Road Trip with Miller A Review of:  Through Painted Deserts: Light, God, and Beauty on the Open Road Donald Miller (©2005, Thomas Nelson, ISBN: 0-7852-0982-4)

 

Hard on the heels of his successful release of Blue Like Jazz and Searching for God Knows What, Donald Miller has re-released his first book, Prayer and the Art of Volkswagen Maintenance under a new title. Had I read Through Painted Deserts as my first introduction to Miller, I likely would not have picked up his other two books. Painted Deserts is the winsome tale of two guys taking a trip from Texas to Oregon and, like the interstate highway system, there are long stretches of open road with nothing but breeze blowing through the hair and moderately interesting scenery passing by the window.

 

His original title plays off Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, a Seventies-era Road book in the tradition of Kerouac and others. However, as the third of a Miller trilogy this book makes a delightful companion to the other two. By now, we are acquainted with Miller, we know a good bit about his spiritual journey and this book answers the question of how it all began. Well, sort of. We trust that his forthcoming To Own A Dragon will fill us in a little more about Miller’s formative years. This book lacks the rich density of religious reflection while retaining the poetic language of the other two. Much like his journey through the southwestern desert where they put a lot of distance between stops, the book offers plenty of space for reflection between stops. The arid trek through the descriptive passages makes the oases along the way that much more significant.

 

Some of the finer quotes include, “When you build a city near no mountains and no ocean, you get materialism and traditional religion. People have too much time and lack inspiration,” (p. 21) which he uses to describe Houston. He tells us of his companion Paul in these terms, “And maybe this is why he seems so different to me, because he has become a human who no longer believes the commercials are true, which, perhaps, is what a human was designed to be.” (p. 76) In the liberal climate where crass commercialism is loudly condemned, Miller’s gentle voice and tentative conclusions are a soothing sound loses none of the painful prick of conscience.

 

His poetry continues to inspire with revelations such as “Matter and thought are a canvas on which God paints, a painting with tragedy and delivery, with sin and redemption. Life is a dance toward God…There is nothing I am missing. I have everything I was supposed to have to experience the magnitude of this story, to dance with God.”(p. 91) (Emphasis his) His monological musings rest gently against the backdrop of a hiking trip to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and wend their way back up and on to Oregon with a panoply of characters, some whom appear as unlikely miracles and direct answers to prayer.

 

Through Painted Deserts is light reading at its best. There is no heavy-handed, “beat ‘em over the head with the truth” to the book. Instead, it is a casual conversation among  friends traveling life’s journey, discussing the scenery and sharing insights, jokes, fears and triumphs. On page 249 he says, “You feel like life is always leading up to something, but it isn’t. I mean life is just life.” He could have summarized the book the same way – you feel like it’s leading up to something but it’s not. It’s just about life. And that is the finest compliment one can say about Miller – his books are just like life.

 

by Rick Presley