A Million Miles In A Thousand Years

For one week during the spring semester, my high school required juniors and seniors to intern, or “shadow,” a profession of our choice.  At that time in my life, I thought I wanted to be a writer, or if that didn’t work at least do something in the vast world of publishing.  My mom, who was still teaching in secondary school, happened to be teaching a girl whose father was a publisher at Thomas Nelson, a Christian publishing company based out of Nashville.  Everything went smoothly and the publisher kindly allowed me to be his wingman for a week’s time.  I got to practice-edit drafts, sit in on important conference calls, drink coffee with the design team and laugh at their jokes, and eat lunch with Oprah’s publisher.  More than any of these experiences, though, what I remember most about my brief stint with Thomas Nelson is all the free that were given to me.  My loot included a book by Donald Miller titled Blue Like Jazz.  I had never heard of the author, but its simple yet catchy cover, and its revealing subtitle—“Non-religious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality”—drew me to it.  I felt privileged to possess a copy of it since it had yet to be released to the public, and also because the publisher’s secretary told me it was going to be the next “big Christian book.”  And I eventually learned that she was right.  The book was a New York Times bestseller, and can be found on the bookshelves of most hip, Christian college students everywhere.

A Million Miles In A Thousand Year, Miller’s latest release, picks up his story a few years after Blue Like Jazz ends.  The content of A Million Miles is aptly summarized in its subtitle: “What I Learned While Editing My Life.”  Years after Blue Life Jazz became a huge success, two filmmakers approached Miller with the idea to turn his memoirs into a movie. As he collaboratively worked with the filmmakers to re-create his memoirs into a manner appropriate for the screen (the “fictional Don”), he begins to understand that this process can also be undergone in real life; we can all decide to re-create ourselves and live better stories. In essence, what you find in the book is Donald Miller writing about Donald Miller writing and editing a movie based on Donald Miller.  The more he learns about fictional character, the structure of narrative and the elements thereof, the more he relates these to his own existence.  Throughout the book, Miller attends Robert McKee’s famous Story seminar, hikes the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, rides his bike across America in support of Blood:Water Mission, and all the while muses our place and part in The Narrative —that is, God’s story.  “We are all trees in a story about a forest,” he says.  Miller draws from this experience of having his book adapted into a film in order to expound his thoughts on how life—real, non-cinematic existence—can be understood through the language and elements of story, how life is similar to narrative fiction in that we “create” our own story, and how God wishes for us to live good stories.

What I liked about Million Miles is what I liked about Miller’s other books: his impressive method of recounting personal anecdotes in a manner that is universally applicable.  His writing style is simple, unpretentious and frank, and therein lies its allure.  The humor found in his other books is still there, albeit a little bit more contrived.  Overall, I think I enjoyed reading it more than I expected to.  There is nothing theologically astute about Miller’s theorizing, and I’m positive that he is aware of this.  Miller’s aim is to point his readers towards an understanding of life that is not existential or overly contemplative, but full of intentional living that recognizes ours is not the only story.  “A good story consists of a character who desires something and must overcome conflict to get it.”  Just as this is the essence of a good film or novel, Miller believes it is also the essence of our lives here on earth.