One of the blogs I enjoy is
Seth Godin's . I don't know how to describe him: internet entrepreneur, marketing guru, just a guy who thinks well.
One of his posts this week was on the power of story. I think he's hit on something; the times I've been happiest and most motivated in life was when I felt I was part of a story. Twice it's been a boss that really rallied us as a team and gave us a great context for our work, once it was a dream I never thought I'd achieve but persevered and pulled it out because someone else blew their shot, once it was a church where we really thought we were building something great. Right now at work, I'm wrapping up a project that's a great story (there are many heroes, villains, teamwork, setbacks, implosions, a major comeback, relationships formed and broken). It would make a good movies if there were more chemical engineers in the world; everyone else would be pretty bored. The best movies are the ones that really have a good plot and characters. My favorite TV shows are ones like Lost or Heroes, that have an overarching and compelling story.
I just finished reading Donald Miller's
Searching for God Knows What. It's one of my favorite books I've ever read. I've heard Miller speak about this concept of story as well. He thinks the Bible is full of great stories because God wants us to live great stories. I like that idea a lot. We try to make the Bible a rule book or a science text book, when really it's a collection of stories. When you become a Christian, maybe the best definition is that you're attaching your story to the story of Jesus, and maybe the acid test for genuine faith is whether or not it's taking you on great journeys.
So, I'm asking myself: What's the story of my life? Of my job? My faith? Our family? and hoping these questions will bring me to new and exciting journeys.
