Living a Better Story ...

I talk for a living. Part of what I do working in student ministry is counsel and talk. I plan activities that invite families and students to live a better story. But what happens in ministry is you get stuck behind a desk answering all the phone calls and e-mails about the inciting incidents you are making happen for everyone in your ministry and the things you have a passion for slowly fade into distant memories. My weekly schedule is filled with spending time with people … but it is all talk. I meet someone at a coffee shop, we talk for an hour, and then I drive to another coffee shop to do it all over again. But in the midst of talking with people, I am not actually living any sort of story. I’m just talking about a story.

And because I talk so much, I read much. So, I read A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Don Miller (and if you know me at all, you know I read his books over and over again because it stirs my heart so much). I so resonate with Don’s description of his life prior to working on living an epic story because he found ways to get around it. I have an extensive collection of movies, buy new books every week, and have actually reached a point where situations happen in my daily life that I end up just referencing a movie because I don’t know any other way to respond. I talk about how I like camping and hiking, but I’ve gone ONCE in the past year. I talk about having a passion for the homeless in Pittsburgh yet am too exhausted to even make the effort to find a ministry to serve with. But what happens is everything we think about that is an action or a relationship turns into an idea. And to take it a step further … sometimes even God becomes just an idea. I am there and that scares me because it causes me to lack confidence, trust, and faith in the One that created the unique, fantastic me.

So I’ve been thinking what it looks like for me to live a better story because at the end of the day, 1) I can only lead students where I go and 2) I’m tired of the bind fear has on me. So there are a couple things I want to be proactive about during this chapter of my life.

1. Connect with God: There are certain days where God is just an idea to me. It actually burns my soul to admit that. I want to find instill some sacred rhythms that draw me to our Father that overflow to serving others. I know the passions God has laid on my heart but when I think of Him as an idea, it’s easy to make those passions “good ideas” too. Meanwhile, my passion for seeing a mentoring ministry for teen girls and a coffee and wine bar with a missions focus just linger in the back of my mind, depth of my soul, and is the ache I get in my stomach every now and then when I think of what God has for me.

2. Connect with Creation: I talk about how much I love the outdoors yet I never am outside. So, with that confession, I want to meet God in His creation. I’m not sure what that means … if it means hiking, camping, bike riding, gardening, etc. But there is a miracle and mystery in how God created this earth and everything that surrounds us and I want to know more about it. I want to truly give thanks to God for the land (because I rarely think of it) and I want to be able to do so with dirt in my fingernails.

3. Connect with People: I’ve been really working on community. I’m a single 26 year old that has just started to build meaningful relationships in her life. So in that, I want to include people in my adventure and be included in theirs. As I live a better story, I want to challenge and push myself to encourage others to do the same. Because when we live life together and don’t just talk about it, it opens up a whole new level of depth in relationships that God meant to be there!

Don was nice enough to put together a little conference just about living a better story. And let’s be honest … a couple days away from the e-mails and phone calls helps a youth pastor digest their own story before placing themselves in others’ stories. Even better, Don has a contest to win a free trip to Portland for the conference. Hence the focus of this blog post. But there are a few reasons why this conference is important to me.

1. It’s not about ministry … it’s about my life, which is more important than any ministry philosophy I could learn.
2. I need to be encouraged that although it may be hard and draining and scary, that is the point! I will need to learn how to plan for the future and how to rely on the Holy Spirit to be my counselor and my comforter as I step into the unknown and uncomfortable.
3. I already have my friend picked out … we graduated from college together and are both struggling with our stories as adventurous and epical.
4. Right now, where I am in my life, I am not allowing myself time (nor money) to work on my own life. Please Don … force me to do so by sending me to Portland!!!!

Buy his books, listen to how the Holy Spirit speaks, do something about what challenges you, and live a better story.

LIVING A BETTER STORY CONFERENCE - Sept. 26-27, 2010 Portland Oregon

Living a Better Story Seminar from All Things Converge Podcast on Vimeo.