A Million Miles

For those of you who follow this blog you know I tend to take a break during the Winter months and then pick up again as we head towards Summer.  It would appear this year was no different.  Part of my intent is to connect with people as they're off on vacations and such, which tends to happen more in Spring and Summer, but I appreciate the opportunity to engage at any time as well.  And, I thought this was a great subject to start that back up.
I recently finished a book by Donald Miller called, "A Million Miles in a Thousand Years."  Now, I continue to hear sad statistics about how adults in America read, on average, only the ingredients of a box of cereal in any given year.  I'm hoping that's not true, and there are still a number of avid readers out there.  And, even if you're not, I really recommend this book.
It's a memoir by a guy who got pretty famous when he wrote his first memoir, "Blue Like Jazz".  It was a quirky little book with this guy's take on life and faith that seemed to connect with a lot of people  After that he wrote a few more books, and life was "pretty good".  Then, a couple of movie guys came around and asked to make a movie about Don, basically crating a fictional story out of Blue Like Jazz.  And so Don agrees, and works with these two guys to create a movie about the fictional 'Don' with help by the real "Don'.  Kind of meta, I know.
But here's the kicker.  In this process, Don really comes to see that he's not living a life worth making a movie out of!  Don's life isn't bad, but it's not movie material.  That's why they have to invent a fictional Don whose life has greater highs and lows, because that's what all of us are looking for when it comes to a movie or a great story.  And it causes Don to ask himself (the real Don, that is), can we choose to live our lives so that they are Movie-worthy?  Can we choose to live a great story?
It is a great question that drives the rest of the book, and has really driven me lately as well.  My next couple of posts will be on this idea.  Looking at my life, would it be worth making a movie out of it?  Some things I've done, yeah maybe.  And I hope that's true for all of us.  But am I really living a life that's a great story?  Every day?  Now that's a tough question. 
I think our little family did something great in the last couple of years, and that will be my next blog post.  And then, I think we're going to attempt something great in the next few years of our lives as well.  I'll talk about that one next.
But, in the meantime, read this book.  "A Million Miles in a Thousand Years."  It's fantastic, and hopefully challenges you as much as it did me.  Is your life a great story?  Are the choices you make defining?  Would anybody see a movie about your life?  Now that's a challenge worth answering.

Don't go to church, Be the Church

Bill