Donald Miller's new book

Donald Miller has a fascinating ability to engage readers as he reflects on the journey of his life. I first noticed this in Blue Like Jazz, later when I watched an interview , and, again last week when I read his latest book, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years (AMM). AMM was easy to read and entertaining. While I haven't read the entire Donald Miller collection, it's hard not to like him in his books. He has made me laugh more than once...

Along with Miller's winsome personality and the strength of his writing, the subject of this book is a potentially great one. In AMM Miller focused on the idea of story and I learned from him. He told a story to teach about story and it really worked. He interacted with the thinking of Robert McKee, whom I didn't know about previously, thereby showing how uniformed I am in this area. Yet, it is in this area of our stories that I have pastoral concerns about AMM. Many will read AMM and I am troubled about how it will influence readers, especially young people. Indeed, I might even agree with Rob Bell's choice of descriptions. Bell said that AMM is "disturbing." But, whereas Rob chose this word as an endorsement, I do so to express reservations.