(I recently told a friend of mine that his blog had grown stale. And then I looked at my own blog and it’s been a month since my last entry. )

So, I was driving in my car today, a 1992 Crown Victoria given to me as a gift. Spinning in the cd player was what I call “The Crown Vic Mix”. Track 13 has these words…

“Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto, Mata ah-oo hima de

Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto, Himitsu wo shiri tai…”

…And later in the song…

“The time has come at last

To throw away this mask

Now everyone can see

My true identity…

I’m Kilroy! Kilroy! Kilroy! Kilroy!”

This song, “Mr. Roboto”, by Styx tells of the plight of one outlawed rocker named Kilroy, who was captured by the MMM; and his struggle to be free from their tyrannical control of what used to be the free world. But there’s more to it than that. It’s about freedom to be who we are (who God made us to be) rather than being a captive of who we think we ought to be, or who people think we are or should be.

It seems that being a human being sometimes has a lot to do with maintaining an image; and sometimes it seems to be more like a mask. It takes different forms and shapes for different people. I was in Starbucks today waiting for my plain ‘ol cup of coffee when the man next to me placed his order–it seemed to have 8 different words making up its name. I thought, “Man, his coffee is complicated.”

I’m not old enough to turn this blog into a “I remember the good old days when…” kind of soliloquy. And I’m not interested in that either. But I do wonder about what kinds of masks people wear. I think just about anything can serve as a mask. A house, a car, a job, a wardrobe, a habit, and even a blog.

But I’m interested in living a life that is free from masks, free from worrying about other’s thoughts of me, and free to be who God made me to be. And I think the trick to it is to be o.k. with who I am. Really o.k.