Infamous and famous mean the same thing

My students have an inflated view of me. Those surrounding me at the church are in the same boat.

Once and for all, I would like to set the record straight.

Last year was my first year on the Oasis Conference planning board. As we were looking for a speaker, I had mentioned something about Steve Carter from Mars Hill. Some how, word got out that I knew Rob Bell (from the Nooma fame).

I do not know Rob Bell; have never met Rob Bell; and cannot ever see myself meeting Rob Bell.

This whole puffed up view of me as a person was only continued at CIY. This year at CIY, we had Matt Bayless as our band. Me and Matt got to spend a whole summer together a couple years ago, working for CIY. He's a great guy, who is very talented.

My kids would see me talking to him and immediately understand me as cooler than I really am.

Most of my girls at CIY had a crush on a guy by the name of Brandon from St. Louis Christian College. In order to embarrass them, I walked up to him to point my girls out to him. As I reached him, I ask, "Are you Brandon from St. Louis?"

He answered, "Yes, how did you know?"

To which I replied, "You're kind of a big deal!"

At this point, Tommy the drummer walked by and shouted "Hey, T-Long!"

Brandon looked at me and asked, "Are you T-Long?"

I said, "Yes, how did you know?"

He answered, "you're kind of a big deal!" We proceeded to have a pretty good talk after that.

Why do I tell these stories? Because last night I was trying to defend my anonymity. I reassured someone that I fly under the radar most places I go.

We walked into Starbucks and a guy from behind the counter yelled out my name. I hadn't seen him in a while so I talked to him for a minute. I chalked it up to random chance.

We left there, because the saxaphonist sounded like he was dying, and went to Barnes and Noble. As I approached the counter to pay for my books, the woman behind the counter, whom I have never seen before, said, "Who are you? I see you at every Seaman event, and people are always trying to talk to you?"

These two events did not help my anonymity defense. For my kids that read this...I assure you that most of the world is oblivious to my existence. Though you have seen me rub elbows with some of the finest people alive, I promise you my life is relatively small compared to the greater existence of the human race.