I have been reading a couple of books from the author Donald Miller. Probabaly the most resfreshing thinking I have read in some time. Here are a couple of quotes. Enjoy.
From don Miller’s Book “Searching for God knows what”
Taken from the first chapter. He attended a seminar about how to become a great Christian writer.
There is no question I was the best student at this seminar. Women under one hundred pounds lose energy in the late afternoons because they do not eat enough and they miss their families. I returned home and began pouring over the Bible, looking for formulas I could use for my book of daily devotions. And I have to tell you this was much more difficult than you might think. The formulas, in fact, are hidden. It seems when God had the Bible put together, He hid a lot of the ancient wisdom so basically you have to read into things and even kind of make things up to get a formula out of it. And the formulas that are obvious are terrible. For instance, a guy named Steven was miserable (or at least I assumed he was miserable) and then he became a Christian, and then he was stoned to death. This formula, of course, was not good enough to make the cut. And for that matter neither was the one about Paul, who was a murderer before he became a Christian and then was blinded while traveling, met Jesus in a burst of light,
and then spent various painful years moving from city to city, prison to prison, routinely being beaten and bit by snakes. No formula there. I moved on to Peter, who was rescued from a successful fishing business only to be crucified, some historical accounts claim, along with his wife. And of course that wouldn’t work. So I decided to ignore the actual characters of scripture and just go with the teachings of Jesus. And that is when things really became difficult. Apparently Jesus had not heard of the wonderful tool of acronym.
He mostly told stories, some of which were outlandish. Step one: Eat my flesh. Step two: Drink my blood. Do you know what having to read something like that would do to a guy trying to process dairy products?...
…A few weeks later I learned an invaluable lesson from a wealthy and successful businessman here in Portland who owns a chain of coffee shops. A few of us were sitting in one of his shops one morning, and another friend asked if we had seen the World Series of Poker on television the night before. None of us had, but that mention led to a conversation about gambling. My friend who owns the coffee shops told us, in a tone of kindness and truth, that nobody he knows who is successful gambles; rather, they work hard, they accept the facts of reality, they enjoy life as it is. “But the facts of reality stink,” I told him. “Reality is like a fine wine,” he said to me. “It will not appeal to children.” And I am grateful my friend stung me in this way, because this truth helped me understand and appreciate life itself, as it is, without the hope snake oil offers. I didn’t read formula books after that because reality is like fine wine. I am quite snobby about it, if you want to know the truth.
From don Miller’s Book “Searching for God knows what”
Taken from the first chapter. He attended a seminar about how to become a great Christian writer.
There is no question I was the best student at this seminar. Women under one hundred pounds lose energy in the late afternoons because they do not eat enough and they miss their families. I returned home and began pouring over the Bible, looking for formulas I could use for my book of daily devotions. And I have to tell you this was much more difficult than you might think. The formulas, in fact, are hidden. It seems when God had the Bible put together, He hid a lot of the ancient wisdom so basically you have to read into things and even kind of make things up to get a formula out of it. And the formulas that are obvious are terrible. For instance, a guy named Steven was miserable (or at least I assumed he was miserable) and then he became a Christian, and then he was stoned to death. This formula, of course, was not good enough to make the cut. And for that matter neither was the one about Paul, who was a murderer before he became a Christian and then was blinded while traveling, met Jesus in a burst of light,
and then spent various painful years moving from city to city, prison to prison, routinely being beaten and bit by snakes. No formula there. I moved on to Peter, who was rescued from a successful fishing business only to be crucified, some historical accounts claim, along with his wife. And of course that wouldn’t work. So I decided to ignore the actual characters of scripture and just go with the teachings of Jesus. And that is when things really became difficult. Apparently Jesus had not heard of the wonderful tool of acronym.
He mostly told stories, some of which were outlandish. Step one: Eat my flesh. Step two: Drink my blood. Do you know what having to read something like that would do to a guy trying to process dairy products?...
…A few weeks later I learned an invaluable lesson from a wealthy and successful businessman here in Portland who owns a chain of coffee shops. A few of us were sitting in one of his shops one morning, and another friend asked if we had seen the World Series of Poker on television the night before. None of us had, but that mention led to a conversation about gambling. My friend who owns the coffee shops told us, in a tone of kindness and truth, that nobody he knows who is successful gambles; rather, they work hard, they accept the facts of reality, they enjoy life as it is. “But the facts of reality stink,” I told him. “Reality is like a fine wine,” he said to me. “It will not appeal to children.” And I am grateful my friend stung me in this way, because this truth helped me understand and appreciate life itself, as it is, without the hope snake oil offers. I didn’t read formula books after that because reality is like fine wine. I am quite snobby about it, if you want to know the truth.
No comments:
Post a Comment