a little light reading...

I've had a lot of time to read a number of books while I've been on holiday. I've read magazines cover to cover, rather than skim them and enjoy mainly the photos. I've also re-read the entire Chronicles of Narnia series, along with a couple John Grisham novels which I can plow through in a day or two and feel entertained and still somewhat intelligent.


I'd like to recommend the two most recent books I read. The first is Donald Miller's A Million Miles in a Thousand Years (he is also the author of Blue Like Jazz)


For those who have appreciated Donald Miller's witty, down-to-earth style and honest perspective on the Christian life, this book remains true to that. His style amuses, challenges and engages you throughout the whole book (and yes...there are some quirky illustrations in this one too!)

Two screenwriters invade Don's life on a project to write a screenplay about his life. Through this process he is struck by the power of story in the human existence and what it tells us about our purpose and our life with God. He defines a good story as a character wanting something and going through conflict to get it.

He points out that characters in stories always change, but that the change comes with risk and it always costs something. The greater the change, the greater the cost. He states that "the point of life is character transformation."

We are drawn to people who live good stories, whose lives count for something and challenge us to think and act and love and respond in a deeper way. A "character is what he does"...not in a legalistic way of what we do is our identity, but we don't live good stories just by sitting on a sofa and willing our stories to be good. We have to get out there and live them. In the book Don does this by taking a trip to Peru to hike the Inca trail (and inviting a girl he was interested in along for the experience) and going with some people to bike across the US. He deliberately tries to live a better story.

I also appreciated the point he made towards the end of the book that someone one who is living a good story invites others into it and in turn that other person lives a better story as well. This is something I want to improve in. I admire people who are so welcoming and can get people on the fringes involved or can get a group of people together. I want to invite more people into my story.

So the book leaves you with the question "What kind of story are you living?" What does your story say to others about what you are living for, what gives you purpose? Who writes your story? I have to admit with my 30th birthday just around the corner, I've been looking back over my life and the story I've lived. It's been one of adventure, that's for sure. I don't feel as though I've wasted my story on a sofa feeding my brain to a television. But, I sometimes find myself waiting for the story to happen to me, rather than contributing a line or two to the plot myself. I want to pick up the pen and write a bit more....

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The other book I recently finished was The Search for God and Guinness. This book gives an overview of the history of the Guinness family of Ireland and the beer that they are so famous for.

Guinness began in a time when gin and drunkenness was wreaking havoc on society. The brew that Guinness is famous for was offered as an alternative to hard liquor and a better option than inebriation. The Guinness family, many of them devout Christians, also used their wealth and influence to bring about societal change. Many of them helped improve housing in Dublin and offered a job environment that far surpassed many of the other factory jobs. They sought to improve the quality of life for their workers and in the process were also astute businessmen and immensely successful.

This book gave me a great appreciation for the history of beer, and the way the Christians have interacted with it. I found his chapter on prohibition in America and the average American Christian perspective on alcohol enlightening and insightful. Though the book doesn't offer a straightforward Biblical treatise of Christians and alcoholic consumption, I daresay it quietly speaks to the positive influence beer has had in the face of the bad reputation it may have received over the years.

And I have to say when I drink my next pint of Guinness, I know that it has been a part of a wonderful tradition not just of brewing but of societal influence and godly people making a difference through their business. If you want a good read on an interesting model of faith and the workplace, I recommend picking up this book.