A Million Miles Comes To Chattanooga
Posted By Aaron Marcelli on November 22, 2009
Last night Katy and I went to see Donald Miller on the last stop of his speaking tour entitled a million miles in a thousand years. I was impressed with the hundreds of coffee shop culture young adults who showed up not for a concert, but a lecture. There was an atmosphere of emergence and people willing to have their lives poured into. The show involved an opening monologue by author Susan Isaacs before Miller came out to speak for about an hour on the idea behind his newest book by the same title as the tour. The night involved acting, comedy, the presenting of ideas, and at the end of the night Katy’s name was drawn as a winner of four Donald Miller works (and I’m not jealous at all).
I frantically scratched notes during both presentations and have listed below just some of the things I thought or learned from the night.
From Susan Isaacs:
“When none of the Christians in my life approved of me, I assumed God didn’t either”
We assume that everyone who disagrees with us is full of pride
What if our relationship with God depended on us being vulnerable with Him?
“Sometimes we marry God for His money”
Her story and more of these thoughts can be found in her book based on the idea that if she was married to God she would take Him to marriage counseling.
From Donald Miller:
The antagonist in story always acts like they are better than everyone else. So when Christians act like that people assume we are the bad guy.
It doesn’t matter if the main character wins if it’s not obvious he is the good guy or makes others feel on his team and want to root for him. This shows us that success alone is not the goal.
A story is made up of your actions; not your intentions or good ideas, but what you actually do.
It’s only a sacrifice if it’s something you don’t want to do.
There is nothing wrong with wanting nice things. But if that is all you want or is your main goal in life, then your story stinks.
Our world teaches us to avoid conflict when it is conflict that helps us grow.
Characters only change through pain.
In Genesis 2, after Adam realizes he has a void, God puts him to work naming the animals before fixing his conflict. Never though does Adam doubt God is there or that God loves him. He realizes pain is just a part of life (even before the fall).
When we can’t find meaning in our lives, we numb ourselves with pleasure.
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Congrats to Katy, that is cool. Did the prize include meeting the author?
Some interesting thoughts. I am reading his Through Painted Deserts book (in Portuguese) right now. I wish I could hear him speak sometime just to hear what he has to say on different things.