A Better Story

To preface this post, I am writing simply to document for myself this period in our lives. I point my finger at no one but myself. I do not write to convict or even to inspire anyone other than myself. This is just a snapshot of our life in April 2010.

So a while back I wrote lamenting that I needed some new book titles to maintain some sort of intellectual stimulation on a daily basis. Well, I got obsessed with reading and now the words of these authors are inspiring us to make some changes in our lives. It all has to do with "The Story".

In Donald Miller's book, "A Million Miles In A Thousand Years", he talks about "The Story" each of us is writing for our lives. Some stories are epic adventures...full of risk, uncertainty, failure and triumph. Other stories are quite boring and bland. When I think about people I admire, typically they are people whose stories are the most interesting. A guy that was in my church youth group went to film school, then decided to embark on an adventure to Uganda and Sedan to make a documentary. Before you know it, he co-founded a multi-million dollar non-profit organization dedicated to ending child soldiers and providing education and the rest is history. An epic story for a relatively normal guy.

For the past few months, we have been evaluating our own family story. Is it being written in a way that will ignite passion and inspiration in our children...or boredom? Are we taking risks in our faith that cause us to shake with uncertainty and rely completely on God? Are we living out our beliefs and convictions? Are we serving others out of an outpouring of thankfulness?

Upon reflecting on these questions, it became apparent that we need to make some obvious and necessary revisions to our story. Our story is currently too safe, too predictable. So we will be making some significant changes in where we worship, how we serve, what it means for our family to "sacrifice" financially. Our "comfort zone" will cease to be comfortable. We will embrace adventure.

I have never been more excited to LIVE. One day I hope to look back at this period of time and say, "That was it...the turning point. The catalyst that ignited an unquenchable fire. That was the moment the trajectory of our story changed...and the rest is our history."