Last October I went on an adventure with with a good friend to China. A few months prior, our mutual friend John had asked us if we would like to join him and some others on a hike in the Himalayas and after giving it a few days to ponder, even though I knew the answer the entire time, I agreed to it. Two years earlier I had went on another adventure with two of my close friends for five weeks throughout Western Europe, backpacking and riding trains, exploring museums and ancient ruins all the while meeting new friends in hostels. This was something I had longed to do for years, probably since my freshman year of high school taking Ancient/ Medieval History with Mr. Walton dressing up as various characters in history. It was so vastly different than what I had thought it would be like and the way I romanticized it but it ended up being a richer experience because of that very point. However, going to hike in the mountainous regions of Tibet was not something I had hoped would happen for years, I had no preconceived notions of what it was to look like nor had I dreamt about the experience of it. It was a completely new excursion and I had no idea as to how to work up to it, except for running with my friends frequently and trying to prepare for the terrain and lower oxygen.
My fear throughout though was if I was going to make it, if I could in fact make it to our destination and be able to come back down the mountain. That then became my goal and that became my story for a few months as we approached our departure. It was not an easy story by any means, in many places it was arduous and I wanted to quit a few times, not just on the actual trip but when we were running Lafortune Park at 11pm when I could have been watching television and eating fast food. On the hike, there were several times I thought we had reached our peak, and at one point one of our new friends said we had, but of course we hadn't. And I cursed him in that moment. But eventually we did get there, and we took pictures at 14,400 ft and celebrated together that we had made it, and I can still go back to that place in my mind and think so fondly of it. I remember how heavy my pack felt, how the cold chill felt on my cheeks and beard, how exhausted I felt in the pit of my stomach and the ache in my feet, but above all that I remember seeing my friend Steve stand at the highest point and I laughed out loud. Not because he was being silly but because we had accomplished something, and what we had set out to do months ago had occurred and I was able to see that all the work we had done had paid off. It was a moment of levity. Our story was literally at a climax, and we were nearing the end.
When I got back to the states I began to feel a little lost, for the story I had going on for so long was at an end and I had not embarked on another. However I started to read a book that began to challenge me and confront me in some areas of my life, all the while being a companion that put me on the path to discovering the power of story in life. That book was Donald Miller's A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, and as I write this I am now in my third read of this book! Though I could go into more detail, I want to share some quotes from the book that have been very powerful to me:
"....nobody really remembers easy stories. Characters have to face their greatest fears with courage. That's what makes a story good. If you think about the stories you like most, they probably have lots of conflict, There is probably death at stake, inner death or actual death, you know. These polar changes, these happy and sad things in life, are like colors God uses to draw the world...Somehow we realize that great stories are told in conflict, but we are unwilling to embrace the potential greatness of the story we are actually in. We think God is unjust, rather than a master storyteller." (31-32)
"Here's the truth about telling stories with your life. It's going to sound like a great idea, and you are going to get excited about it, and then when it comes time to do the work, you're not going to want to do it. It's like that with writing books, and it's like what with life. People love to have lived a great story, but few people like the work it takes to make it happen. But joy cost pain." (99-100)
"It's true that while ambition creates fear, it also creates the story. But it's a good trade, because as soon as you point toward a horizon, life no longer feels meaningless. And suddenly there is risk in your story and a question about whether you'll make it. You have a reason to get out of bed in the morning." (113)
So I share this because the little story I told for a few months last year meant something, but it wasn't enough. There are larger stories to become a part of, there are new adventures to be had, and I am not to sit back and watch them pass but to jump out into them and become a different person from where I had previously stood. I think also that the kingdom of God is a larger story that I am to find my place in, and I'm learning more and more what my role is in that. But being in a story involves conflict and it includes pain, but in the end those stories are the most beautiful and meaningful because redemption is near and when it comes it makes those stories all the more magnificent.
