cox

Sabbatical Sketches

Technically, I don’t have a problem with stillness and quiet. I can do it. I have told my students that I can live in an awkward silence (so they might as well say something). I welcome the opportunity for quiet and reflection. I have been reading a great deal recently about the importance of stillness in our busy lives. Anytime someone discusses prayer and meditation, quieting your world is bound to be part of the discussion. I do not have a problem with stillness.

Buuuuuuuuuuuuut…

There are times when stillness has a difficult time finding a home inside my head and heart. I can be physically still. Being spiritually and mentally still is far more difficult. I live in my head. I have a vivid imagination, which is either awesome or terrible. When I lay down at night, my brain begins to whirr like a fan on a 90s desktop computer: coming up with ideas that eluded me during the day, replaying conversations I wish had gone differently (or creating imaginary conversations), swatting away insecurities, or coming up with ideas for the book I’ve always wanted to write. I am often silent on the surface, but quite disquieted underneath.

I have learned that movement is strangely the thing that often stills me. It’s why I write so often about what I experience on runs and hikes. It is why I love praying labyrinth. If I am anxious or getting tripped up by writer’s block or not sure what to do, moving my body will help. It won’t solve everything, but it will help in that it quiets my mind for just a bit.

Feb 6
Feb 6 Monday Mixtape: Sunday

Chris Cox

Monday Mixtape, Sabbatical Sketches

Sunday
A little bit of a switch-up. For about as long as I could connect an iPod (later iPhone) to a car stereo, I have been creating and continuously updating a Sunday playlist. This is typically what we have listened to as we go to and from church. It is due for another update, but I wanted to make note of what this ever evolving playlist is at this point in our lives. These are in the actual order in which they appear.

1. “Oh Great God, Give Us Rest” by David Crowder Band

This one is honestly kind of prayer for me since Sundays are rarely my most restful day of the week. The lyrics of this one have touched a chord within me especially in the last five years or so.

2. “I Need Thee Every Hour (20th Anniversary Edition)” by Jars of Clay

Before iPods and iPhones, we had these things called CDs that played songs. If it was a Sunday in my early 20s, there was a pretty good chance that the CD in my car would be Redemption Songs, Jars of Clay’s collection of re-recorded and reimagined hymns.

3. “Your Love is Strong (Live)” by Jon Foreman

This is a song that I would love to hear in a church context at some point; a beautiful, straightforward song that touches on teachings and parables of Jesus and the Lord’s Prayer. This version from Foreman’s Roll Tape: Live from Melody League Studios is my favorite with the exception of the Switchfoot frontman exclaiming, “I love playing with you guys!” at the end. Kind of messes up the vibe, but that’s how good the rest of the version is.

4. “Till Kingdom Come” by Coldplay

This song has been on the Sunday playlist from the very beginning. My favorite Coldplay song and one of the most personally meaningful songs in my life. I know technically it is not a song about God, but it has become one for me. I even preached a sermon about it this past year.

Feb 6
Feb 6 Halfway There

Chris Cox

Sabbatical Sketches

Whenever I run into someone who knows that I am on sabbatical, they inevitably will say something like, “Hope you’re getting lots of rest!” And I’ll respond with something like, “Ha, that’s the plan!” But internally I am saying, “I actually still feel tired. Oh crap, am I doing this wrong? Am I screwing up a one in seven year chance to rest?!”

In my more sane moments, I remember that tiredness does not vanish overnight (or over the course of a little over two weeks). I also remember that I am still very much on the clock for one of the more demanding parts of my life: being a parent. Before I took off, I had a lot of people ask me where I was going to go for sabbatical which was always somewhat confusing because most of these people know that I have a wife and two sons. It’s not like I’m going to say to my wife who is a high school Spanish teacher and say, “Alright, I’m off. See you in a month and you guys have fun!” That would be a surefire way to turn a sabbatical into something more permanent.

It probably sounds like I’m complaining and that’s not my aim. A great deal of my time has been restful and I have been grateful for it. Halfway through, I am bumping into the limitations of what a sabbatical can truly be. In the romanticized version, everything just stops. I have been reading about and listening to some podcasts that talk about both sabbath and the monastic lifestyle. Frequently in the discussion of these ideas, the conversation comes back to the desert mothers and fathers: early Christians who went out to the wilderness to dedicate their life to prayer and meditation. And there is part of me that would love to take a stack of books and journals and retreat to a cabin for a month.

Yet life doesn’t work like that.

Feb 3
Feb 3 Let's Talk About the Big DC Movies/TV Announcements

Chris Cox

Sabbatical Sketches

If you know me then you probably know that I am an enormous fan of DC Comics. Two or three times a month, I head to my local comic shop (Rick’s Comic City; it’s a great place) to pick up several of the titles that I follow. In the world of popular culture, it has been a tough run for DC fans. I enjoy the MCU; it is fun, great world building, and I’m looking forward to where it goes next. But DC movies could be so, so, so, so much better. And while there have been bright spots here and there, it just looks paltry in comparison with the behemoth led by the Avengers and Spider-Man.

But now, at least, there’s a plan. Tim Gunn (director of the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy) and Peter Safran have taken the reins of DC Studios. Just a couple of days ago, they announced their first projects of their 8-10 year plan for a brand new DCU. I’m cautiously optimistic (I have been hurt before), but I am excited. So let’s rundown what we’ve got.

Superman: Legacy
You need to know that one of my deepest hopes and dreams once we get past all the important stuff like raising my children, being a good husband/son/brother/friend, taking care of my youth at church, etc. is to see a great Superman movie on the big screen. It is a popular saying amongst a circle of my friends that the best Superman movie we’ve gotten is the trailer to Man of Steel (seriously, it’s hair-stand-up-on-end awesome).

Feb 1
Feb 1 How I Fight Everything Everywhere All at Once

Chris Cox

Sabbatical Sketches

Yesterday I took advantage of a gap in my schedule and finally went to go see Everything Everywhere All at Once, which last week landed 11 Oscar nominations. My amateurish review: It is really, really good and deserving of all those nominations. I had a broad idea of what the movie was about going in but I was in no way adequately prepared for what awaited me. As such, I am going to need awhile to fully digest a movie so deeply bizarre, funny, and moving. Also Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness should have its title stripped because EEAAO has way more multiverses and way more madness.

Yet I did want to write for a moment about something that deeply resonated with me while I was watching the film. Ke Huy Quan plays Waymond, the husband to Michelle Yeoh’s protagonist Evelyn. Throughout the movie, Waymond (the first one we meet anyway) is not taken very seriously. He is kind, but seems goofy and is perceived to be less responsible than his wife. Yet on the margins, you can see all the ways in which he is trying to better everything around their family.

Late in the movie, (another) Waymond acknowledges how others perceive him and gives a short speech about how he sees the world. It floored me to the point that I had to go find the film’s screenplay when I got home to make sure that I got down what he said:

Jan 30
Jan 30 Monday Mixtape: 2002-2009

Chris Cox

Monday Mixtape, Sabbatical Sketches

2002-2009
Who says we have to go in chronological order? We’re going to fast forward from the 60s to our playlist from last week: 2002-2009. Why not just the 2000s? Well, EA wanted to curate a special playlist for 1998-2001 (not so coincidentally our last two years of high school), which meant our decade journey took stops in 1990-1997 and 2002-2009. So welcome to the 21st Century. These are in order by the year released.

1. “A Thousand Miles” by Vanessa Carlton (2002)

That piano line. Apparently Vanessa Carlton was working on the riff in her home and her mom told her it was a hit. Mom was right. That thing is imprinted into my brain and I love it. I am also fully convinced that any guy in the early 2000s who could play the riff from “A Thousand Miles” on piano had an unfair advantage in the dating realm over the rest of us.

2. “Crazy in Love” by Beyoncé (feat. Jay-Z) (2003)

Twenty years on, the horns that kick off this song feel like an announcement and a coronation.

3. “Hey Ya!” by Outkast (2003)

A stone cold classic. The internet is still arguing over what time signature this song is in. Polaroid had to release a statement asking people not to shake their instant photographs. Plus there’s the music video with 8 Andre 3000s, which I promise you aired about 50 times a day on MTV International when I was on foreign study my junior year of college.

Jan 30
Jan 30 Simple is Not Easy

Chris Cox

Weekly Lectionary, Sabbatical Sketches

Do justice. Love kindness. Walk humbly with your God.

The prophet Micah describes what God asks of us in the most straightforward way possible. Three steps with little room for interpretation. Though I imagine as a prophet, Micah had a decent amount of experience with people trying to shoehorn interpretation into any crack of daylight. Yet at the end of the day, it is all very simple: Do justice. Love kindness. Walk humbly with God.

Pastors frequently go to the well of Micah 6:8. I have quoted this verse to my students more times than I can count. Steven Curtis Chapman wrote a song using this verse that I absolutely could sing the chorus to right now despite having not heard it in like two and a half decades (with a Kentucky twang, “You can run with the big dogs…”).. Do justice. Love kindness, Walk humbly with God. What is so hard about that?

Well…apparently everything?

October 30, 2026

What's My Name? What's My Station?

I have a new office in our home and one of the things I am enjoying is decorating the space. I have placed books, Lego sets, and Funko Pops on the shelves. My wall has photos of family, places that I have traveled, artwork my siblings have given me, diplomas, etc. Across from my desk on the wall, hangs a cross that we got from a church in Reykjavik and a small colorfully-painted tile depicting Assisi. On the floor beneath them is the one item in here that I haven’t yet put up: my certificate of ordination.

I was ordained as a minister ten years ago today. It was a step with which I struggled for awhile. My Baptist roots fostered in me a firm belief in the priesthood of all believers. If you say that you are a follower of Jesus, then you are a minister. So the hierarchy implied by being called “Reverend” made me feel a little uncomfortable. I did not use the title for myself often unless I was writing my Congressperson. Despite these qualms, I did ultimately pursue ordination. I am glad that I did. I am just not totally sure what to make of it now.

I don’t serve as a vocational minister anymore; not in a church, not as a chaplain, not in some sort of parachurch organization. I am an Administrative Assistant in a hospital Spiritual Care department. In fact, I haven’t even attended a church service in maybe a year and a half save an Ash Wednesday service that I snuck off to at the beginning of Lent. I did officiate a wedding in a church over the summer; an experience that I loved and was very meaningful for me. But I don’t really know what to do about that ordination certificate. Or church.

June 15, 2026

Dangerous Memories and Unfinished Futures

“’Do this in remembrance of me.’ Jesus invites you to commemorate his betrayal, death, and resurrection. His invitation makes space for ‘dangerous memory,’ a memory that, as post-Holocaust Catholic theologian Johann Baptist Metz tells us, ‘puts pressure on and questions our present because in it we remember an unfinished future.’ Memory can unsettle the unreconciled present and open up a future for the hopeless and the forgotten, the failed and the oppressed….Remembering keeps the ghosts alive so that they may warn and comfort, haunt and inspire the living: dangerous memories that rush toward an unfinished future. Making the absent present allows for processing grief, strengthening commitments, and opening up vision. Such remembrance commits you to work for a future for those who have been forgotten, erased, and left behind.”
-Hanna Reichel, For Such a Time as This, 88, 89

I believe that most of us experience an internal tug-of-war between the past and the future. In The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis’ titular demon supervisor advises his underling Wormwood that one of best ways to keep a human from doing good is to keep them ping-ponging between those two times that are not the present. One keeps trying to recapture or reach towards moments that are mist. It can keep a person from doing something.

The quote above resonates with me because it harnesses the past and unfinished future into a catalyst that animates our present. We remember the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus because it means something today and compels us to presently work for the Good that is already here, but also not yet. We remember the hope and pain of the past to do something that help us take some sort of step each and every day. We realize that the hope which exists within the gospel story is not yet fully realized. Many people are still being left behind and forgotten. The realization, as the theologian Metz states, puts pressure and questions on the present.

June 1, 2026

First Day of Pride

Being a parent forces you to take a close look at yourself. Of course, you don’t have to be a parent to self-examine, but there is something about the reality that another living human is under your care and protection for the foreseeable future that makes you take stock of your strengths, weaknesses, and beliefs. For example, I used to think I was a far more patient person before I had kids; like superhumanly patient. And then a crying toddler shows you the folly of that belief. On the flip side, time has moved on and having two teenagers affirms that, yes, I am ridiculously patient and that has been a strength as a parent.

Among many other reorienting moments that came with parenthood was full acceptance of our LGBTQ+ siblings. That process began many years earlier. As someone who studied religion, I knew that the biblical case against these individuals was not nearly as airtight as I was previously led to believe. Science and stories from people gave strong indication that this life was not a choice. And I had met gay and lesbian folks who were good people. The old axiom that you will know a tree by its fruit applies here.

But the tipping point was holding a tiny infant who I loved more than I thought possible and knowing that I never wanted him to be ashamed of who he is. I did not want a potential future in which one of my children came out as something other than heterosexual with the fear that we would not love them. Not accepting my child was not even conceivably on the table. So we raised our kids to know that LGBTQ+ were beloved members of God’s creation.

May 24, 2026

Not a Defeat If You Can Find a Way to Laugh About It

There is this typical ice breaker question that is some variation of “If you could have dinner with anyone famous living or dead, who would it be?” And one of my steadfast answers for almost twenty years has been Stephen Colbert. Through both The Colbert Report and The Late Show, he has given hours upon hours of laughter and more than enough on which to ponder. I feel like we’d have a lot to talk about since we are both unabashed nerds, products of the Palmetto State, and he just seems like a good hang.

Beyond all of that, I appreciate how honestly and humbly Colbert approaches his faith. There have been numerous times over the years when his comedy and conversations take a turn into the spiritual that is challenging and convicting. I remember an episode of The Colbert Report where one minute he was making a joke about Ben Franklin’s predilection for French prostitutes and then organically made his way to the following quote:

If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition and then admit that we just don't want to do it.

Then there are the interviews that he has conducted on The Late Show. Colbert has said that he sort of found the heart of his show when he had a conversation with then-Vice President Biden about grief. Indeed the loss of his father and brothers at a young age has led him to create an empathetic space to explore loss in the midst of celebrities promoting their most recent projects (my mind immediately comes to a conversation that he had with Andrew Garfield about the loss of the actor’s mother).

May 21, 2026

While I Breathe, I Hope

On the way to school, the youngest burrowed his head into my arm. “I don’t like that you’re getting older.”

“Why is that?”

“Because you’re one year closer to death.”

“There it is.” That’s my kid. Very sweet. Very sensitive. Brutally, bordering on inappropriately blunt. “Well, it’s better than the alternative.”

“Getting younger?” He thinks for a second. “Oh…dying.”

“Yeah, you can’t get younger.” I scratch him on the head. “And hopefully I have a ways to go. Ideally, I’ll still be kicking around when you turn 43.”

“You’ll be 73. So that’s reasonable”

“Yeah.”

“Granddad will be 103.”

“Less likely. But maybe. I hope he is as long as he’s happy.”

“And healthy. Happy, healthy, and alive.” Then he goes into a bit from an episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine which makes me laugh.

Birthdays, as my oldest posited this morning, are kind of weird when you get older. Or at least they morph into something different from the second Christmas-esque excitement when you’re a kid. Because there does get to be that point where it creeps into your mind that you are a year closer to death. And that forces you take stock of your life which is a hit-or-miss affair due to being human’s volatility.

May 18, 2026

To Jim on his 16th Birthday

One day last week, I picked you up from school after took one of your AP exams and then I moved over to the passenger seat so you could practice driving. In the midst of being hyper vigilant about your speed, how quickly you stopped, how close you were to the side of the road, and what every single other car on the road was doing, I had a distinct moment of looking over at you and realizing that so much is changing. And we’re only at the start.

Today you turn 16. You are about to wrap up your sophomore year of high school. You’ll take a driver’s license test in just a few weeks. We have three more summers before you go off to college. There are times it seems like yesterday when you were sitting in the living room watching cartoons with a couple of dozen superhero toys. There are times it seems like last week when you were a newborn sleeping in my arms.

The feeling of you being 16 is kind of like being the passenger in the car while you are driving. I have a ton of confidence in you and trust you. And I worry about your lack of experience in a big, sometimes frightening world and whether I have taught you well enough. I am wary of everyone else on the road. I wonder if you are going too fast even though you are going an appropriate speed and I am the one who encouraged you not to go as slow in the first place. It is all very exciting, humbling, frightening, and new.

April 21, 2026

What Nintendo Can Teach the Church

Christmas 1988. My brother Taylor and I receive the Nintendo Entertainment System packaged with Super Mario Bros. and Duck Hunt and we have been fans ever since. We have grown up with the Japanese company’s gaming systems; the adventures of Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Link, Zelda, Donkey and Diddy Kong, and more have been a consistent presence in our lives. Even though we are in three different states now as adults, Taylor, my sister Shari, myself, and our kids will get together every so often and play Mario Kart online. We love Nintendo, which is a weird thing to say about a corporation that makes a billion dollars but it is what it is.

With all that said, I loved the Keza MacDonald’s book Super Nintendo: The Game-Changing Company That Unlocked the Power of Play. Not only is it an engaging journey through video game history through the lens of Nintendo’s iconic (and less iconic) franchises, but the book also has a great deal to say about creativity, community, and culture. In fact, it is that last idea that got me thinking about how this video game company can teach the church (or any other organization) even as I am a bit of an outsider to that world presently.

Here is one of two quotes that jumped out at me from the chapter “Splatoon” which looks at how Nintendo continues innovate and create over 40 years into its video game endeavors:

April 12, 2026

Easter Orphans, A Lost Cat, and A Tightrope Called Hope

“Happy Easter?”

That is the first thing EA said to me as I woke up on Easter morning. I stretched and rubbed my eyes.

“I still believe in Jesus. It’s just the church that I’m not sure about.”

Some context: This was the first Easter in our 20+ years of marriage (and likely in either of our lives) in which we did not have a church to attend. It’s been about a year since we’ve gone to church as a family. Honestly, the church that we attended after I stepped down from working in a congregation had a tall order to tend to our hurting family. It was a good group of people, but the services and community never really clicked with our boys. Then early last year, I got moved to a Sunday morning shift. EA tried for a bit to go by herself but it wasn’t what she needed. In the end, I was gone for about eight months before anyone in the church really noticed and we decided to take a break.

I acknowledge my uncertainty about the church is a bit over-dramatic. Of course, there are great churches out there. There are wonderful people in congregations where my family and I have experienced the most pain. It’s akin to writing off burritos for life because you got violent food poisoning from one (This is based on a true story; I have not written off burritos just that particular Chipotle location). But the church hurt is real. As is the MAGA-fication of the denomination in which I grew up that feels so antithetical to the teachings of Jesus. So we don’t have a place to call home and it’s weird and sad and understandable.

April 1, 2026

Lent Fail

Absurdist Note: I really want to add “Woo-ooh!” after the title. If you know, you know.

I have not pulled off this year’s Lenten disciplines the way that I set out to. When this 40 day period began, I set out to take on this fasts/spiritual practices:

Stop drinking Coca-Cola
Stop eating French fries
Stop playing Disney Solitaire on my phone
Do a daily devotional from Richard Rohr’s Wondrous Encounters
Write a blog five days a week

When the war in Iran began and threw another log on the fire that is the world, it pained me both spiritually and physically. One of the ways that played out was headaches and since headaches were already part of removing the caffeine of Coca-Cola from my life, I decided I probably shouldn’t compound a problem and began drinking Coke again. I have had French fries a few times; not many, mind you, but enough to break up the fast. There have been several multiple day stretches where I did not do my devotional. And my efforts to blog five times a week quickly fell by the wayside. I have managed to keep from playing Disney Solitaire, but that still puts my Lenten average in Mendoza Line territory.

March 29, 2026

An Awkward Parade (Revisited)

Several hundred, some may say several thousand, years worth of anticipation hung thick in the air. Like summer humidity that sticks to your shirt the second you step outside, you couldn’t avoid it if you wanted to. Especially not during Passover week.

There was a guy making his way into Jerusalem; a guy claiming to be the Messiah. This was nothing new. He would not be the first that people claimed would save us. There had been tons of guys going around saying that they were the One; saying that they were going to show Rome what’s what. So a would-be messiah making his way to Jerusalem was about as common as a singer-songwriter making their way to Nashville.

But this felt different. He seemed different. Now there was a fair amount of debate whether he was the right or wrong kind of different. For starters, word got out that he had tried to keep a lot of the messiah talk and even tales of his miracles under wraps. But it is difficult to keep those kind of stories quiet: dead men walking, the blind seeing, demons plunging a herd of pigs over a cliff, and thousands fed from a lunch meant for a single kid. You can tell people to keep that hush-hush all you want, but it’s not going to happen.