Where you invest your love, You invest your life

It’s not often that a book inspires me to actually live out the things that it talks about.  As weird as this sounds, before “To Own a Dragon”, Harry Potter was my favorite book.  I grew up without my bio dad around so when I discovered Donald Miller-it was like Christmas Day-finding someone else that experienced a lot of the same things I did.

Then I had a friend who lent me the Advanced Readers copy of “A Million Miles in a Thousand Years”.  This book opened my eyes to the boring story I was living…I have a fantastic family but I had a job that was life draining.  Because of “A Million Miles in a Thousand Years”, I’ve already begun to live a better story.  Since reading the book I quit my job and found one that I love, I got into biking and raised over $150 for diabetes research and rode 22 miles in the Tour de Cure, I became a mentor and just last week myself, my wife and two great friends hiked 13 miles in Rocky Mountain National Park-hitting 3 peaks and sliding, yes-SLIDING, down Andrews Glacier!  It was one of the coolest things I have ever done and because of the book, I don’t know if I would have ever done it.

Since our last adventure, I’ve been thinking about the next story I could tell.  Sure there’s weight loss and the struggle to get there, but I need adventure.  I need something to get me to the weight loss…I need something fun.  In Nebraska, the adventures can be limited.  I struggle with what to do…what to conquer.

That’s where I feel that this seminar could come in handy.  You can see Donald Miller explain it all here

Living a Better Story Seminar from All Things Converge Podcast on Vimeo.

The type of story I want to tell isn’t just about the adventures I tried to tackle, but I want the stories I tell to show the type of person that I think I am. As I lay here, listening to Mumford & Sons-Awake My Soul, I hear the lyrics, “In these bodies we will live, in these bodies we will die, the way you invest your love, you invest your life.” Our stories aren’t here one minute and gone the next, they live within us (or at least they should). I want a core change-I want the stories to continue to get better as they go!

I have many dreams, many adventures that I would love to tackle…I want to finish school to show my children that no matter what, finish what you start. I want to open a BBQ shop because well…I love BBQ and I think I could provide service that people would be attracted to. I want to lose weight and get healthy because I want to see my children graduate and hold my grandkids when I’m wrinkly and smelling of Metamucil.

One thing that Donald Miller got me thinking about and I try not to, is my bio dad. I know where he lives… I know his phone number. I don’t know if I want to call. But I also don’t know if it will make my life better if I do. Could this be the next story I tell…I don’t know. I want the truth, I want closure. I want to live a better life…I want a great story to tell. Getting past truly “meeting” him may be a part of this.

My story will go on…I am blessed beyond belief with a great wife, a healthy son and another child on the way. I now have a great job and fantastic friends. There are still gaps in my life, stories that have been left untold. I would love to go to this conference to help find a way to fill those gaps. I’m excited to see how my next story can “Awake my Soul.”

Mumford & Sons-Awake My Soul

How fickle my heart and how woozy my eyes
I struggle to find any truth in your lies
And now my heart stumbles on things I don’t know
This weakness I feel I must finally show

Lend me your hand and we’ll conquer them all
But lend me your heart and I’ll just let you fall
Lend me your eyes I can change what you see
But your soul you must keep, totally free
Har har, har har, har har, har har

In these bodies we will live, in these bodies we will die
Where you invest your love, you invest your life
In these bodies we will live, in these bodies we will die
Where you invest your love, you invest your life

Awake my soul, awake my soul
Awake my soul
You were made to meet your maker
Awake my soul, awake my soul
Awake my soul
You were made to meet your maker
You were made to meet your maker