How can I make a difference in the world I live in?  How can I impact the lives of other people? Will the story of my life be worth reading when it is over?  These are questions that Donald Miller tackles in his new book, “A Million Miles in a Thousand Years.”  As two film makers come to him to make a movie from one of his books (Blue Like Jazz), Donald looks at his life and realizes that there really is nothing exciting about the life he has lived.  The rest of the book is a description of how Donald sets out to change that; to write a better story for his life. Donald’s writing is so different from any other author I have read.  He is authentic, honest and sometimes would be considered irreverent by some mainstream denominations.  One part of the book that really grabbed me was this paragraph;

If I have a hope, it’s that God sat over the dark nothing and wrote you and me, specifically, into the story and put us in with the sunset and the rainstorm as thought to say, Enjoy your place in my story. The beauty of it means you matter, and you can create within it even as I created you.

God has given us the freedom to be creative and to write a great story for our life.  As Donald elaborates throughout the book, that great story inevitably will include conflict, and inciting incident that will stir our souls to do something that will make our stories better as we live within the great story of God.

Our stories may not include as exciting of a journey as Donald’s did.  That is not his point.  His point is that we should do our best to live a life that matters. That we should get off of our butts and live to impact others around us.  That alone will create a better story.

You can win a copy of this book by leaving a comment here on this post.  Winner will be chosen by random drawing on Friday!

You can purchase the book here at Amazon.com.