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Donald Miller

Review – “A Million Miles in a Thousand Years” by Donald Miller

Mar 19th, 2010
by Michael Krahn.
7 comments

screen-shot-2009-09-29-at-94510-am.pngReading “A Million Miles…” is like talking to an old friend, one you used to love and spend a lot of time with but for whatever reason haven’t seen for a long time. This friend used to captivate you and you would enjoy being in their presence so much you wondered if you were smothering them (sometimes you probably were). But in the years between then and now you’ve forgotten just how warm and exciting being with them was.

When I sat down to read A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life I had fond memories of Donald Miller’s surprise best-seller from a few years ago, Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality (see my blog posts about it here). By the time I was 20 pages in, I remembered BLJ as that old friend, one that I forgotten I loved so much. One that made me laugh out loud in public places, despite my best efforts to appear completely sane. One that had changed my life in a few ways.

Review continued below…

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And it makes sense that I was so reminded of BLJ because “A Million Miles…” is mostly about BLJ. It’s about the book, and how Miller’s life was changed by the success of the book and how – which is most exciting for an artist – his life was positively affected by his own art.

The best thing about this book and BLJ is that they throw you into a torrent of self-reflection with the strangest of motivation. There are no commands here, no guilt trips, just Don Miller taking a brutally honest look at his own life and writing about it. And somehow this inspires us to do the same. We see the character making progress, we see his life improving as he very intentionally crafts his own story and we know that this is also possible for us.

“Perhaps one of the reasons I’ve avoided having a clear ambition is that the second you stand up and point toward a horizon, you realize how much there is to lose.” – Donald Miller

screen-shot-2009-09-29-at-103140-am.png

Searching For God Knows What

Memoirs are such fun to read, and when Miller is writing in memoir mode he is among the greats. When not in memoir mode, however, he can come across as simply another disgruntled Evangelical, as was clearly evident in Searching for God Knows What (blog post here).

In truth, the same theology runs through all of his writing, but in the form of a memoir it seems less agitating. Much like any other friend who has theology I disagree with, in conversational form it is so much more tolerable – actually, it’s enjoyable. It’s like we’re sitting in a room together discussing our differences, each willing to hear the other, each convincing the other on some points, and being convinced on others.

I was pleased to read on p222 Don say “I didn’t say these things, and I’m glad I didn’t, because those are the things people who have never been married say.” Another issue with “Searching For God…” was that he kept saying unwise things that were exactly what only an unmarried non-parent would say. In the margins of my copy of that book I wrote things like “Hey Don, get back to me once you have children and let me know if you still think this is true…”.

A Million Miles…

I digress… “A Million Miles…” is not just an entertaining read, it calls you to a brutal honestly about your life. In the language of the book itself, it calls you to write and then live a better story with your life, while acknowledging that there is a Writer above you also writing your story:

“So as I was writing my novel, and as my characters did what they wanted, I became more and more aware that somebody was writing me. So I started listening to the Voice, or rather, I started calling it the Voice and admitting there was a Writer. I admitted something other than me was showing a better way. And when I did this, I realized the Voice, the Writer who was not me, was trying to make a better story, a more meaningful series of experiences I could live through.” – Donald Miller

Fellow writers/authors will love this book because so much of it is about the process of writing. Others may find his analogies of God as a writer/literary being a bit of a stretch. They are a bit of a stretch, but often, as in this case, the stretch makes the art more powerful.

If you enjoy Miller’s writing and would like to read more in the same vein, his writing is reminiscent of authors like Anne Lamott (read: “Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith“) and Madeleine L’Engle (read: “Two-Part Invention: The Story of a Marriage” or “The Irrational Season“) in all the best ways.

One other byproduct of reading Miller’s work: it inspires me to write, which is why this review is getting so long! Well, I reviewed BLJ in six lengthy posts, so one post for this book is actually pretty short.

Want a free copy of A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller?

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All names will be entered into a spreadsheet and the winner will be chosen at random via Random.org. Contest closes Friday March 26, 2010. The winner will be announced after confirming their mailing address. Best of luck and thanks to all who enter!

(Re: Donald Miller) Quoted in the ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

Oct 5th, 2009
by Michael Krahn.
No comments yet

A couple of weeks ago I was contacted by a journalist named Jessica Clark for a quote on Donald Miller’s new book. Here’s the piece she wrote:

Million Miles author stops in LR

JESSICA CLARK ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

A New York Times bestselling author says he knows the ingredients to a meaningful life and he’s sharing them Tuesday in Little Rock.

Recently, Donald Miller hit the road to talk about his newest book, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life, which chronicles Miller’s discoveries. The book tour will span two months and tens of thousands of miles, during which Miller will visit 65 cities.

Miller will make a stop in Little Rock at Mosaic Church of Central Arkansas to share what he says makes a worthwhile life, which he learned from screenwriters while working on turning Blue Like Jazz into a movie which will premiere in 2010.

“Screenwriters have discovered what makes life meaningful because they have to put it on-screen in a movie. I’ll share what it is they’ve discovered and how I applied those principles to my life and what happened because of it,” he said.

Mosaic Church was contacted by Miller’s executive assistant with the idea of being a host for the book tour. Mark DeYmaz, Mosaic Church’s directional leader, said it was a good fit because the church and Miller have a “missional mind-set” and live out their faith.

“It’s not about attracting people to the church, it is about motivating the church to go to people where they are in bars, college campuses or wherever,” DeYmaz said. “Miller lives out a missional lifestyle and is authentic with people that wouldn’t step into a church.”

Miller, 37, had been writing since he was a child, he said. His first book, Prayer and the Art of Volkswagen Maintenance, was published by Harvest House Publishers, but it wasn’t until he wrote Blue Like Jazz that his writing career took off. Published by Thomas Nelson, a Christian book publisher, Blue Like Jazz has sold more than 1 million copies and made The New York Times best-seller list 45 weeks since it was released six years ago. It is a book made up of essays about spirituality and his reflections about Christianity.

Miller says his new release offers readers a different perspective. “In other books I was asking a lot of questions, in this book there is more hope,” he said.

“His early stuff is like unedited journal writing, but he gets more controlled and precise as he goes,” Christianity Today freelance writer Patton Dodd said. “He expertly and naturally captures the young evangelical zeitgeist [spirit of the age], but he pushes on its borders.”

http://www.bagofnothing.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/donalmillerf.jpg“The best thing about Miller’s books is that they throw you into a torrent of self-reflection with the strangest of motivation,” said Michael Krahn, a Canadian minister and blogger. “There are no guilt trips, no commands, just Miller taking a brutally honest look at his own life and writing about it and somehow this inspires us to do the same.”

In his new book, Miller adapts the elements that make a good movie into his own life to make it more interesting.

“In studying the elements of a screenplay and editing a movie based on a memoir [Blue Like Jazz], I was editing a fictional version of myself. I wanted my own life to be more like the fictional version of me so I made some changes in my own life and rode my bike across America.”

Miller spent seven weeks riding his bike across the United States raising money for Blood: Water Mission. He also found his biological father whom he hadn’t heard from in 30 years and he hiked the Inca Trail in Peru just to impress a girl.

“A Million Miles is probably Don’s most mature book, yet it is classic Don Miller in that it offers readers an entertaining, one-of-a-kind experience,” his publisher, Brian Hampton, said.

The focus of Miller’s book tour is to get people to realize that “we can live better stories, and when the credits roll in our lives we can have a sense of fulfillment and meaning because of what we’ve experienced,” he said.

After the tour, Miller will work with his nonprofit organization, The Mentoring Project. The Portland, Ore.-based group mentors children growing up without fathers.

“We’ll be releasing a revised edition of Searching for God Knows What next spring and further down the road there will be another book,” Hampton said.

“I believe my best stories are ahead of me. I don’t think I’ve told many good ones so far,” Miller said. “Since I’ve understood the power of a story, the power of a good protagonist wanting something noble and overcoming conflict to get it, I haven’t been able to go back to a normal life.”

“An Evening With Donald Miller” will be 7 p.m. Tuesday at Mosaic Church, 6420 Colonel Glenn Road, Little Rock. Tickets are $15. More information is available at amillionmiles.com.

Review – “A Million Miles in a Thousand Years” by Donald Miller

Sep 29th, 2009
by Michael Krahn.
2 comments

screen-shot-2009-09-29-at-94510-am.pngReading “A Million Miles…” is like talking to an old friend, one you used to love and spend a lot of time with but for whatever reason haven’t seen for a long time. This friend used to captivate you and you would enjoy being in their presence so much you wondered if you were smothering them (sometimes you probably were). But in the years between then and now you’ve forgotten just how warm and exciting being with them was.

When I sat down to read A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life I had fond memories of Donald Miller’s surprise best-seller from a few years ago, Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality (see my blog posts about it here). By the time I was 20 pages in, I remembered BLJ as that old friend, one that I forgotten I loved so much. One that made me laugh out loud in public places, despite my best efforts to appear completely sane. One that had changed my life in a few ways.

Want a free copy of A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller?

Here’s how:

  1. Subscribe via email or feedburner (comment and let me know)
  2. Retweet this post by clicking here.

All names will be entered into a spreadsheet and the winner will be chosen at random via Random.org. Contest closes Friday March 26, 2010. The winner will be announced after confirming their mailing address. Best of luck and thanks to all who enter!

And it makes sense that I was so reminded of BLJ because “A Million Miles…” is mostly about BLJ. It’s about the book, and how Miller’s life was changed by the success of the book and how – which is most exciting for an artist – his life was positively affected by his own art.

The best thing about this book and BLJ is that they throw you into a torrent of self-reflection with the strangest of motivation. There are no commands here, no guilt trips, just Don Miller taking a brutally honest look at his own life and writing about it. And somehow this inspires us to do the same. We see the character making progress, we see his life improving as he very intentionally crafts his own story and we know that this is also possible for us.

“Perhaps one of the reasons I’ve avoided having a clear ambition is that the second you stand up and point toward a horizon, you realize how much there is to lose.” – Donald Miller

screen-shot-2009-09-29-at-103140-am.png

Searching For God Knows What

Memoirs are such fun to read, and when Miller is writing in memoir mode he is among the greats.  When not in memoir mode, however, he can come across as simply another disgruntled Evangelical, as was clearly evident in Searching for God Knows What (blog post here).

In truth, the same theology runs through all of his writing, but in the form of a memoir it seems less agitating. Much like any other friend who has theology I disagree with, in conversational form it is so much more tolerable – actually, it’s enjoyable. It’s like we’re sitting in a room together discussing our differences, each willing to hear the other, each convincing the other on some points, and being convinced on others.

I was pleased to read on p222 Don say “I didn’t say these things, and I’m glad I didn’t, because those are the things people who have never been married say.” Another issue with “Searching For God…” was that he kept saying unwise things that were exactly what only an unmarried non-parent would say. In the margins of my copy of that book I wrote things like “Hey Don, get back to me once you have children and let me know if you still think this is true…”.

A Million Miles…

I digress… “A Million Miles…” is not just an entertaining read, it calls you to a brutal honestly about your life. In the language of the book itself, it calls you to write and then live a better story with your life, while acknowledging that there is a Writer above you also writing your story:

“So as I was writing my novel, and as my characters did what they wanted, I became more and more aware that somebody was writing me. So I started listening to the Voice, or rather, I started calling it the Voice and admitting there was a Writer. I admitted something other than me was showing a better way. And when I did this, I realized the Voice, the Writer who was not me, was trying to make a better story, a more meaningful series of experiences I could live through.” – Donald Miller

Fellow writers/authors will love this book because so much of it is about the process of writing. Others may find his analogies of God as a writer/literary being a bit of a stretch. They are a bit of a stretch, but often, as in this case, the stretch makes the art more powerful.

If you enjoy Miller’s writing and would like to read more in the same vein, his writing is reminiscent of authors like Anne Lamott (read: “Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith“) and Madeleine L’Engle (read: “Two-Part Invention: The Story of a Marriage” or “The Irrational Season“) in all the best ways.

One other byproduct of reading Miller’s work: it inspires me to write, which is why this review is getting so long! Well, I reviewed BLJ in six lengthy posts, so one post for this book is actually pretty short.

Want a free copy of A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller?

Here’s how:

  1. Subscribe via email or feedburner (comment and let me know)
  2. Retweet this post by clicking here.

All names will be entered into a spreadsheet and the winner will be chosen at random via Random.org. Contest closes Friday March 26, 2010. The winner will be announced after confirming their mailing address. Best of luck and thanks to all who enter!

Searching for Donald Miller

May 16th, 2009
by Michael Krahn.
No comments yet

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51-0-ash-YL._SL500_AA240_.jpgI think Donald is one of, if not THE brightest of “our” writers. Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality deserves a place on the highest shelf of that genre… I’m thinking of Madeleine L’engle and Anne Lamott here… and maybe a bit of P.J. O’Rourke. Honestly, Blue Like Jazz changed a few parts of my life, and that ain’t hyperbole.

However, I was equally disappointed with Searching for God Knows What. You know how musicians who are Christians are saying things like “Hey, I’m not an authority on stuff. I just write and sing about living my life as a Christian. Don’t hold me up to be higher that you.”? I feel like Don turned that around in SFGKW. He’s a great writer, but in that book he tried to be a theologian and the effect was just the opposite of BLJ. He came off as an arrogant, left-of-liberal theologian instead of the regular guy reflecting on life experiences he was in BLJ.

I can tolerate a lot of theology that doesn’t match my own in a work like BLJ, or Lamott’s Traveling Mercies, or any number of L’Engle’s books. What I find hard to stomach is a writer like Don trying to be definitive on matters in which he is not an expert. I’m not either, BTW.

“Write what you know”, right? Either that or explore what you don’t know humbly and with an open mind.  Don repeatedly uses analogies about marriage, raising kids, and to a lesser extent sports to make his theological points. In those first two categories he has no experience on which to draw – which isn’t to say those categories are completely off-limits for him.

So I found myself writing in the columns of the book a number times – writing things like “Hey Don, try this line of reasoning again after you’re married and see if it still rings true to you” and “Hey Don, get back to me once you have some kids and have thought through this in real time.”

I guess the annoyance was exacerbated by the fact that I loved BLJ so much.

Sorry for riffing on Don so much. Its been a blog post sort of waiting to happen so I guess this was my rough draft.

Rick McKinley’s “Reflections on Ministry”

Feb 8th, 2009
by Michael Krahn.
No comments yet

Rick McKinley (Imago Dei – Portland) doesn’t blog much, but if this post is any indication he should make an effort more often. A summary of his six points in this post:

1. The subversiveness of love is the primary work of the pastor.

2. There is disaster awaiting the one who gets bogged down with doing good, and not dwelling in the excellent. It is our job to pay attention to God and life and to help  others to do the same, this is the heart of the work as pastor… many times we exchange important things for urgent things and the important things never get addressed.

3. Theological and biblical inquiry is essential to discovering the depth and Glory of Jesus.

4. Though the experiences of Christ and the Spirit may be ever satisfying, and the word be life giving, the blessings of family and the fruit of ministry be ever present, the longing for heaven and the violent reality of its absence will leave you with a broken heart that will express itself in and empty and sour stomach feeling… It is this knot in our stomach that will keep you an honest preacher in a sea of compromised men.

5. If you want to be a pastor you must learn obedience through suffering just as Jesus did, (Heb 2:10-18, 5:8-10).

6. It is the primary objective of my faith and ministry to apprehend such a vision and faith in Jesus, as revealed by his Spirit through the Scripture, that I would follow him not only in his life but also in his death…  I aim to believe this with such conviction that I could encourage and lead my people in such a faith for their day when they will suffer their own death and by grace do so in faith.

Full post here.

mess.JPG

Or if you’d like to read one of his books click here, click on the image at left or follow the link

This Beautiful Mess: Practicing the Presence of the Kingdom of God

Mark Driscoll on ABC’s Nightline

Jan 24th, 2009
by Michael Krahn.
1 comment

A couple of weeks ago, Driscoll was in the New York Times, now it’s ABC’s Nightline. (*UPDATE: here is a direct link to the segment or watch below)

Driscoll is getting a lot of attention because of his recent sermon series on The Song of Solomon called “The Peasant Princess” (see series website)  in which he preaches on and discusses issues of sexuality.

The characterizations in the recent wave of media attention are somewhat dated in that they focus on Mark’s reputation as a punchline-loving jock. This is still true to an extent, but if you are a member of Driscoll’s church or a regular mark-driscoll.jpglistener you know that such characterizations are more representative of an earlier version of Driscoll.

Unfortunately, the old title “Cussing Pastor”, made famous in Donald Miller’s Blue Like Jazz, still gets thrown around, even though what may have led to this title happened a decade or more ago and no audio of Driscoll actually cussing has been delivered. His language can be harsh, and has occasionally been unnecessarily offensive, but a label such as “Cussing Pastor” is misleading.

Driscoll has repented of things he’s said before,  and he’ll probably give himself occasion to do so again. But listen to a more recent sermon – you’ll hear the heart of a young, fiery, maturing pastor who is more concerned with evangelization and tending his flock than with delivering punchlines.

Download and listen to a recent Driscoll sermon called “

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

” or listen to it below.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

The ABC writeup does include this quote from Driscoll at the end of it:

“I think, to be honest with you, humility is something that, by God’s grace, I’m learning,” he said. “I would not pretend to be an expert in humility.”

For those familiar with Driscoll, this quote is where the real story is.

More Thoughts on “The Shack”

Jan 17th, 2009
by Michael Krahn.
No comments yet

**These are some additional thoughts on my review of the book found here.**

I don’t agree with the entire book but at many places I found myself elated that this is out there “in the wild” being read by many non-Christians.

I realize how many people around me are against the book, but I don’t think ANY (or many) of them have actually read it.  I have determined not to come out strongly against some books based on the word of others. I just finished Rob Bell’s latest so I’ll be putting something up about that shortly as well.

But this should tell you how much my mind changed on the book by reading it.

I have a tolerance for fiction and personal reflection books, which is why I can read Donald Miller and Anne Lamott and Madeleine L’Engle, etc. and totally disagree with some of their views while still gaining a lot from their writings.  Same goes for The Shack.

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Books in Grand Rapids (Day 2)

Jan 3rd, 2009
by Michael Krahn.
6 comments

Ok, I’m done now… I told Anne Marie not to let me go out again.

Here’s the academic stack:

000_0005.jpg

…and the other stack. You’ll notice I out the Bell and Pagitt books between some more solid theological works.  I tried to put them closer to MacArthur but there were sparks.

000_0006.jpg

By the way, we’re going Rob Bell’s church (Mars Hill) tomorrow morning. I’ll put up a post about that sometime next week.

On John Piper, Thomas Merton, and Other Things That Go Nicely Together

Nov 3rd, 2008
by Michael Krahn.
8 comments

john-piper-10-744844.jpgmerton1.jpg

When I find a worthy author I engage that author intensely and exhaustively until I can articulate what they are and are not about.  I’ve done this with CS Lewis, Thomas Merton, Marshall McLuhan, Mark Driscoll, Douglas Coupland, Madeleine L’engle, and I am now doing it with John Piper.  Many people sip on these authors and then quote them out of context to make a point that the authors themselves never would have made.  So you end up with people who are vehemently anti-Catholic quoting a high Anglican like Lewis, or more absurdly, they’ll quote GK Chesterton, who was a convert and great champion of Catholicism.  But quote Thomas Merton to them and they’ll point and cry “Anathema!” in your direction and then leave the room.

At any rate, Piper is the stream or phase you’ll find me in now, but by phase I do not mean fad.  None of the people I mention have been fads for me; they have been extended engagements that have turned into my foundations.

In time my focus on Piper will subside because he will take his place in my foundation, along with seemingly disparate others like Merton and L’engle.  How is this possible?  It’s not supposed to be… I guess that’s what makes me Emerging/Emergent to the extent that I am – I can live with the paradox and invite others to join me there..

So I don’t know what you’ve heard about Piper but I’ll vouch for him as one of the keenest expositors of scripture who also has a loving heart and a truth-hungry mind.  I don’t agree with everything he says but he has the following in common with all the other authors I mentioned: he lights up my brain, helps me to understand things I’ve struggled to understand for years.  He is far more compatible with my brand of Emergence than most suspect. He is sure of many things but unlike your typical American Baptist pastor he doesn’t attempt to snow you if he doesn’t know the answer.

This is a different conversation altogether, but I’ve come to believe that much of the Emergent movement grows not out of having read the Bible and found it lacking, but from not having read the Bible at all, or at least picking and choosing the passages that fit – which we all do, but I don’t see why it should be sanctioned in one movement and not the other.  The same goes for politics… Donald Miller stumps for Obama, and today Tony Jones (former national coordinator for Emergent Village) did a national interview promoting Obama.  I say that’s a double standard.

Anyway, I am not someone who buys someone else’s systematic theology and then tries to force it down other people’s throats.  I believe in reading widely and stopping for an extended examination of ideas when I come across something compelling.

Here’s a 5-minute Piper segment that illustrates my point.  The format is a daily Q&A podcast : audio or text transcript

Donald Miller’s “Blue Like Jazz” (6 of 6) – Don on: Love

Oct 8th, 2008
by Michael Krahn.
1 comment

***You might want to read part1, part 2, part 3, part 4 and part 5 first***

ani_difranco.jpg“I wish Ani DiFranco wasn’t a Lesbian.” 

So begins Miller’s chapter on love.  It’s another fine example of why this book would never have shown up in Christian bookstore even a decade ago.   At any rate, Don continues (if you don’t know anything about Ani DiFranco you won’t find this very funny.  Personally I think it’s hilarious:

“I am listening to her right now, and I think I would marry her if she’d have me.  I would hang out in the front row at all her concerts and sing along and pump my fist and get angry at all the right times.  Then, later, on the bus, she would lay her head on a pillow in my lap, and I would get my fingers tangled in her dreadlocks while we watched Charlie Rose on television.”

Don has some interesting fantasies to say the least – this one seems like the artist’s equivalent of a geek fantasy about being the captain of the Starship Enterprise.  And last I heard, Don, Ani is no longer a lesbian (exclusively anyway) and is married to a guy from a city 20 minutes from where I live.

“If Ani DiFranco and I got married, I would write books on the bus ride between cities and in the evening, after the concerts, we would watch Charlie Rose, and three or four times each night we would whisper, Good question, Charlie, good question.  But none of this will happen because Ani DiFranco is not attracted to men, I don’t think.  Otherwise we would be on.”

These are the fantasies of a desperately single, artistically inclined man.  Good luck, Don.

Miller is a first rate writer – in this book anyway – and from the audio I’ve heard of him he’s also an engaging and hilarious speaker. 

******

Post Script – I’ve read another entire book of his now and I disliked it as much I liked Blue Like Jazz.  It is a book that is more focused on theology and in it Don seems to be in way over his head, regurgitating half-baked ideas with a more that subtle liberal bias.  I’ll post some thoughts on that eventually.

*******

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