Donald Miller: Genius at Large

I just finished reading "Prayer and the Art of Volkswagen Maintenance: Finding God on the Open Road." It's hard to sleep after finishing something that makes my mind swirl like this. If you want to know what it is I believe the Christian faith should be, read "Searching for God Knows What." If you want to know what I want out of life, read the book mentioned earlier (both by Donald Miller). Below are my two favorite passages from "Prayer and the Art..." The first is long (I apologize, but I just couldn't find any part in this section to cut out), and the second is much shorter:

"Poppycock religion is America's new faith. It is easy. It is quick. It allows a person to feel spiritual, seem intellectual, have a faith to follow, and have something interesting to talk about over coffee. Poppycock is the quick-fix diet of the spiritual industry. It sells. It rarely threatens or confronts the seeker, allowing each to forge his own individual 'religion.' The poppycock believer changes the rules as he goes. If he misses a basket, he will say that a missed basket is still worth two points. The poppycock believer does not serve his god, rather his god serves him. He has everything to gain and nothing to lose.
But the Christian faith is very different. God is both the creator and the source of the commands by which humans should live. God gives man a choice; He can be his own god, or he can serve and follow the one true God.
It is Christianity, I believe, that truly faces the facts of reality. The Christian does not try to create his or her own reality. Our search for the truth leads us to Christ. Faith costs something (as all things of worth do) and obedience is hard, but God has poured out His love for us and given us the grace that empowers us to obey.
Here's the rub. I believe everything I have just written. Living it out in the heat of every decision is another matter.
It is the occupation of a Christian to glorify God. The sunrise glorifies God; it is beautiful and God made it. The sunset and the starry night do the same. But i am unshaven, unkempt, and carry a peculiar odor. I am certain that it is not my beautiful looks which glorify God, it is my actions. And all I have to do is let Him work through me, right? Easier said than done. The multitude of formulas (for living the Christian life with success) proposed by Christian writers, preachers, conference speakers, and televangelists simply confuse me. They have different ideas about how it is done, offering promises of fulfillment and joy based on three easy steps, four points of action, or the five smooth stones that David threw. My mind swims.
It would be easier if God would have given us a point A and a point B. It would be easier if He were to make it clear. But He hasn't.
Many of us associate the Christian faith with a list of do's and don'ts. And there are do's and don'ts, to be sure. But if the Christian life is to be oriented in relationship, why is there so much talk of formula? Could it be that the reason we are more interested in formula than relationship is that we would like to deal with our need for religion without dealing with the complications of relationship? That even though we have chosen the Christian faith instead of 'poppycock religion,' we ultimately want the same thing as the pagan? And what is that? Easy answers, comfortable sentiments, beliefs that make us feel good. So we go through the motions. We go to our churches, we read our self-help books, we watch our religious television, and we check each item off our to-do list as if we were doing work for pay. One thing I am sure of. This is not the kind of real-life faith I'm looking for." (pages 272-3)

Let me repeat that last part...THIS IS NOT THE KIND OF REAL-LIFE FAITH I'M LOOKING FOR. This second passage is much shorter and simpler:

[written while watching the sun rise in the mountains of Oregon] "Had these mountains eyes, they would wake to find two strangers in their fences, standing in admiration as a breathing red pours its tinge upon earth's shore. These mountains, which have seen untold suns rise, long to thunder praise but stand reverent, silent so that man's weak praise should be given God's full attention." (page 289)

I know not everyone is gonna get, or appreciate, this post. It's just where I'm at and what's been going on with me the last few days. I think these realizations are exciting.