My copy of Donald Miller’s new book, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, arrived yesterday. It was scheduled to be released in mid-October, but was shipped out early. I’ve been looking forward to this book for a while, so getting it in my hands earlier than expected was a nice surprise. I like Miller because he has a simple, easy going way of talking about religion that strikes a chord with me. I am only half way through, but already Miller, the best-selling author of Blue like Jazz, seems to have picked up where he left off.
While Miller’s past books, and more specifically Blue like Jazz, were mainly focused on Miller’s story of Chistianity, his thoughts towards and transformation in his beliefs and faith, A Million Miles is more about real life. The book begins with Miller uninspired and passive, unable to see what lies ahead having already achieved literary success. But then two movie makers approach him, asking him for the rights to a big screen adaptation of Blue like Jazz. Quickly Miller begins to understand how liberal the line ‘based on the memoirs of Donald Miller’ truly is. These movie makers can’t make a movie about his life because that would be boring, or as the cinematographer says, “It would make the audience stab each other in the throats with their soda straws.” Miller’s life is as dull as dishwater. He daydreams the days way, with a spoonful of ice cream in one hand and a tv remote in the other. In order to make his story translate to the big screen, the essence of the story must be extracted and then transplanted into a world which encompasses all of the proven parts of stimulating story lines. In order to understand this, and also why his fiction never got published, Miller begins to dissect what a story, at its core, must have. A story, he finds, is about a character who wants something and must go through hell to get it. It’s about hardship, pain, and ultimately a change. It’s widely accepted that this isn’t real life though. Real life may seem like a story from time to time but in reality it’s more monotonous with lots of meaningless bits thrown in. But this is when Miller demands the question, Why can’t our lifes be like a good story? And for Miller there is an effortless jump to, Isn’t this what God intended for us? Shouldn’t we let God be the writer of our story?
Can’t wait to read the rest.
