I do very little without intention. Those of you familiar with the Strengthsfinders personality tool may recognize that my combination of input, learner, and ideation means that there is a lot of my life lived in my head. And so it is with utmost intention that I have for years decorated this head with a very isolated strap of whiskers on my chin.
So here is the defense of my beard for the two people who have wondered.
1. My wife lets me keep it. Over 15 years ago the beard came to me through trial and error. Mustaches do not work with my face. I get so itchy I want to tear my face off when I try to grow a mustache. My beard doesn’t fill in well on the chops . . . And so the chin beard was born. And like a little boy who found a puppy, I asked if I could keep it . . .
2. When I found out 15 years ago what I could grow, I was super excited to find that I was in good company. In my Western Civ. class at bible college we read books and watched videos of Francis Schaefer. He sported this beard, and I can only hope to achieve one tenth of the glory of his amazing facial fashion.
3. It has become my friend. Me and my beard have been through good times and bad together. We have a pretty solid relationship. We may at times get after each other, but in the end we always apologize and renew the friendship.
4. It gives my nose something to point to. Eastern European noses need something to point to.
5. Jesus had a beard . . . Or at least he does in all the paintings. (What more can be said!?)