Thoughts from Donald Miller

A few weeks ago I realized that the reason I couldn't finish a book for my life was because I wasn't enjoying the kind of books I was reading. In the beginning of my journey I loved the instructional types of books that offered me tools to help me grow as a Christian and become closer to Christ. I would honestly sit down and read a book like that in one sitting. It was fascinating to me as I was eager to learn and grow. Now, however, I read a chapter and I am bored with the material. I thought for a while that something was wrong, that perhaps this was one of my warning signs that I was straying away.

After a recent visit to Barnes and Noble, I have decided that that isn't the case at all!! I just needed a new kind of book. I purchased Through Painted Deserts by Donald Miller, among a few others. This was a great story of how he found and saw God on a road trip through the west, living simply in the back of a van with a good friend. I highly recomment this book to anyone who wants to hear an honest account of his faith journey, the questions he asked, the troubles he faced and the beautiful God that he found.

I also recommend Blue Like Jazz by Miller which I have recently borrowed from the SPCC library and can't seem to put down! Here are just a few of Miller's thoughts that have really grabbed my attention:

-I think every conscious person, every person who is awake to the functioning principles within his reality, has a moment where he stops blaming the problems of the world, on humanity and authority, and starts to face himself. I hate this more than anything. This is the hardest principal within Christian spirituality for me to deal with. The problem is not out there, the problem is the needy beast of a thing that lives inside my chest.

I love the truth and conviction that rings out of this. He later goes on to talk about how we all need to let go of ourselves a bit more each day until we learn to live for others. This is one of the fundamental ideas about Christianity, but poured out in an honest, new way.

-I don't think you can explain how the Christian faith works, either. It is a mystery and I love that about Christian spirituality. It cannot be explained, and yet it is beautiful and true. It is something you feel and it comes from the soul.

Now people may be saying, "well duh!" but others might now. And when reading about Don's journey throughout this book and the last that I read, I can appreciate how he has truly sought out God and felt him in his heart, tugging at and comforting his soul.

Please do yourself a favor and check out some of Donald Miller's writing if you haven't already!!