Day 194 - Blue Like Jazz (Give)

I had bought a couple of extra copies of this book a few years ago to give as gifts and never did.  I think I'll give this copy to my old friend "Satan", who graduated from high school this year.  I would be curious to find out what she thinks of it.

Speaking of Blue Like Jazz, I found out today via Facebook that they have filmed a movie based on the book.  How cool is that?  It's directed by Steve Taylor - the trailer can be seen here.

Even better, Donald Miller has a new book out about the experience of turning his earlier book into a movie!  It's called A Million Miles in a Thousand Years.  I got so excited I had to hurry and download a copy to my pink Kindle.  (I love my pink Kindle.)  I sat by the pool today and started reading it - and that's how the kids got to swim for two and a half hours!

The gist of the book is that in the process of fictionalizing his life for the big screen, Miller realizes that he hasn't really led a very interesting life.  He's missing out on a better story in his own reality.

Here's how he starts this new book.  What he says here is more profound than it seems at first glance:

"If you watched a movie about a guy who wanted a Volvo and worked for years to get it, you wouldn't cry at the end when he drove off the lot, testing the windshield wipers.  You wouldn't tell your friends you saw a beautiful movie or go home and put a record on to think about the story you'd seen.  The truth is, you wouldn't remember that movie a week later except you'd feel robbed and want your money back.  Nobody cries at the end of a movie about a guy who wants a Volvo.

But we spend years actually living those stories, and expect our lives to feel meaningful.  The truth is, if what we choose to do with our lives won't make a story meaningful, it won't make a life meaningful either."

My mind is trying to work on how Miller's words intersect with something I read in the Bible this morning, but I haven't quite been able to put my finger on it yet.  The passage is from John 6.  In verse 28, the crowd asks Jesus, "What must we do to do the works God requires?"

Jesus' answer in verse 29 is short and to the point, but the point is bigger than I can quite grasp:  "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent."

This is right before Jesus discusses how He is the true Bread that comes from heaven and how His followers must eat of His body and drink of His blood or they will have NO LIFE in them.

And "many" of His disciples turn back and no longer follow Jesus.

Then Jesus turns to the twelve and asks if they are also going to leave and Peter speaks up:  "Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life.  We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God." 

So Peter and the others BELIEVE - which is what Jesus just said is the "work of God"... what God requires. 

Now I see the intersection!  Peter BELIEVES and that it what gives his life meaning.  THAT is what gives him a story that is still read 2,000 years later!!  If he had walked away with the others, none of us would know his name, much less his life's story...