Meet Jazz.

Meet Jazz, my guitar. I named it “Jazz” because it is blue like jazz, and “Blue Like Jazz” by Donald Miller is one of my favorite books ever. If you tell me that’s too corny, I’ll just blame it on my friend Katy, who came up with the idea in the first place.

Miller explains the title in an author’s note at the beginning of the book. He writes, “I never liked jazz music because Jazz music doesn’t resolve.” Then he tells about watching a man play the saxophone for fifteen minutes without opening his eyes and how after that, he liked jazz music. “Sometimes you have to watch somebody love something before you can love it yourself,” he writes. “It is as if they are showing you the way. I used to not like God because God didn’t resolve. But that was before any of this happened.”

It’d be hard to sum up what Miller means by “any of this” because the book is full of mini stories and essays about a variety of things. The first time I read it (I’ve read it a few times now) I put it down at the end and said, “Wow. That was a really good book. But I have no idea what it was about.” 

I think the book’s subtitle describes it best: “Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality.” 

I don’t want to give too much away, because if you haven’t read it, I hope that you will. I would like to share with you, however, two things about what the book means to me. 

First, “Blue Like Jazz” is a book that brings people together. I lost count of how many times I’d be sitting somewhere in public (a coffee shop, work, school…) reading it and someone would walk by or glance in my direction and say something like, “Hey! Good book!” or “Blue Like Jazz! I love that book!” and even if we didn’t know each other, a conversation would start from there. 

One of these instances occurred this past year during the beginning of my first semester at college. I was reading in the lobby area at school when a professor walked by, saw the book, and exclaimed, “Blue Like Jazz!” Although it may seem like a small thing, to me it was cool to find that connection during a time when I was still somewhat apprehensive about being back in school and trying to get used to the new environment.

The second thing about this book is that each time I read it, it makes me think. A lot. Even though I’m not sure I agree with everything in it, I have to resist the urge to go crazy with the highlighter on every page because so much of it stands out to me. Here are just a few quotes from what I did highlight:

“And that’s the tricky thing about life, really, that the things we want most will kill us.” (page 77)

“Andrew would say that dying for something is easy because it is associated with glory. Living for something, Andrew would say, is the hard thing. Living for something extends beyond fashion, glory, or recognition. We live for what we believe, Andrew would say.” (page 111)

“If loving other people is a bit of heaven then certainly isolation is a bit of hell, and to that degree, here on earth, we decide which state we would like to live.” (page 173)

“There is no addiction so powerful as self-addiction.” (page 182)

Some of the chapter names make me laugh. Chapter five, for example, is titled, “Faith: Penguin Sex,” chapter six is, “Redemption: The Sexy Carrots,” chapter twelve is, “Church: How I Go Without Getting Angry,” and chapter 15 is, “Community: Living with Freaks.”

Seriously, if you haven’t yet read the book, read it, even if you’re not into Christianity or religion. What have you got to lose?

And if you’re one of those people who can’t stand to read, but prefers to just watch the movie instead, you’re in luck because this fall, “Blue Like Jazz: The Movie” is expected to be released in theaters. 

The story of the movie itself is almost as inspiring as the story it tells. Just like the book, “Blue Like Jazz: The Movie” brings people together. And I can say this even before I’ve seen it, because it has already brought a whole community of people together—4,495, to be exact (of which I am one). You can read all about that at www.savebluelikejazz.com. 

I just watched the teaser trailer, and in case you can’t already tell, I am very excited about the movie. Of course, I don’t expect it to be just like the book. After all, how do you take a non-fiction book that is a series of essays, and turn them into a story with a plot and a climax without changing and adding some things? 

But I do expect it to be amazing.

At least, I hope it will be, because otherwise, I’ll have to re-name my guitar, and it took me three years to find this name!

You can also see another preview of the movie at: http://isthisgonnagetweird.tumblr.com/ The password is "yeah probably" with the space. Check it out!