August 20, 2010
Manila, Philippines
It was March and I was on a bus ride from Tanzania to Kenya. It was a long bus ride, one of the numerous long bus rides from the year and it was hot and bumpy. Not the kind of bumpy you experience on say, an unpaved road, but the kind that sucks all the carbonation out of your soda. My diet coke went flat. Thankfully, I don’t get car sick that often, so I decided to read a book that I had been dying to read that was finally in my hands. So I read A Million MIles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller in the time it took my diet coke to go flat, 1 hour. When I turned the last page I was Infinitely more sad that I was done with the book than the fact that I had wasted shillings on a coke I didn’t drink. Each page flew by as it spoke to the greatness we were all called to. The hope of more and how we can be intentional with our lives to get it. The book wonderfully describes the importance of creating memories and moments that have impact and can change our lives and the lives of others.
The next month, without realizing it, I got to see the story line of the book played out. We went to the Philippines and I was introduced to 10 minors at a city jail there. And I realized a very important point that Donald describes in his book. We live out the best story we know how. These boys in the jail were doing just that. They have no education and live in poverty, so they act out of what they know and have seen. Their story includes risk and rebellion, perhaps to nurture a longing and a desire we all have for more. Donald Miller, in his book, introduces us to a friend who had a daughter who chose the same story line, risk and rebellion. And as a father, he explained that she wasn’t a bad girl, she was just living out the best story that she knew. I love that, because it is true. These boys didn’t wake up one morning and decide to go to jail – they were operating out of all they knew and believed to be true about themselves.
So, we invited them for more. And perhaps that is what I like most about living a better story is because when you do it for yourself, you can invite others to do the same. More than I want it for myself, I want it for others. For others
to see the potential they have inside of them. For others to see all
that God created them to be. We invited these boys to see the truth of who they are and who they can become. We invited them to see that the more they are searching for isn’t in the risk of stealing or drugs but in the depths of their Creator and Father. And when they accepted the invitation, they changed. They changed. I saw it before my eyes.
to see the potential they have inside of them. For others to see all
that God created them to be. We invited these boys to see the truth of who they are and who they can become. We invited them to see that the more they are searching for isn’t in the risk of stealing or drugs but in the depths of their Creator and Father. And when they accepted the invitation, they changed. They changed. I saw it before my eyes.
And so it is August and I am back in the Philippines. This is my third time since April and I just got done with a board meeting to work on the next steps of what a better story could look like for these young men. We are in the beginning stages of building a rehabilitation home for these young men and others like them who need a second chance. This home will provide a positive place for them to experience love and learn about their identity. The home will provide holistic care and provide education and job training in hopes that they will become a positive member of society. It will be a place where they trade in one story for another. A place where they can live not only a better story, but the Best story. They can live out their identity as a son, lavishly loved by God. That changes everything.
I will be writing more on what this will look like on a different site, I will post that information later. This blog is in response to a friend’s suggestion to enter a competition to win a trip to Portland, Oregon to a conference about Living a Better Story. I will have just gotten home from the Philippines, so it is great timing and will be great information to help in the efforts to go back. You can also check out Brandy Chaffer’s idea of Living a Better Story. She has an amazing heart and I am excited to see this lived out in her. Below is Donald’s video about the conference – you should come! Or you should at least read the book!
