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Nashville, TN: Last fall, Tim, a friend of mine from Nashville who used to work at the Apple Store, but quit to work for this one guy (and this other guy... and another guy.... and along the way got involved with Thistle Farms) told me about a convention he was working on in San Diego in February. I told Tim if I were going to be in Southern California at the same time, I would go to the conference to see him.
When I got the word that I was, indeed, going to be in LA for the beginning of the year, I suddenly wasn't sure if I wanted to spend a precious weekend off driving 2 1/2 hours to see a friend who was working (I know what it's like for friends to visit at a gig when I'm trying to work!), pay for the conference fee, hotel room, gas, food, etc.
Then I saw this post on Facebook:
Seemed pretty simple. I'm always looking for more faith. Here, there were no elaborate ideas needed, no fancy plans to make. Just do more stuff.
The post came from the Facebook page of Love Does, a book written by Bob Goff. Tim got me it as a gift last year and after carrying it around for a couple of months (I'm usually slow at reading things), I sat down, by book light, and dug in. The book is described as showing the reader "a new way to live... that’s drenched with the whimsy of God’s love and the spontaneity of following where he leads when he says “Go!” I love that.
And Bob Goff loved my tweet.
So, with inspiration from Tim and Bob, I followed God's lead (using my GPS, just in case God wasn't available for directions) and headed south to do some stuff.
The two day conference was held at
Point Loma Nazarene University, which sits high on a hill, overlooking the ocean (not a shabby place to spend a winter weekend).
There were approximately 650 people in attendance, from all areas of the country, ranging in age from 18-60. I was a little worried that it would be overrun with 20-year-old dreamers (there was a time when I believed I could change the world too) and/or overzealous Christian-types that could drop bible verses as well as I can recite boy band lyrics (no offense intended... and honestly: I don't care who you are, where you're from or what you did, as long as you love/like/can deal with me). Since, of course, I am in neither of those groups.
The good news was: there was a little bit of everyone in attendance. A nice mix of dreamers and realists and Christians and skeptics, all with the same curiosity/goal/mission (and the purpose of the conference itself): how to live a more meaningful story.
We were welcomed by my friend, Tim, who has a very fancy title (Director of Branding at Storyline), is a confident public speaker and who smiles with his whole face -- especially when he's trying to be serious while organizing people into small groups named after animals (including elephant, raccoons and rhinos).
Tim then introduced his boss / the founder of Storyline,
Donald Miller. Don is 42, a best-selling author, public speaker and an All-American guy in a button-up long-sleeved shirt (day one) / V-neck sweater over his button-up long-sleeved shirt (day two). He was immediately likable when he joked as an A/V bug gets worked out at the beginning of his talk. And his laugh is almost an embarrassed giggle -- it's nearly impossible not to feel at ease when he's around. Plus, the stage was setup like a living room, with two easy chairs, a table lamp and another cafe-style seating area. I was ready to take off my shoes and lie on a rug, had there been one available. (Perhaps a bit too soon in the weekend.)
Don started with the question:
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| What will the world miss if you don't tell your story? |
I've been thinking a lot about the idea of story. I'm a blogger (as you know, if you're reading this) plus took a few
writing classes while I was in LA (more on that to come). I love writing as a creative outlet as well as a way to work through some of my
stuff through my tapping fingers on the keyboard. But the bigger question / fear is:
who cares what I have to say? Not to say I have to write for any but me, but if I didn't, would anyone miss my musings?
I contemplated this question and jotted down notes in the Storyline binder we were given upon check-in as the program continued.
One of the main highlights of the conference were the speakers sprinkled in between Don's plan on how to live / tell a more meaningful story. The first speaker was near & dear to my heart. Al Andrews -- aka The Improbable Philanthropist -- is from Nashville and he and his wife, Nita, are huge Thistle Farms supporters. Al spoke of his dream to become a philanthropist without having the kind of money that philanthropist-types have. So he wrote a children's book, sells it, then gives the money away to charities.
The first charity he donated to was Thistle Farms, in which he raised enough money to rebuild a utility elevator in the manufacturing area. Or, as we like to call it,
the Alavator. At the conference, Al played
the video from The Lift Project. I got choked up as I watched my friends on the big screen, sharing part of their stories with a whole new audience in San Diego.
Today, he spoke of his newest project,
I Am -- a documentary that asks two powerful questions: what’s wrong with our world and what can we do to make it better. Tom buzzed around the stage, his thick mane of kinky curls bouncing behind him, entertaining the crowd with quick wit, direct questionings and a few occasional curse words.
After an accidental
F-bomb slipped out of his mouth, my friend Tim texted me: "You love Tom. I know it!" Which was true. Partially because he has a trash mouth like yours truly, but moreso, because he works in the entertainment industry AND he has a faith life. A strong one. And he's not afraid to talk about it. Or in this case, make a film inspired by it.
(Side note: while researching Tom for this blog, I discovered he goes to St. Agatha's in LA. MY St. A's. Now I love him even more.)
Day 1 was finally complete and I retreated to the luxurious Best Western... or so I joked until I woke up to this view:
That's the last time I'll crack on a BW without checking it out for myself first.
I arrived back on campus early the next morning to find the same folks lining up for free coffee and continued inspiration.
Day 2 began with a live interview with Caitlin Crosby, who started a little company called The Giving Keys. Sound familiar? That's because we had met last year in LA and she actually told me she was speaking at this conference. At the time, I still didn't know if I would be attend or not, but as luck / coincidence / fate / God had planned it, here we were again in the same room.
She is just as funny and sweet and lovely as she has been every time I've seen her before and I loved that I could share stories with her about the few keys I had given out myself and, of course, my own key.
Later in the afternoon,
Bob Goff (pictured below, standing in front of a photo of himself from the 70s with an amazing afro) told tales of simply doing
stuff that lead him a little closer to God and God's plan for him.
Bob's got big titles. He's a
lawyer, Founder/CEO of
Restore International and
Honorary Consul for the Republic of Uganda to the United States. But more than that, Bob is just BIG: he's tall (well, definitely to me, but also as compared to others), he's got a booming voice (and is enthusiastic about pretty much anything he talks about) and has a gigantic heart. He's the kind of person that makes me want to jump out of my chair and just do it... even if I don't even know what that 'it' is.
Before I make this weekend out to seem too perfect (too late?), there were some negative aspects as well. For one, out of the 650 in attendance, at least half (if not more) were women... who had to go to the bathroom usually around the same time.
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| Line to the women's restroom. |
And then they had an option to purchase meals at the campus' cafeteria, which suddenly snapped me back to awkward early college days (what should I eat!? where should I sit!? can I actually walk through this entire cafeteria without dropping anything off my tray!?!).
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| Cafeteria Anxiety |
Honestly, the hardest part of the weekend was getting SO much information / inspiration directed at me in a short amount of time. We were warned up front that it would be like "trying to drink from a firehose" so not to let it overwhelm us. (Too late.) But luckily, as I'm blogging about this a few weeks later, I am able to process it a bit more.
It's an interesting question to me because I am truly living my dream right now. Dream job, dream house, dream friendships. I'm usually not afraid of going after something if I really want it, specifically in my career. Sure, there are still a few things I would enjoy gaining (a partner) or lose (10 lbs.), but I don't think it's necessarily because I'm avoiding living a dream.
The short version of a deeper answer is that I want to make a difference. I want whatever it is I do actually matter. I don't think I'm necessarily afraid to pursue that, but rather, need to figure out what that looks like and how do I make it work... while keeping my current dream life going too.
So, what will the world miss if I don't tell my story? I'm not really sure, since I'm still trying to figure out what that story is. But I plan to keep doing and searching and writing all about it. Maybe then they'll be nothing to miss.
Special thanks to my friends (old and new) for an incredible weekend.
And to San Diego for providing the perfect backdrop for this chapter.
Thanks for staying classy.
