Wow! What a weekend. And I’m not just saying that because I helped make it happen. It really was an incredible weekend. I’m flat-out exhausted and yet so filled.
As I said before, I was at Wildhorse (a Young Life camp in central Oregon) for Sunset’s Men’s Retreat. It was so great to be out in the middle of the no where with over 250 men. Here is a picture I took on an early morning hike on Friday (it was about 20 degrees outside…a little chilly).
The entire weekend was focused around narrative and story and the key role it plays. Don Miller spoke on the topic which is the main idea for his upcoming book. Here is a picture of myself with Don Miller and the worship team (and yes I look like a tool in the picture). Outside of the great things Don had to share, and the great times I shared with my friends on the worship team, one of my highlights was getting to have a few short conversations with Don about story, criticism, The Mentoring Project, and yes even Obama.
I have so much I could say but I think I’ll just share some of best parts of what Don had to say.
- The essence of a meaningful story is a character who wants something and overcomes conflict to get it.
- God doesn’t stop the story to explain what the point of the story was.
- “If your life feels meaningless, it’s because it is meaningless.”
- A character is only what he does, not what he wants.
- The main question being asked by humanity is what is wrong.
- Evidence for the fall:
- The Lifeboat System: We constantly give our pitches about why we belong on the boat. We live our lives this way.
- We are convinced that if people don’t approve of us, we’re worthless.
- “When we aren’t living our story, it’s just noise, not music.”
- “The main thing Satan wants you to do is nothing.”
