Dod actually finds peace with his housecleaning job, befriending a bunch of women. He often gets invitations to stay in a nice warm bed, but refuses them all. Seems he has gotten used to sleeping outside. I don't get that. He said it takes a good five days to get used to sleeping outdoors, and I've just never pressed through that threshold.
I am hungry, so I appreciate food and thank God for it whenever I find ice cream or other perishables in a condo I am cleaning.
I appreciate friendship and don't need a television to keep me company.
I appreciate birds chirping, as there is no radio to seduce my ears.
I appreciate God, because I live in the house He has made, as opposed to a house I purchased by my own means.
And then he delivers a real zinger:
I've learned, too, that I don't really know very much about anything. I mean, I used to have all these theories about life. I thought I had everybody figured out, even God, but I don't. I think the woods, being away from all the clingy soot of commercialism, have taught me life is enormous, and I am very tiny in the middle of it.
And check out this statement:
I feel, at times, like a droplet of water in a raging river. I know for a fact that as a grain of sand compares in size to the earth itself, I compare in size to the cosmos. I am that insignificant. And yet the chemicals in my brain that make me feel beauty when I look up at the stars, when I watch the sunset, indicate I must be here for a reason.
Part of what makes Don such a lovable writer (to me) is that I wish I could record him and "play" his voice to my non-believing friends and relatives. 'This will impress them,' I think. 'This'll convince them to believe in God.' I'm impressed that Don is a guy that can say things and reveal thoughts that will make people think about something (like God) differently. I admire that quality. I get jealous of him and wish I could "use" him to "win" my friends to Christ.
I don't think God wants me to do that. I don't think He wants me to "be" Don Miller, either -- not even a close carbon copy. God made me unique. I hope that I can use my experience and my thoughts and the things I read and think about to make someone else think.
I'd like to learn from others, too. Sometimes that give and take is where I'll be able to share with others. Listening to and learning from someone else will often "open doors" for them to learn or hear from you.
Hmmm...
Posted by Doug Van Pelt at December 22, 2006 01:26 PM