I sure like what this kid has to say. I’m no fan of religion (and I know the definition isn’t all that bad, but in our age the definition and the street understanding of the term are different). But mostly, I’m no fan of people using Jesus or religion or morality or any of that to bring attention to themselves while they secretly live differently. I’m over it. I’d rather sin in the open than sin in private and be a hypocrite. I guess that probably makes me a different kind of self righteous. Regardless, this is worth pondering.
18Jan, 2012
Last week I ran into a guy at an airport who said that when he and his wife created their Storyline it was the highest point of their marriage. I wasn’t surprised. Story is, after all, a sense-making device. Story helps us understand ourselves and others. It helps us realize where we’ve been and chart a path for where we’d like to go. A Storyline is a life-mapping tool consisting of several modules, modules that help you understand yourself as a character, chart the positive and negative turns in your life, anticipate and have a positive attitude about conflict and fuel your life with vision. Without story structure, our lives feel like they don’t make sense. But when you’ve created your storyline, you’re sitting in the theater of your mind, fully engaged in your own story. You’re wondering what’s going to happen next, because you know who the character is and where they’d like to go. Let me explain: What is Storyline? from Donald Miller on Vimeo. At the Storyline Conference, you’ll spend two days creating your Storyline, and being inspired to live a better story. If you’ve not registered, consider registering today.
17Jan, 2012
I’m becoming a Joseph Campbell fan. Reflecting on myth, even the myths (some true stories, some arrows pointing to truth) I learned as a young Christian growing up in Texas have been the maps I’ve used to navigate my world. I do not believe the Bible is complete myth but I do believe it intentionally contains myth (Song of Songs, for almost certain, and perhaps other chunks). I believe Jesus was God and the Son of God, and I believe much of what is in the book has happened, in one way or another. I tend to believe Job could be myth, but I’d guess somebody like Job existed, whether or not Satan interacted with him or not (the bulk of the book is written in poetry, so the idea Job said what he said, exactly, simply can’t be true, unless he was a weird fruit nut who sat around talking in poetry) but as myth, it does help me reconcile my avoidant tendencies with the facts of reality. As a people, we don’t like reality. The majority of our energy is spent repressing rightful anger or drawing philosophical maps in our minds that give us way-points we can use [...]
This year we will present three Storyline Conferences, the first being held in Portland, Oregon on April 30th through May 1st. The second conference will be at Westmont College in Santa Barbara (dates to be announced soon) and the third at Belmont University in Nashville, TN. At the Portland conference, you’ll enjoy a special screening of Blue Like Jazz right after it hits theaters. This year the conference has expanded. We’ve added an extra hour of lecture and several extra hours of reflection time. Along with this, we’ve revamped the notebook so you’ll leave with a complete Storyline (read Life Plan) you can use for years to come as a way of keeping yourself on track to tell a great story with your life. At Storyline, participants learn to: • Know your own story. • Embrace the shared agency God has given you to manage and direct your life. • Filter the scenes that end up in your story to keep the bad scenes out. • Choose the right characters to interact with in your story. • Engage rather than run from conflict. • Be motivated by climactic scenes rather than goals. • Bond with God in the living of [...]
John Wooden said “Your reputation is who people think you are, your character is who you really are.” So, what would it look like for us to have great character in 2012 and stop working on our reputation? Who really cares what people think? I learned this lesson several years ago. I ran into a person who worked endlessly on their reputation but had terrible character. When their character was revealed (which happens in intimacy) they were a complete let down. The truth is, they wouldn’t have been a let down at all if they would have been themselves. People don’t judge who we are, they judge who we’ve led them to believe we are.The more time and effort we put into making ourselves look great, the longer and harder the fall when the truth comes out. And eventually the truth comes out. What I took from that relationship was difficult, but it’s something we have to face in our early twenties, usually, and that’s there’s a difference between our reputation and our character. Since then, I’ve decided not to work very hard on my reputation. Or at least I hope that’s true. I air most of my dirty laundry, [...]
