Expectations? Well, with an endorsement list that reads like a who’s who of politics, religion, and rock n roll, I got the immediate impression that either the author has a lot of influential friends, or the influence this book is going to have will change my world.

And it did.

Quite simply, this book has facts that you can’t ignore. Yes, it’s about poverty, but too, it’s about the difference a wealthy westerner like me can make. One who has enough money to buy a laptop, pay for internet access and become informed about the world… it doesn’t take too much of my spare income to make a real difference in someone’s life. All it takes is a choice.

Choose life, I say; give a little, mean a lot.

And read the book. I dare you.

(Thomas Nelson gave a little, and it meant a lot. I got my copy from Booksneeze)

This is a book about the idea of story. About writing your own story, or rather, living your own story in such a way as to give it meaning, significance. To use an image Miller borrows; Sometimes you’ve got to be in the parade, not merely watching from the sidewalk. But also, perhaps ironically, the book creates that problem for me as a reader, it turns me into an observer, and a second-hand one at that.

Perhaps it’s the nature of these kinds of reflective books, memoirs, in that someone is re-telling a bit of their own story about the people they’ve met, the experiences they’ve chosen to build their lives with…so it makes me want to be living the story too, not just reading about it. Along the same lines, it feels a bit light-weight. It leaves me still a bit peckish, like I should have had the steak, not the Chicken Caesar. Maybe it’s like one of those great conversations you enjoy with that very likeable guy you run in to every couple of months or so, but then you just want to open a bottle of wine with one of your best mates and get down to a real conversation.

As someone who is passionate about words, I love reading stories about writers and writing… so that makes this book enjoyable on that level, but as someone who seeks to live a real story, I want to hear the tales of some of the people Miller is meeting and quoting. There’s that biography I will look up, and the research I will do… so I can hear the story first-hand.

A book, like any review, will tell you as much about the person who wrote it, as it tells the tale of that other thing, or that other place… so, perhaps you know me a little more… So, if you want to get to know Don Miller a little more, and want to get inspired to live life a bit more, buy the book. It’s a good read. But don’t let someone else’s story get in the way of your own. Get going!

PS I just have to say, Booksneeze gave me this book for free, in order for me to review it. So, I had to read it! It was worth it in the end…

A question of a journey barely begun.

I may not have begun ‘the writing life’ but life has been preparing me as a writer. Life does that! God revels in it, I suspect… preparation.

A year or three ago when this long-lingering rumour of a writer began to gather some weight, I was all expectations and dreams, wishful thinking and wanna-be. Now, I realise, I need to just relax, and simply be me. The writer is in there, just beginning. The communicator has been developing for many years, and the poet is, of late, a little lost in the mix.

I’ve been writing poetry since I was 15 (give or take some silly cute verse a few years earlier; green frogs and girls, what a combination!) and that is a gift I can only be thankful of; one of those abilities that prompts the questions ‘how do you do it?’ and I simply shrug and say – ‘I don’t know, I just… write’. As a favourite songwriter sings – ‘When I was younger, I would write a bad song every day’ – and I’ve known many of those days, but I have enjoyed seeing the improvement in the craft over the years too. Sometimes, the words just appear on the page and you end up grinning and scratching your head, wondering where on earth they came from! (Of course, we all know where, or who, they’re from…)

As for ‘being a writer’ – What has become of my expectations of ministry, and non-fiction books, and sharing my thoughts and (dare I suggest?!) God-given revelations to the world? Well, as I said – I can simply be me. The paid career is still engineering, soils, data, bridges and tunnels, but my character and spirit are being shaped day by day; God knows my future. My expectations are relaxing, I am less concerned about what I ‘see happening’ and trying to stay aware that if I have faith in what I cannot see, I know I will be better off.

Right now I need to be a husband, a new father, a worship leader, a friend, and, unfortunately, an employee (as I also get to be a mortgage ‘owner’!) Yes, there will be work to be done to move into ‘the writing (teaching/ministering) life’, but as my family and I are about to move across the planet from England to our New Zealand home, I have enough to deal with right now. Perhaps over the next year, opportunity will present itself, but for now, all I can be is me. Take the chances God gives to share who He is and what He has done, perhaps through who I am, and what He has shown me… and simply be His.

He knows what He is doing.

bigger than eternity

reduced Himself

humbled Himself

smaller than one galaxy

smaller than one planet

smaller than a city

smaller than the greatest man

to a tiny fragile body

in a feeding trough

in a stable

for us.

through ultimate humility

the ultimate gift

(9/12/99)