Donald Miller's Blog, page 137

A Campus-Wide Inciting Incident

This morning I am speaking at Belmont University in Nashville, kicking off a fascinating, campus-wide experiment.

Belmont is handing out cash to their students.

In denominations of five, ten and twenty bucks, hundreds of students will be handed packets containing cash and asked to "do something" with the money. The idea is they can't spend it on themselves, and they have to use it to tell a great story. Each student will consider what to do with the money for a few days, I am sure, and then...

Announcing the Winner of the Living a Better Story Contest: Lori Ventola

After receiving and reading through more than 500 entries to the Living a Better Story Blog Contest, we've chosen our winner. And believe me, this was no easy task. There is no story greater than one human being attempting to live a meaningful life. We read painful and beautiful stories about marriages falling apart and getting back together, children being taken from the world too early, stories of noble ambitions to build orphanages and start schools. We passed around your stories like...

Excerpt from Anne Jackson's Permission to Speak Freely

My friend Anne Jackson's second book, Permission to Speak Freely – Essays and Art on Fear, Confession and Grace releases today. I've asked her to share one of the essays from her book with you. Anne decided to share seven essays on seven different blogs, this being the first. To read the rest of the essays, check out the links at the end.

Anne is also giving away a copy of her book to two commenters, chosen at random, on Friday. So check out the question at the end and leave a comment to be...

Element of Success: Make Old Friends Old Friends

Here's a secret I learned long ago. It's a big one and it'll propel you into a future of greatness….

STOP TAKING SOCIAL CUES FROM YOUR PEERS.

Instead of taking social cues from people your age, take cues from people ten and twenty years older than you. Are you looking for a church that has a lot of people who are your age so you can hang out? That's fine, but try looking for one where most of the people have families and perhaps a little grey hair. Why? Because the sooner you can relate to...

If 40 is the New 30 Then is 20 the New Junior High?

A recent article in the New York Times asks the question why so many people in their 20′s are taking so long to grow up. In the article, Robin Henig proposes:

"It's happening all over, in all sorts of families, not just young people moving back home but also young people taking longer to reach adulthood overall. It's a development that predates the current economic doldrums, and no one knows yet what the impact will be — on the prospects of the young men and women; on the parents on whom so...

Why the Bible is a Tough Book for Americans

I'm not a big fan of the "there are only two kinds of people" breakdown of humanity, and yet in the past few years, I've found myself wondering if, well, there are only two kinds of people. I'm not talking about people who either like Neil Diamond or don't, I'm talking about How and Why thinkers. Let me explain:

We all live life asking questions, questions about how to get ahead, how to make life more meaningful, questions about how to survive or help people survive. The question how is a...

Living a Better Story Seminar Contest Update

The Living a Better Story Seminar is just over a month away and we already have more than 350 people signed up! We couldn't be more excited. More than 500 people entered our contest to be flown out for the seminar, and we will be announcing the winner on September 1st.

In a way, the seminar will be like a reunion of people who have never met, if such a thing is possible. Fans of the books and blog along with folks who are just looking to energize their story are descending on Portland...

Writer's Block. What to do When the Well Runs Dry.

Every so often I have nothing to say and therefore nothing to write about. I may have some opinions, but they don't seem important and they certainly aren't worth sharing. It's not writers block, it's more a feeling that my inkwell is dry.

Writing is not like painting in that a painter can sit down in front of a tree and paint, and when he is done, he can turn his chair around and paint some other tree, or building, or waterfall. Ideas aren't so plentiful.

So what do I do when the inkwell runs...

Best of the Blog: What Women Need from Men, and Men Need from Women, and Who's Telling You a Story?

I'll be out of cell phone range and won't have internet access all week, so I'm featuring the "best of the blog." Of the hundreds of entries, these are the ones that got the most comments, twitter shares and facebook shares. I'll be sharing three articles each day this week. I hope you like perusing the archives!

What Women Really Need from Men

Here is an excerpt from my book Father Fiction. It made quite a splash when I released it. Apparently, lots of people have opinions on what what the...

Best of the Blog: Personality and Theology, Selling the Truth and Arrogant Theologians

I'll be out of cell phone range and won't have internet access all week, so I'm featuring the "best of the blog." Of the hundreds of entries, these are the ones that got the most comments, twitter shares and facebook shares. I'll be sharing three articles each day this week. I hope you like perusing the archives!

Does Your Personality Influence Your Theology?

We all seem to think the particular theological positions we hold are true, but are there other factors that are leading us to believe...