Donald Miller's Blog, page 100

How a Near Death Experience Buckled My Knees and Made Me Grateful: Thoughts on Being Spared

I didn’t ever give much weight to phrase “I have been spared” until last Saturday morning when I had an undramatic/dramatic experience. Before the idea of “being spared” seemed like a theologically charged concept which condemned others. But on that morning I understood, for a moment, the freedom that being spared offers.

There was a pelting rain as an SUV, traveling from the opposite direction on the interstate, literally flew through the air, right by my window. It landed between my car and the one behind me, missing everyone, before it slammed into the guardrail on the shoulder. It was like being in a 3-D adventure movie — it was surreal and loud. Cars came to a screeching halt behind me. All I could do was to keep on driving, shaking like the interstate was now a slippery balance beam.

I felt the words penetrating my heart — I have been spared.

This thought had nothing to do with thinking people who don’t miss the car flying by are not in God’s eternal embrace of grace. My own father, a faithful pastor, died in a horrible car crash like the one I had just missed. The thought was just an overwhelming feeling of being spared the horror and pain that life can dole out.

I left the scene unscathed, not by any great deed or skill of my own doing. No wounds, no rushing to the emergency room. No phone call by the state trooper to my husband or kids that would alter their lives. My youngest could remain in his childhood cocoon playing a video game on a Saturday morning. My husband could finish the lawn without interruption. My oldest kids could keep planning for the evening that holds their focus and joy like the anticipation of fireworks. And all I could do was keep going. There was no one to share this moment.

*Photo by CTD, Creative Commons

It felt like a private miracle that I was not a second later on my drive. If I had stopped to pick up that stray piece of paper I noticed before my husband started mowing, or had refilled my teacup. If I had even waited a second before pulling out of the drive, a car flying 50 miles an hour on the interstate perpendicular to me would have hit me. I assume if I had lived after the crash that I would have been rushed nearby to Vanderbilt Hospital where my congregation and family would have prayed for a miracle. But instead I felt the gift of being spared — the grace of life that comes in waves and carries us to joyful shores.

Sometimes the reality of all the pardon and renewal that have been given us just floods over us like the hard rain cascading that Saturday morning on the interstate. When we remember that indeed we have been spared by graced-filled seconds that last a life time, we can renew our promise to live in gratitude. When we take a moment and recount all the times we have been spared, known and unknown, it buckles our knees and sends our spirits singing.

Truly our whole lives are a gift we cannot squander. How we live from this day forward is our gratitude. By the grace of God we have been forgiven everything and spared. Let us give thanks. Alleluia!

How a Near Death Experience Buckled My Knees and Made Me Grateful: Thoughts on Being Spared is a post from: Storyline Blog

New Research May Change Your Views on The Depravity of Man

Not long ago I saw a tweet from a Christian leader saying something like, “Watching the news feed. Lots of horrible things happening. Do we need more to prove the depravity of man?”

I get where the guy is coming from. It would be easy to watch the news and believe people are evil. But there are three immediate problems at play in the simple tweet:

1. Theologically, the problem is both out there and inside me. So if we are all depraved, I should just have to look in the mirror, not the news.

2. The news looks for horrible stories because it increases ratings. So, it’s a skewed view of life. Our neighbors, hopefully, aren’t making bombs. The overwhelming percentage of people we know aren’t murderers or rapists or thieves. So what does Total Depravity mean to us?

3. What do we do when we read stories about people who are doing good things in the world? Does this disprove the theological proposition of Total Depravity?

Now I have to confess something. I believe the concept of Total Depravity is completely true, and is perhaps, as G.K. Chesterton said the only bit of Christian theology we can actually prove.

To be sure, people can be very evil. I’ve a friend at the Justice Department who prosecutes sex traffickers and says he’s seen evil first hand. He’s met monsters. They all have horrible stories about how they got that way, but they are monsters all the same. They need to be locked up. And a recent interview with Supreme Court Justice Sonya Sotomayor revealed her perceptions were the same. When asked what had been the greatest paradigm shift she encountered during her rise to the Supreme Court she responded by saying, “the existence of evil. I didn’t want to believe anybody could be purely evil, but I know now they can. Evil exists.”

• • •

But what about the rest of us? What about the confusing middle where we both love and hate, lie and tell the truth, pursue justice but also ignore it? What does Total Depravity look like for us?

A recent book by Dan Ariely called The Honest Truth About Dishonesty, is, in my opinion, the best book about Total Depravity written in years. And he doesn’t even mention Total Depravity. He’s not a theologian and likely not a Christian, and yet he delves deep into the hidden heart of man – a heart that is rarely pure evil, but always interested in protecting its own interest.

Ariely conducts experiment after experiment to find out if people will tell the truth or lie. And what he finds is very interesting.

He finds that people will lie to suit their interests until they lie so much they feel like they are becoming a liar. At the point in which they feel like they are becoming a liar, they start telling the truth.

*Photo by Hugh Kretschmer, Creative Commons

In other words, being Totally Depraved (that is acting always in one’s own interest) can also mean we start to do the right thing because the right thing may, in fact, start becoming what’s best for us. We will lie, but we won’t become liars. Both motivations are selfish (and even the terms are spun to bolster the view we are good. Aren’t we liars the first time we lie?)

• • •

God’s definition of evil then is anything that isn’t in line with Him. Or, more accurately, anything that isn’t Him or anything He hasn’t redeemed in relationship. He is the only good and so He defines good through communion with anything else (theologians kindly clarify this in the comments if you will). So the truth is, evil people are capable of very, very good deeds if those good deeds are in line with their own interests.

What was more interesting to me than this finding was that everybody’s belief about truth changed depending on what suited their interest. As soon as somebody became rich, their right and wrong views about money, poverty and economic justice changed to suit their interests. If somebody could profit from a morally questionable practice, their views on that practice would change.

What this means is very few people are thinking objectively about anything. Our own theological views are often subscribed to, not because they seem objectively right, but because our community espouses them and if we agree, we are better accepted into our community.

All that to say, the issue isn’t so simple, and it certainly can’t be framed in a “look how depraved they are” mentality.

People who see the world this way are certainly depraved. Unlike me.

I may lie, but I’m no liar.

Total Depravity indeed.

New Research May Change Your Views on The Depravity of Man is a post from: Storyline Blog

Sunday Morning Sermon: The Gospel in Four Minutes by Propaganda

Each week we bring you a sermon from an unlikely source. Musicians, scientists, actors, business leaders and this week a poet.

Propaganda takes on the gospel as epic story explaining humanity and does a great job. Much appreciation for this:

My favorite line: Let’s move on on how our debt can be paid.

Sunday Morning Sermon: The Gospel in Four Minutes by Propaganda is a post from: Storyline Blog

Saturday Morning Cereal: The Best Viral Videos We Found This Week

Last week, “pay it forward” won your vote. What about this week? Which of these is your favorite? Leave your vote below in the comments.

Saturday Morning Cereal: The Best Viral Videos We Found This Week is a post from: Storyline Blog

Why Chasing Fame Doesn’t Work to Build Your Career

One of the unsaid promises of social media is: you can be famous. If you get enough followers, fans, likes, retweets, then you can make your book, blog, movie, band, idea – go. So we focus on making big enough tribes, creating big enough platforms, so our idea will fly. We delve into:

Twitter – Facebook – Instagram – Pinterest – YouTube – MySpace – LinkedIn – Jumbalaya – Vimeo – Google Plus – WordPress – OmniCron – Tumblr

We work hard on our personal brand.

Squeeze into skinny jeans.

Build our street cred.

Get head shots.

We create clever titles for ourselves, then humbly put them in our social media description: Fashionista. International Word Maven. Social Media Expert Pro. World Renowned Superstar. Others go a different route to fame and become qualified critics. If we criticize vigorously enough, we think, maybe they’ll pay attention and allow us a guest seat at their table of fame.

Our great temptation as creatives is to focus on hype and not our creation. When we lose this focus, we become peddlers of hollow ideas. This is the myth of the empty platform. All smoke and fluff, pomp and title. No substance. Platforms are great, but once you’re standing up there, you really need something to say. Don’t buy into the myth. Instead…

Relentlessly fight for your idea.

Grow it. Protect it. Draw a Police Do Not Cross line around it. Do everything to become better at your craft. Go to seminars. Read books. Develop your talent. Be teachable. Find a coach. A mentor. Don’t get diverted or distracted. Stay on course.

*Photo by Marcin Wichary, Creative Commons

Steve Jobs asks this question, “You know how you see a show car, and it’s really cool, and then four years later you see the production car and it sucks? And you think, what happened? They had it! They snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.

What happened is this: the designers came up with a great idea. Then they took it to the engineers and the engineers said, ‘Nah, we can’t do that. That’s impossible.’ The idea gets worse. Then the manufacturing people say, ‘We can’t build that.’ And it gets a lot worse.”

The key, according to Jobs, is to get your idea from concept car to the conveyor belt. This takes ferocious resolve. Your idea won’t cross the finish line if you lose focus. Or if you are focused on hype. Don’t buy into the myth of the empty platform. Don’t tell people they should love your idea. Build the iPhone. Then let them fall in love with the little robot you put in their pocket.

Now is a great time to start. “Amateurs,” according to Stephen King, “sit and wait for inspiration. The rest of us just get up and go to work.”

Why Chasing Fame Doesn’t Work to Build Your Career is a post from: Storyline Blog

Finding the Zone and Punching Fear in the Face

I grabbed a copy of Jon Acuff’s new book last week. It’s called Start and it’s about chasing your dreams and making things happen. It’s terrifically written and more than that, it’s super helpful. It’s also healthy, in a way, because psychologists have proven we are beings who need to be in motion to really be psychologically healthy. If you’ve not picked up a copy, make it one of your summer reads.

Anyway, one of the things Jon talks about is punching fear in the face. And one of the things I constantly deal with is fear. But it’s strange, because I really only fear sitting down to write my book. I don’t fear writing blogs and I don’t fear tweeting and I don’t fear mowing the lawn. I fear the work that matters. I fear the work over which I will be judged. I fear the work that, some day, I will be critiqued on Amazon and the New York Times. I fear, before I start, that I will fail.

*Photo by Wallula Junction, Creative Commons

In many ways, it’s a healthy fear. The work needs to be better. A book is not a blog entry. A book is serious business. Different writers see it differently. Seth Godin recommends publishing before a work is really done. I don’t. I say wait. World class writers who are remembered a century later do not rush their work. But even that is an excuse. It’s an excuse to give in to fear. Because the truth is a work is never done, and a writer is never ready to do it.

So here’s how I deal with the fear. I do exactly what Jon recommends. I punch fear in the face and sit down. It’s as exciting as going to the dentist. In fact, it’s worse. It’s like doing your own dental work.

But something remarkable happens when you pass through the fear. About every other time, you find the zone. The zone is that place where a book seems to write itself. It’s a wonderful and magical place. A story comes to you and your fingers can’t move fast enough to catch it. Sometimes you shed a few tears as you type. You’re so grateful you punched through the fear. You’re so grateful God seems to be giving you words.

So here’s my question for you, are you working through the fear? Are you punching it in the face? Are you finding your zone, your self, your voice?

What are you afraid of?

Jon, thanks for the inspiration. And thanks for working through the fear to write a book.

Finding the Zone and Punching Fear in the Face is a post from: Storyline Blog

Stop Making the Same Mistakes – An Expert Talks About Why We Struggle to Change

Do you feel like you’re repeating a pattern over and over in your life that you can’t seem to change or you feel stuck in? For instance, maybe you keep getting into the same kind of unhealthy relationships (or avoid relationships), you repeatedly say something you regret when you get angry, you rarely finish things that you begin, you lose confidence in yourself each time you find it, the jobs you take are unfulfilling, sabotaging your own success becomes the norm, etc. Whatever it is, at times it seems overwhelming and impossible to change. In these situations the problem is often that we have come to prefer the familiar over the unfamiliar. In other words, we exchange what we desperately need, for the secure feeling of being in control. Just like Adam and Eve, deep down you and I prefer independence, with its loneliness, over the love and fulfillment of absolute dependence on God. The battle to stop an unhealthy pattern then is more of an internal one than external. The battle with myself often seems irrational and fierce. How can I be defeated … so I actually win?

• • •

Once upon a time there was an Indian tribe where the chief and his wife had a child. When the child was still a toddler another tribe came and attacked the village and after defeating them they took the chief’s child with them as his parents cried in horror. As the years passed in his new village the child dreamed often of a scene … a scene of a village that he watched gradually disappear as he rode on the back of a horse. Also in his dream he saw the faces of a man and woman as they cried reaching out for him. Since he had no memory of anything like this in his childhood he pondered the meaning of the dream as he grew older wondering if it was a vision of how he would die. As he continued to grow into a young man so grew his strength along with his anger. He found there was an emptiness inside and a longing for something that he did not understand; almost like a longing for home. This became restlessness that fueled his anger and his growth as a warrior and hunter. His name became known as “Lost Warrior.”

One day, when he was in his late 20s, Lost Warrior and some friends were out hunting for the “Great Antler,” a very large deer with an impressive rack of antlers that had been seen from time to time only by the most skillful of hunters, but never killed. Near the end of the third day of hunting they came upon the “Great Antler” grazing in a field near the edge of the woods. The hunters began creeping toward the deer but when it saw them it bolted toward the woods, and faster than anyone could imagine Lost Warrior was running close behind. As the other men slowed with fatigue it seemed Lost Warrior’s pace grew faster and faster. It was almost as if all those years of anger and all those dreams of yearning were drawing him closer to his prey.

*Photo by USFWS, Creative Commons

Suddenly as he was almost ready to pounce on the deer, “Bam” he was hit from the side with tremendous force and he fell to the ground. He scrambled to his feet but ten warriors from another tribe jumped on him and threw him to the ground. He began to use every trick and everything he had learned in battle to shake them loose. He grabbed handfuls of dirt and threw them into the eyes of two of the men, he kicked others, and he scratched and he bit and he hit until they overpowered him and threw him to the ground again. Then they tied his hands behind his back and tied his legs to his hands. He thought, “I cannot go this way!” “I vowed to never be captured,” and he screamed at the top of his lungs while his entire body shook but he was too exhausted to resist anymore. He had been overcome.

They tied him to a horse and began to travel for quite some time. As he traveled bruised and bleeding he wondered if this was what his dreams were about. Would this be the end of his life? Would he die before he ever felt the longing inside resolved? Just as he began to drift off to sleep he heard the sound of children and people in the distance. He looked up and shook his head. Was he dreaming or was he awake? For what he was looking at was the very scene in his dreams. It was the same path, the same village with the same hills as the backdrop. The caravan came to stop at a certain tent and he was brought down from the horse. Just then an elderly woman and man emerged and when they looked at Lost Warrior he recognized their eyes. In amazement he realized they were the couple in his dreams: suddenly and unexpectedly he began to cry and cry as he rested his head on the shoulder of his mother and father. He was home.

• • •

This story is about you and me when we struggle with an important, painful change or transition. Ask yourself what the “payoff” is for not changing. Fear often clouds our thinking into trying the same things over and over. Usually it takes the failure of all we know to ease great pain, before clarity comes. Loss of what is familiar, even against our will, brings us to surrender … surrender to a God who wants to give us more than we can ask or dream. Step into your fear and take one step at a time in integrity while clumsily trusting God, which is faith; faith that is leading you in a great life story toward home.

Stop Making the Same Mistakes – An Expert Talks About Why We Struggle to Change is a post from: Storyline Blog

Here’s a Little Secret: I Have No Idea What I’m Doing and Neither Does Anyone Else

The greatest advice I ever received was from three dear friends in the winter of 2007.

I was caught in a whirlwind of fear trying to start an organization from the couch of my apartment. My only business skills were the C minus I stumbled through in a college economics class.

My friends sat me down and said this:

“Fake it till you make it. Throw the wings on the plane as it’s going down the runway.”

I’ll never forget that moment.

And 5 years later, in many ways, we’re still flying without wings.

This is the big secret held by successful artists, visionaries, leaders, and entrepreneurs. Very few of us had any idea what we were doing. Many of us still don’t. And that’s totally ok.

*Photo by Smoobs, Creative Commons

The stuff I hear most often are excuses from talented people who don’t think they have the creative ability to live a life with great purpose. They say they don’t have the vision or the work ethic. They haven’t received their “calling” written in permanent marker on the bathroom mirror. They focus on their past to purposely sabotage their future.

But the truth is this: They are simply too scared to start.

And that’s what separates those who make it and those who don’t. The ones who make it have the courage to open the door, sit in the driver’s seat, and start the ignition.

So here’s a tip. And it’s the suggestion I give most often:

30 minutes a day.

Carve out 30 minutes every day to do creative work that plays to your greatest strengths and deepest desires.

Block off the time on your calendar and do one or more of these things:

Write

Read

Pray

Vision-cast

Create

Talk on the phone

Record

Practice

Run

Organize

Volunteer

Build

30 minutes a day of dedicated work to the thing you know makes your heart skip a beat.

What will happen will amaze you. You’ll stumble through the first few. But by week two you’ll hit your stride. You’ll look forward to those 30 minutes. They will be a time of both energy and peace. Those 30 minutes will begin to inform your entire day.

Whether or not those 30 minutes becomes something more is irrelevant. You’ll figure that out later. Set the kitchen timer. Fake it till you make it.

Here’s a Little Secret: I Have No Idea What I’m Doing and Neither Does Anyone Else is a post from: Storyline Blog

Why Losing Everything Could Be the Best Thing For You

When you’re writing a screenplay, you normally want to have something happen about fifteen minutes from the end of the story in which everything is lost. All the progress that’s been made for the lead character has to wash down the drain. And then, unless you are writing a tragedy, you figure out a way to redeem the situation in the final minutes.

It’s formulaic, I know, but it works. You’ll find the “all is lost” scene in almost every movie you go see this summer.

The reason is because it increases dramatic tension, but it’s also in the story because so many people can identify with it.

I can remember three seasons in my life in which I felt like all was lost. They were extremely painful. Two of them happened within the same year.

Looking back, though, that year has gone on to form me more than any other. I am a better person in every way because I went through that pain. I’m less cynical, have a stronger work ethic, make better decisions and have a stronger faith because I once lost everything.

*Photo by Michael, Creative Commons

While the “all is lost” moment in life can be painful, it can also be good. There aren’t many major characters in Scripture who don’t lose everything at one point in their lives. And I’m talking about heroic characters. Mary lost her reputation. Job lost his health and his money. Paul lost his position in society and not to mention his life. Moses nearly lost his mind. The list goes on and on.

If you come to a place in your life where you feel like you’ve lost everything, maybe you’re right where God wants you to be.

The trick that pulled me through (I didn’t learn this till the third “all is lost” scene in my life) was to ask myself what I was learning while I was still in pain. The third loss was a business loss, so I kept asking myself how the loss served me. And it served me in many ways. It took away my addiction to possessions and status, it taught me a better way to run my business, it humbled me and helped me become more disciplined in my work.

The Psychologist Viktor Frankl said when we find a redemptive perspective on our suffering, it ceases to be suffering. I believe that’s true.

God is using the “all is lost” season in your life for His purposes. And when we submit to His purposes, any death can be redeemed. He’s living proof of that.

Why Losing Everything Could Be the Best Thing For You is a post from: Storyline Blog

Sunday Morning Sermon: A Renowned Scientist Tenderly Explains His Faith

Every Sunday we feature a brief “sermon” from an unlikely source. This week we feature Francis Collins, the geneticist who led the Human Genome Project. Collins came to faith later in life and in this interview with CNN, talks about why. I’ll chime in after the video.

Just the other day my girlfriend and I were paddling across a lake off the Jefferson Memorial. A duck went by and Betsy tried to get a picture. As I steered us closer to the duck, it hit me again. It hits me about once a month. How can anybody not believe there is an intelligent design behind all this? Not only are the colors of the duck amazing, but my brain is amazing for even being able to process that subjective reality. And also for knowing the thought the duck is amazing is subjective in the first place. And all this an accident? It’s a rationally absurd position. This is, of course, no proof of Christianity. But it’s certainly a logical idea. I’m grateful people like Fancis Collins, of whom I’m convinced is not alone in his faith amongst the scientific community. He expresses so plainly and disarmingly his belief in God. Not only does the duck give me faith, but Fancis does as well. There’s something that made us. My reason tells me that. My faith says Jesus has something to do with it. I hope you found this short interview encouraging and that it stimulates thought and conversation.

Sunday Morning Sermon: A Renowned Scientist Tenderly Explains His Faith is a post from: Storyline Blog