A GivStory by Donald Miller – Best Selling Author and Founder of The Mentoring Project

I want to share something with you that’s changed my life.  I’ve discovered that the elements that make up a great story are the same ones that go into a meaningful life.  These elements have the potential to shove us out of our plain, mundane story lines. They can allow us to have an eternal impact—to actually live stories worth telling.

 If you read my book To Own a Dragon  you know I grew up without a father.  In the absence of a real father I had a cast of characters that were sometimes hilarious, pitiful, perfect, kind, and some of them were very wise.  I gained something from all these people, but the central truth I learned about life is that I could never do it on my own.  Humans just don’t do well independently. We need each other.  One generation passes life and wisdom to the next.  At least that’s the way it’s supposed to work.  But what happens when it doesn’t?  What happens when a young boy is left fatherless—without a mentor?  It’s frightening:

•  85% of all young boys in prison grew up in homes without a father
• 80% of all rapists come from fatherless homes
• 75% of the boys in substance abuse centers are from fatherless homes
• 71% of boys who drop out of high school had no father figure
• 63% of all teen suicides are from fatherless homes.

 Boys need fathers, it’s that simple but it’s not always possible.  That’s where a mentor can step in. 

 Mentoring is about you being willing to change your story to help a child change theirs. It’s making the decision to give the best of your life so “Danny” can reach the best in his.  It isn’t about transforming his life to look like yours, but about providing him with the tools he needs to get where he is going—to become the best version of himself. This is why I started The Mentoring Project and this is part of the new story line I’m asking people all over America to consider writing into their lives.

 For years people have been saying that our government shouldn’t be taking money from some of us to help others of us. That’s the job of the Church, and I’m OK with that.  But, let’s do it then.  The government can’t meet a need the Church has already met, the government can’t build a prison for prisoners that don’t exist, and if the next generation of children in our country has mentors, there will be far fewer prisoners.  The solution to our problem isn’t going to come through grumbling and protest; it’s going to come through YOU.

 This is a big task.  People have told me it won’t work, I tell them you don’t know my audience. You don’t know what I know.

 I know you believe in justice, I know you believe that where you live should never determine whether you live. I know you believe that just because a boy doesn’t have a father doesn’t mean we can afford to discard him, to allow him to become just another statistic.

 Will you help me?  That’s the question, straight up.  Would you be willing to rewrite your life’s story?  I know we don’t know each other, but I think I know this about you: You won’t turn your back on the swelling tide of fatherless children in our country. Let me make it real simple for you, What if it were your child?

 www.thementoringproject.org