Why JazzCrawler?

I know the first blog post is going to be the hardest so I figured I’d answer a question I get a lot even from some of my closest friends. What is with the screen name JazzCrawler? To most it is strange and unprofessional especially to those who I am trying to reach spiritually. Actually for me the name holds great spiritual value. In my world: Jazz is my God-given name and so much more while Crawler is represents someone whose strength of character and faith I would like to me emulate in my own life.

Jazz: My parents gave me the name Jocelyn. When I was a senior in high school I met a very important person in my life. His name was Gir and we had trouble pronouncing each other’s names. Instead of calling me by my real name, he called me Jazz. He was a musician and he that the “joce” sounded similar to “jazz”. He was very important in my life and even though he is no longer here he left a deep mark. I found that I seem to refer to myself as Jazz when I am having an internal dialogue. This leads me to believe this is the name I was meant to have, like maybe when it’s said that God calls you by name, this is what he calls me.


Crawler: I love comic books. I have trouble remembering the time before I loved them. My favorite character is the XMen Nightcrawler. Yes I know he is fictional. But he represents something great. Nightcrawler is blue, fuzzy, and has a tail. He is not normal looking – he has been like this his entire life. He does not let this get him down. On more than one occasion he was hunted to be killed as a witch and a demon. He has the power of teleportation and when he does this he leaves a smell of brimstone which adds to people’s ideas that he is demonic. His father claims to be a demon and does horrible things to people. Despite all of this Nightcrawler is a devoted Catholic and even studied to become a priest. I have read comics where Nightcrawler was seriously injured and his words before he passes out are prayers to God, usually for the person he was trying to protect. In 2010, Marvel comics killed Nightcrawler (he just came back, four years later) and his last words were a prayer. He was the second comic book character to announce he was a particular religion, first to announce he was a Christian and first to be an avid partisan of a religion. Even though he is fictional he shows that it is not necessary to give up on yourself and you are not hopeless. His devotion to God through all he has seen is also admirable. I love that about him. One of his nicknames is “Crawler” and that’s why I took it.