The hardest thing about blogging is staring at a blank page...
I’ve gotten sidetracked several times to leave this blank screen and watch the Olympics... it just seems that the stories from Vancouver are more compelling than the ones I want to write. Seriously, some of the stories on the Olympics are captivating... like the story of the Canadian figure skater who went on to medal after learning that her mother died suddenly... or the US hockey team beating Canada for the first time in a million years (at least it seemed like a million)... or Apollo Ohno’s push for eight medals in his career...
Those stories hold my attention...
Life is like a blank page (not a box of chocolates). It’s a blank page waiting for a story. Some people will write a grocery list on their blank page... others will write a story about climbing a mountain, or savings lives.. or something courageous.
What do you want your story to be about? That question comes from a book I recently finished by Donald Miller entitled, A Million MIles in a Thousand Years. Get a copy. It will change the way you look at what you’re doing with your life.
"Every life is a story. Whether it is a story worth telling and talking about, though, is up to you. People set out with grand dreams of changing the world, falling in love, doing something amazing. But the drift toward the merely acceptable happens almost without notice (D. Miller)."
Will your story hold the attention of people around you? Will it hold your attention? Will you drift toward amazing... or acceptable?
I’m convinced that most of us would rather sit in a movie theater to see a compelling story than live one. We want God to make things easy for us. Stories worth living are never easy. Maybe we picture God sitting at a blank computer screen... and we’re waiting for him to write more money, more comfort, and more fun into our story.
“I believe there is a writer outside ourselves plotting a better story for us, interacting with us even, and whispering a better story into our consciousness (Miller).” His name is Jesus. His story is compelling enough to include all of us.
It’s time I put down the remote and turn off the Olympics (well... maybe after the gold medal round in hockey!)... and live a compelling story. The great thing about a good story is you can’t tell exactly how it will end -- and you can’t pull yourself away from it until the tension is resolved. Let me know if you read Miller’s book, and then if you want to help create a compelling story (to be continued)...
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