The Story of our Life....

Continuing thoughts go thru my mind from Donald Miller's Storyline conference...

Don made a comment at the conference that I wrote down in quotes, "The erosion of values has brought with it a corresponding erosion of story."

His thoughts go like this...we are all writing a story with our life, a narrative of a life lived with or without God. We don't have a choice whether to write a story or not...we just are!  We get to choose most of the scenes of our story, and even more, choose what kind of character we play in the story.  Our biggest choices come when we choose what our character does in each scene....do we want a character that makes the story better, more fulfilling, or a character that ruins the storyline and degrades the moral of the story?

This has helped me think through a longer-term vision for my own life, asking myself what I want a book to read like at the end of my life.  If no one knew me through my life, would there be a worthwhile story to tell?  What did I do?  What did I change for the better?  What lives did I save?  What effect did I have on the environment around me?  Was I damaging to other stories being written in other lives?  Did I help other stories get even better?

As our values, morals, expectations and principles erode...so goes the story.  As we take more agency from God and not share it with Him in always writing a story of the Gospel, the story becomes selfish and uninteresting to the whole of society.  Think about it...Bono and other actors get alot of attention when doing social justice work for others...why?  Because our society likes stories about Good Guys.  Though the media makes you think we like the bad guy, deep down, people like the good guy...the one writing good stories about saved lives.  This is an elevation of values and morals and our culture loves to read/hear about it.  This is the storyline that Christ-followers should be leading the charge on...."saved lives" (spiritually and physically).

So as followers of Christ, why do we put down the pen of life?  Why do we let others write our story, or worse, choose a character that ruins the story in the long-run?  The obvious answer is "sin"....but that's the easy way out and blames it on something out of our control.  We DO have the ability to choose our character's actions in the story about us.  Do we want a character that has high morals and values and seeks to change other's lives or one that is constantly ruining the story?  What if The Terminator had chosen to give in to the machines and just kill humanity?  Would that have sold tickets?  What if Rocky decided to teach ballet?  Who wants to watch that?

What is my character want to do with God in shared-agency with Him?  What lives can I change/save?  How could my character actually screw up the story if I'm not careful?  What is my story about?  How does my character make other stories better, not worse?

These are huge questions to ask, overwhelming....but then again, life is huge...we live it once.  What are you writing with your life?

Shared Agency with God (more thoughts from Storyline...)

Sometimes we can develop a fallacy of theology because of the twisting of single passages of scripture...ie. "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."  Many Christians today believe that there are two things that happen in their life....those totally determined by free-will (their own choosing), and those that God orchestrated by His will.  Donald Miller introduced a term to me at his conference that really struck home with my life story and decisions.  It's the concept of "Shared Agency."

This basically means that WE have a say in our story/decisions, and so does God.  We are both writing a story that impacts the journey of our life.  God is writing an epic of human existence, failings and redemption (or not, by our choice).  We get to choose to be part of that story by sharing our agency (free-will) with his epic writing.  Most churches today present the Gospel as "us inviting God to be part of our life."  This is a theological landmine and totally inaccurate.  The better salvation presentation phrase is, "God is inviting you to be part of His story."

This morning I was ready Psalm 91....toward the end it says:

If you make the Most High your dwelling -
  Even the Lord, who is my refuge -
then no harm will befall you -
  no disaster will come near your tent.
For he will command His angels concerning you
  to guard you in all your ways;
they will lift you up in their hands,
  so that you will not strike our foot against the stone.
You will tread upon the lion and the cobra;
  you will trample the great lion and the serpent.

Because he loves me, says the Lord. "I will rescue him;
  I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
He will call upon me, and I will answer him;
  I will be with him in trouble.
  I will deliver him and honor him.
With long life will I satisfy him
  and show him my salvation.

Besides this being a huge comfort to me right now in my own journey....I noticed that what God promises is NOT unconditional!  There is a shared-agency, where we decide to do something and He responds to us with something.  Go back through that section and read each "if" and "because"....those are basically conditions where we CHOOSE shared-agency with God in our journey.  This is a great hidden truth in all of teaching as well at churches today.  We have taken the "ifs" and "conditions" out of God's promises.  A reading of the Gospels and Jesus' red-letter words show that there are expectations of Shared-Agency.....certainly promises for our Father, but those come with submission to His teaching and Words.

But why would we choose anything else but Shared-Agency with the Creator of everything?  Wouldn't that create the best possible story for our life and the best impact on others?

Parades, Marching or Watching?

I've always loved parades!....at least for the first 30 minutes or so.  Then, after while all the floats, all the bands, all the clowns, start looking the same.

Donald Miller has a friend named Bob that started a neighborhood parade with his kids that now has grown into an annual event that includes hundreds people.  They have one standing rule:  "You can't watch the parade!"   Everyone has to be in it, participate, NOT watch.  Bob understands that the real joy comes from producing the parade and experiencing it from the inside, not from the outside as an observer.

If I think of my life as a parade, so far, then I realize that there have been times where I am producing the parade and times where I've been an observer.  The facets of time where I was marching in the parade, producing something of my life, are the times that still define me today.  The times where I stood back and let life dictate my parade, are in many ways, painful to me.

The metaphor gets better when you think about standing on the side of a street watching a parade go by....with each float, band, etc.....you are hoping for a new excitement, something that will thrill you or make you feel happier.  Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't.....so goes life if you are an observer of it.  If you take your place IN the parade and make the float, music, march that you want.....then there is a constant joy in producing that which is YOURS, not someone elses.  When you get tired of a certain cadence, then make plans (with God) and change the cadence....the point is to be involved in the parade, not just watch.

I was recently in Portland, OR.  This is commonly known as HELL to right-wing activists.  To tell you the truth, it's the nicest place I've ever visited.  People truly are friendly to everyone.  The homeless are fed, you get a greeting at every store.  Not just the typical, "thank you sir", but an honest, "hey, how's your day going so far?"......literally EVERYWHERE you go.  It did occur to me, and my son, that this is how Christians are supposed to feel to everyone else that encounters us....this is what loving everyone looks like in a small way....this is being in the parade.  Portland is organic, messy and real.  It's a place where people decide to participate in solutions and not just talk about them or vote on them......if we have a food problem, they start a community farming initiative.  If we have energy cost issues, the start using green energy.  Instead of standing on the side of the road critiquing the floats, they get in there and build one themself.

What if followers of Christ decided to always be in the parade with an action and not just a verbal belief?  What if instead of critiquing the culture's floats, bands and clowns, we got in there and built our own float or made our own music... (we already have enough clowns on tv:)

All this starts with each one of us, you and me, decide to stop critiquing all the other entrants in the parade and get in there with our own float, music, clown.  We have to decide on a personal level that we are going to be part of a solution somewhere for someone.....make a difference in the world, work for a cause that Christ would want us to work for....something besides critique....something that leaves dirt under your nails.  Something that leaves a life changed in your wake.

This all comes back to the main question from The Storyline Conference....what story are you writing with your life?

Are you watching or are you marching?

Lessons from Donald Miller's Storyline - #1...

Spent 2 days with my oldest son, Carson, in Portland, OR.  We went to Donald Miller's Storyline Conference.....this was like drinking from a firehose!  I unpack a couple of points I was journaling on this morning.  There will be more to come from this series of thoughts:

1. We WILL all write a story.  There is no way to NOT write a story with your life.  The narrative of your life can be written by you and God together (Shared Agency), or you can let the world/circumstances write your story.  Do you want to let external influences/idols write your epitaph or do you want to be in control of writing that under the guidance of God?  Just remember, there is no "non-decision" here...everyone writes a story whether they want to or not....what will yours be?

2. To write a good story, there has to be 1. a character that wants something, 2. they have to overcome some trial or feat to get that thing, 3. Conflict in getting it, 4. Resolution.   Good stories have conflict in them....trials....hard things to overcome, otherwise they are not good stories.  If you want a good life-story, what you go for should include having to overcome a larger feat.....God can help with this....He brings resolution.

3. To write a good story you can't "watch the parade".  I always like going to parades and watching them go by.  Problem is, in life, parade-watchers are not the ones writing good stories....you have to "be in the parade" to write a good story.  There are no parade watchers among those changing peoples lives, saving the world, making a difference.....all of these people are IN THE PARADE.

Don's blog: http://donmilleris.com/2010/01/01/living-a-good-story-an-alternative-to-new-years-resolutions/


More to come later......