This Post's Sole Purpose is to Get You To Read Donald Miller

I don't think there could have been a better time for a book to be released. I was a senior in high school when everybody started giving everybody a book called Blue Like Jazz. I can't really remember any of them telling me what exactly was so good about the book, but they just told me it was by a guy from Portland who had fresh language to add to the Christian experience.

It only took about twenty pages for me to be hooked.

Donald Miller wrote that book and it gave a Portland high school student everything he needed: a reason to keep the faith. What I love about Donald Miller is that he is able to put language to the loneliness of following Jesus and the tension that lies at the center of the faith. When I was a senior is high school, I began the process of cynicism many 18 year-olds go through. I had been dedicated to a large church for about four years and was ready to pick it apart. What I learned through reading Don's books was that 1) I am not the center of all existence 2) In all things, be honest and 3) Keeping with this Jesus thing is the way to true abundant life.

I learned a lot more, but those were the things that changed me at 18. Even moreso, the entire setting of Blue Like Jazz was my backyard. Huge sections of the book are placed blocks away from the home I grew up in - this was big because it increased the book's tangibility.

I bring all of this up to share with you a solid quote from one of his most recent blog posts:

"...it’s...tempting to hang a carrot in front of people telling them they have to 'become' in order to be used by God rather than admitting they actually 'become' while they are in the process of being used by God."

Read Don Miller books and his blog.