Dear Donald Miller,
First off, I have to say that I never write to famous people. I go to book readings and don’t wait in line for the autograph, I know I should write my congresswoman but it’s just so easy to hit ’send’ on those generic websites we get these days. Now I will admit I did attend Imago Dei one time in PDX and maybe I hoped to catch you in the crowd, but it was Sunday and I was in PDX, where else was I supposed to go?
I first found you at Borders bookstore. I was living in Ames, IA and every once in awhile, I’d spend my Saturday morning embracing the world of books at my fingertips. I had a ritual—I’d go to the coffee shop, get a latte, grab the weekly circular and sit down to relax. I should preface this with a simple statement: I didn’t believe in God. I knew there was something that made this world tick, but I wasn’t going to align myself with any religion and especially not those Christian nuts that I found myself cursing throughout the years. In times of questioning, I had checked churches out but always left weirded out by the experience, I just wasn’t one of those people. So there I sat in Borders, latte in hand when I saw the word “jazz”. I was a jazz fan by this time, thanks to my brothers (also thank them for my love of microbrews and riding bicycles, all good things). “Blue Like Jazz”. .fiction.. hmmm, I’m interested. . .”nonreligious thoughts on christian spirituality “. . hey wait a minute, that kind of thinking is allowed? I’d never read a Christian book, never really opened a bible, never entered a religion section of a book store except to buy a book on the tao of inner peace (and who hasn’t?)
So I walked over and found your book and amazingly, the store didn’t catch on fire (a small miracle, more to come, keep reading). I flipped through, hoping I wouldn’t like it. Sadly, there were funny cartoons of a rabbit chasing a carrot and every time I stopped to read a paragraph, I found myself saying “yes, exactly”. I resigned myself to the fact that I was buying a Christian book and found it weird that in 3 weeks I would be in Oregon in vacation.
So there I was, walking around Cape Mears on the coast of OR. I was with 2 Christians, my close friend and my brother. I was reading your book, intrigued with every page about the ability to be a Christian and still have a brain, asking my traveling partners questions at every turn. At one point, I found myself alone and walking through a wooded enclave. All the sudden, the world hushed and it felt as if the pine trees were cooing me in the wind. I automatically felt like Lucy in “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” when she enters Narnia the first time, I felt this Presence. It was undeniable and everything I hoped feeling God would be like. There are a few times in my past where I cried out to Him in the dark, asking Him to talk to me in my moments of selfish, needy pain, only to hear silence or the neighbor’s barking dog. But I felt this everywhere: my soul, my brain, I felt His hand on my shoulder saying “I love you and I’ve been waiting for this moment”. I walked out of the woods and to the edge of the cliff. My friend and brother were off to the left, I stood by myself and staring through the tears in my eyes at the crashing waves below awed by the experience.
Fast forward 6 years and you’ll find me writing you in the early morning hours. I haven’t felt so transformed by a book until now. My friends and I are reading your latest book “A Thousand Miles in a Million Years” and can I tell you we are transfixed by your words. Personally I feel like you are writing from my soul. “Inciting incident” plays over and over in my mind. We find the main character (me) stuck in a rut that she thought was the way her life was supposed to go. Decent job that doesn’t sap the life out of her (but doesn’t make her want to get out of bed either), great family and friends, amazing church life, just waiting for Mr. Right to sweep her off her feet. She has the desire to adapt to him because she is eager for a change and thinks her strong personality is a thing of the past. But God has a different plan for her. Mr. Right turns out to be Mr. I’m Showing You What You Really Don’t Want and the break-up becomes her inciting incident. She is without a paddle going the wrong way. She soul searches deeper than ever before, opening her heart and mind to anything and everything, feeling God’s presence everywhere she turns and knows this is the blessing of change, however painful and scary it feels.
We haven’t reached the climax yet, there are chapters yet to be written. We are still working on formulation of the character and trying to get the story line straight, but knowing that she’s going to climb her own Machu Picchu in order to celebrate the beauty of the city. But she has learned that the 4 day hike is worth a few bumps in the road (vs. the air-conditioned bus ride to the top) and she is blessed to have her community and faith deeply connected and ready at every hesitation and misstep taken. And a great book or two to keep her inspired along the way. (fyi, I haven’t read Part 4 yet, I’m waiting to read it with the group).
Thank you Donald for the ability to speak beauty into the hardship, life into the pain, and hope into the journey. May we all desire a great story and seek the hardship for the beauty within.
Peace,
Hopeful in the midst of the blizzard
ps, I’m sad your book tour isn’t stopping in KC. If you did, we could ride bikes, drink beer and talk about dogs and God. And our love for PDX.