When I had the pleasure of sitting in a small group discussion at Halcyon on Fourth Street led Donald Miller, I refrained from saying the two things I’ve always thought about saying to him: 1) Something mushy like, “Thank you for writing the book that captured a generation and changed my life,” or 2)”You jerk! Blue Like Jazz was the book I always wanted to write!” But seriously, I ‘m just really thankful for Don’s words, honesty, and now his story.
In A Million Miles in a Thousand Years Don branches out from reflective essays, to telling the story of him learning to tell stories. A life worth living is much like a story, where a character wants something, and has to overcome some difficulty to obtain it. He tells about people who he’s met that live great stories, and his own attempts-including a hike through the Andes, launching a non-profit, and a failed engagement- at writing a story of his own life.
In a dark but hopeful scene after Don’s breakup, where he looks out over a campfire, and realizes that although he’s trying to write a great story out of his life, it’s just the story of a tree in the story of a forest. You don’t have to be the center of the universe to have a great story. A tree never ceasing trying to be the best tree it possibly can, but it is only one small part of the forest.
It reminds me a bit of the great cloud of witnesses in Hebrews 11. The heroes of the faith, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, leaders like Moses, prostitutes like Rahab, and the prophets will be there. The author of Hebrews then talks about Jewish martyrs who stood up to pagan empires who are also a part of the cloud. Who from the Christian story will be there? Heroes like Polycarp and Wycliffe? Peacemakers like St. Francis? Revolutionaries like Dr. King? There will be an untold number of others who you wouldn’t expect. Each a tree, combining to make up the story of the forest of God and his people.
A Million Miles has inspired me to edit my life, stop trying to make it all about me, and join the others in the forest.
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