I’ve been invited to co-author a story with one of the best selling novelists ever! He’s sold more books than Tim LaHaye! It is quite an honor. I can hardly believe it!
I have already seen an outline for about the first half of the story, and from what I can tell, it’s going to be amazing. It’s basically the true life story of someone who is very similar to me, which I suppose is why I was chosen. It ultimately is a story about a man who constantly searches for truth, and he spends all his time and money in this search. Yet every time the end of his search seems near, and truth seems within his grasp, something happens which makes him realize he has been asking the wrong questions all along.
There are twists and tragedies in the plot that seem almost excessive. Just when it seems that the author has developed a pattern for the main character, everything changes. I talked to the main author about this, and he assures me that this is the way it happened in real life, and that all these turns must happen because they are preparing the man for something that will occur later in the story. I don’t know what that is, since I’ve only seen about half of the story so far. The author tells me that though he’s written the first half, he wants me to help author the second half. I’m not sure I’m up to it, but if he thinks I am, I’ll give it a shot.
Who is this author? It’s God. He is the best-selling author of all time.
And what’s the story we’re writing together? It’s my life.
I’m reading a book right now called To Be Told by Dan Allender and it has really helped me view my life as a coherent whole that is going someplace (I don’t exactly know where) rather than just a string of events while I’m in a holding pattern for heaven.
Furthermore, it helps me see that I can help God write my future. I can make choices and decisions that make my life more of an adventure romance full of tragedy, risk, and triumph than a mind-numbingly dull home video of a dog playing in the grass.
Such a perspective also helps me view the frustrations of life with a little more significance. The frustrations are not just bad and annoying things that happen, but are actually twists and turns in the plot of my life story which build the conflict and will eventually lead to the climax of wherever this story is headed.
And where is my story headed? Well, God hasn’t let me see the end of the story yet, but He is letting me make decisions about how the main character of my story responds to the trials and frustrations of life in the story. These decisions will help determine where the rest of the story goes.
It is true what someone once told me: First we make our decisions, and then our decisions make us.
So sometimes I purposefully make decisions that will make for “a better story.” I don’t want my story to be about how I watched thousands of hours of TV and lived to tell about it…
Oh, and by the way, this co-authorship opportunity isn’t a special privilege reserved for me only. You are writing the story of your life along with God. So how are you doing in writing the screenplay of your life? Is it going to be a blockbuster?
Are you sure you’re really the co-author? The way you describe it sounds more like a Choose Your Own Adventure.
Is it an equal collaborative partnership or more of a 51/49 percentage split? How do you know the original author isn’t simply going to overrule any decisions you make that he might not like? You know, even when two experienced authors who are fantastic on their own try to collaborate, the result can be a big mess, i.e. Stephen King and Peter Straub.
My movie feels a little like Gone With the Wind. Great beginning, but just kind of meandering to a close. Sometimes it feels like it’s just going on and ON for no reason. But mine doesn’t have an intermission. Unless this is a just particularly long intermission. I should probably hurry up and finish my cigarette, just in case.
After watching The Truman Show the other day, I decided that I’m going to try to stop thinking that I am the living the Story of Me. I think it’s a much more interesting tale when I am simply one of the characters whose life is intertwined with many other characters – like Pulp Fiction.
Good comments, both of you.
The only point I was trying to make is that viewing life as story helps me make decisions about the future. Do I really want my life to be about having a nice house, eating at nice restaurants, and watching tv? If so, shoot me in the head right now.
Hi Jeremy,
That was fun to read. You really pulled me in at first. I thought, “Wow, who is going to write with?” Of course, the Lord.
When I was young I used to think that my life was like a movie that God was watching. Now I see the future as more open, more unwritten, more like a documentary, than I used to as a fatalistic youngster.
Thanks for the post!
Rose,
You said, “Now I see the future as more open, more unwritten.”
I like it. Dangerous in some Christians circles, but as far I’m concerned, right on. Keep up the good posts over there at Rose’s Reasonings!
Cool, hope it becomes a best seller too
That’s awesome!!