Day 190: letter to don miller

dear don miller,

hi.

i've read your blog and most of your books. now i have a question and it has nothing to do with words in the pages and bohemian prose that i enjoyed reading.

also, i'm not attempting correspondence as a 'fellow writer' or whatever else i see a ton of people labeling themselves as in their post responses and suck-up attempts. i'm just human and so are you. so let's talk.

sweet.

i read painted through painted deserts. blue like jazz. searching for God knows what. most of to own a dragon. the blog. i've been to imago dei in portland and went to two services on one morning just to try to grasp as much real-life truth and fellowship and spiritual-awareness that i could as an outsider. i went to common ground and bought a book at powell's. i drove around the roundabout and shiny joan of arc statue. i say all this because

i want to know what it feels like, for you and from you, to be where you are today.

and this isn't an interview where one-liners will satisfy me. this is important.

i'm on the 'road' and was once really inspired by through painted deserts. this adventure i'm having right now has so many parallels to that story and the people and opportunities and these blessings have been more than i've ever experienced in my entire life. i'm serious. i have a baggie of coins that i buy lunch with every day. three dollars fifteen buys two bananas, two fresh bagels, and one of those weird president's choice fruit sodas. there's simple goodness and more happiness than ever. everything, from trying to scrap together work in foreign canada, places to stay, means to get around, and so much more have been daily provided- each according to their greatest need and in the right hour. i took a job as a church janitor after attending their service on the same morning. one of the guys offered an open room in his house for me and my friend before we move into our own place with five other awesome guys for the winter. community, you know all about it.

i feel now like what i felt when i read painted deserts but i'm living that life, part on the road and now settling down a bit for the winter, except with no car or phone and with the addition of snowboard gear. and here's why this is pivotal.

i checked out your flickr. nice camera. i saw a picture of a house you now have. nice place. i saw the pictures of the famous people who are your friends and i think that you're famous now as well. congrats.

but i want to know, what it feels like for and from you, if you feel that you are the same person inside that you were when you were living that simple life of faith. obviously the story was worth writing about. do you like yourself now as much as you liked it and the quality of life then? is faith as real and valuable in your story today?

this is a huge question for me because now i'm here, far, far from home, and through 190 days of adventures that i never could have planned or imagined, i want to keep this journey of inspiration and perspective forever.

God. me. faith. life.




*note*
this post was revisited and edited on april 12, 2010, for a contest entry for http://www.chrisbrogan.com/importance-of-story/. as it stands i've never heard back from mr. miller but we've all experienced the days and adventures following this day's post until these chronicles came to conclusion on day 383. what a story it has been.