I became a huge fan of Donald Miller after reading Blue Like Jazz … like everyone else. I’ve also read his other subsequent books and look forward to more. But I hadn’t as of yet heard him speak. Wow. This guy’s obviously a deep thinker and modern-day philosopher with lots to say about a lot of things. This post of my notes from this session won’t do justice to the genius that is Donald Miller … but here goes anyway:

• “I struggle with the problem of futility. But life just feels more meaningful in art (especially music) … an escape … and the elements of story.”
• ‘Story,’ in its most basic form, is a character who wants something and is willing to overcome conflict to get it. That’s a narrative – which goes back to creation. The story of creation. That’s narrative. Narrative engages the human mind.
• “I wonder if there’s a difference between random experiences and stories.”
• But not just any character will do. The character needs to care more about others than himself. That’s the ONLY difference between a hero and a villain. What they want matters. They can’t be selfish.
• The consequence of not getting what they want needs to be big (matters of life and death).
• The test of a good character is: If the character dies, what dies with him? Will 1,000 water wells in African not get dug? …
• What’s true? Are you who you are out of what you do OR what you do out of who you are. Miller believes the former …
• This is how we write the story (or stories) of our own life.

We were all left with a compelling charge to write better stories … for our churches, for our families, our relationships, for ourselves. To attempt further commentary would be an exercise in futility … you would just have had to have been there for yourself.