I have to be honest with you ... there is nothing I want more than for Jaci to regroup, disconnect lingering ties to bad experiences, and come out to be the greatest staying presence in Christian music since the monks responsible for the Gregorian Chants. It is not just because I love her Music (and as a friend I'd be happy to tell her to her face why I'm not so thrilled about her last 2 or 3 albums, but even then, still love her music as mediocre Jaci music is better than most good music by others out there) ... I love her, and know that she is well aware that even as everything and everyone lets her down, Jesus Christ never will, and He loves her far too much to ever let her get away from Him.

I spent the last weeks producing a DVD series for internal use for my Church for my best friend, a Puerto Rican here in Florida via New York who could not attend this seminar hosted by EWTN's famous Father Ed Silvia and Johnnette Benkovic. As this was just for private, non-commercial use, I took the liberty of choosing two artists I love more than anyone else for the songs to be used in each week's introduction. The first, of course, was Rich Mullins - my personal favorite - no offense, Jaci. The other was a blazing opener to the series, Dueño de mi Corazon, and that brings on an interesting story as all over my Parish as word spread about this Jaci V there was suddenly a tremendous rush in interest about her, and I was taken back to a time in California on January 1st, 2000 when I took lots of photos that Jaci appreciated. On that day, my best friend's daughter was 4 days old. Now she is six years old, and she has become the unelected president of the Jaci Youth Fan Club.

I find it almost fascinating to read (with horror, in some cases) what a terrible hand life has dealt Jaci, but the truth is, nothing has happened to her that has not also happened to me. For Jaci I would say that in my own case, following divorce, diagnosis of a popularly misunderstood salt imbalance, and a period of despair where truly after all friends have vacated, Jesus would never let me (or her) down, I'm on a strong rebound to do bigger and better things than ever before, and I have every prayer and confidence that the same will happen for her. She is young ... and she's just getting started, and her future is as bright as can be in her upcoming role as a light shining in the darkness that has been her life.