Diving into The Porpoise Diving Life

I first heard about Bill Dahl and his book, The Porpoise Diving Life, about a year or so ago. I signed up for Bill's ezine and soon I was receiving a monthly digest of articles and book reviews.

Months ago Bill announced that he would be inviting guest editors to help him with the PDL ezine. I noted that his posted list was made up entirely of men. Now I love men, I have lots of books by men, in fact, I am married to a man, but it seemed unprogressive to me for a cutting edge publication like PDL to not have any women editors on board. So I sent Bill a little email, an FYI, to share with him my observation. Next thing I know my good friend Erin and I were recruited to be guest editors...with less than two weeks notice! We pulled it off, and in the process got to know Bill a bit more and his generous nature.

This past November Erin and I went up north for the Off the Map LIVE conference in Seattle. A tall, white-haired man who looked more like a hunter than a writer approached me, "Man, I love your writing." And so, we met Bill face to face and immediately liked his down-to-earth nature.

We got acquainted a little bit and by the time we got home to Portland he had sent us both copies of his newly released audio book of PDL. I'm on the third of four cd's and man, oh man, I have to tell you that this is good stuff.

I started listening to it on my way to a cleaning job one night. I've operated a small cleaning business for nearly six years. In the last few months I have felt an incredible sense of lack of purpose and significance in my life. I'm just the cleaning lady. One night, while cleaning an office, the client popped back in and before he left said, "Hey, can you take the garbage out, too?" As the door closed tears welled out of my eyes. I just didn't want to be the cleaning lady anymore with well-dressed businessmen asking me to empty their trash. Aren't I meant for more in this life?

So here I was on my way to yet another cleaning gig wondering if I'd ever find personal fulfillment in my mop bucket. As I drove along the rainy streets of Portland the narrator's voice of The Porpoise Diving Life filled my mini-van:

Maybe you don’t feel that your purpose in life has been predetermined like a bullet fired from a gun headed for the target…there’s not much you can do about the trajectory of the projectile after your Creator has pulled the trigger at birth. Perhaps your life experience has been more like a ricochet, bouncing off one experience into the next. You’re not an exception.

Maybe you don’t feel driven all the time by some sort of burning passion, the need to succeed or a distinct sense of unwavering purpose. If this is the case, relax. You have loads of company.

This hit hidden chords in my heart. A sound of validation rose up inside of me as Bill's narrated words comforted the question that ached in my bones: Does my life matter?

I talked about this with my friend Kim when I was in Thailand this past fall. "That's because of your culture, Pam, that's an American culture thing." As I thought about what she said I realized that much of my evangelical training has been the American version of Jesus infused with the American interpretation of Chrisitianity. Bill alludes to this when he writes:

All too often, the journey of faith is packaged and sold to people like a ticket for a voyage on a cruise ship. The deception goes something like this: “You are going to have the experience of a lifetime. The ship is fully self-contained. The food is fantastic and the entertainment is world-class. The ship is overflowing with wonderful people just like you. We are going to stop in ports A, B and C and then return safely to port.” Then, reality happens.

Doesn't that describe American marketing and advertising? My problem of angst over my life as an ordinary cleaning woman is that I have bought into the lie of the evangelical American dream. The Porpoise Diving Life is helping me to adjust my thinking and discover that there is power and beauty in being ordinary. I don't need to discover a grand, spectacular plan for my life that will demonstrate the razzle-dazzle of Jesus. The loveliness of Christ is found in the everydayness of regular people like me.

At his website Bill explains why he wrote the book:

The book is about the ordinary, everyday of our lives over the past 20 years. I’ve become exhausted reading books from pastors, ex-pastors, missionaries, theologians…everybody that has some sort of present or former connection with the established church...or those on a mission from God. That's my problem...I'm trying to get over it. As such, The Porpoise Diving Life is a voice that needs to be heard today. It is the voice of those, like us, who have sat in the pews of organized religious practice for some of our lives, yet, lived with Jesus, outside the church and/or programmed or professional ministry. It is a voice of experience. It is the layman’s life - A life populated with uncertainty, the unexpected, the joy, the humor, the irony, the inexplicable, the mundane, the marginalized, the mediocrity, the ups and down’s of it all. It’s all about us…God, you and me. It’s The Porpoise Diving Life. There's a reality for the rest of us…

This is language I can relate to. For so long I have been waiting for something to happen, for my true spiritual calling to manifest so I can at long last be all that I am meant to be for Jesus. Years have rolled by as I've waited to mature and transform into the woman of faith I know I am not.

There are a number of voices that are part of my deprogramming these days. PDL has become a part of my re-education: There is purpose in my ordinary living.


Bill makes it clear that his book is not a parody or calculated shot at bringing down Rick Warren's mega-bestseller, The Purpose Driven Life.

There are millions of people on this planet who are never going to buy and read The Purpose Driven Life authored by an avowed U.S. evangelical preacher. Like I've said a number of times publicly, I've read the book three times and have been blessed by it. The Porpoise Diving Life is NOT a dig at the other book. It is a work that moves beyond purpose-driven, as evidenced by our lives, and the millions of others, like us, who don't swim within the purpose-driven safe harbors where many have come to reside in the seas of faith.

This is a good book, timely for a woman like me who's lived too long under the tyranny of lies about my ordinary life of faith. PDL has a prophetic edge to it, a voice of one calling from the wilderness of the sea to get off the safety of the beach and swim out into the untame ocean.

If you are someone you know is wrestling with that sense of unrest in your spiritual life, PDL might be a book that can help bring some clarity for you. I know it has for me.

PDL was recently endorsed by author and speaker, Brian McLaren (and all-around nice guy) who had this to say:

When I read The Porpoise Diving Life, I loved it. But I've been listening to the audio book version lately, and I love it even more.
Bill Dahl is such a natural storyteller - the audio book taps into the part of us that comes alive when we hear, "Once upon a time..." As the title suggests, the book takes you to deeper levels than a lot of folks normally go, but in true porpoise fashion, it also takes some delightful leaps into the sunlight, so you're misting up one minute with a profound or poignant insight and then laughing out loud the next with an unexpected twist or delightful surprise. You couldn't have a better companion on your next long drive or jog or restful evening.

My friend Jim Henderson from Off the Map says this about Bill,

Bill is one of today’s spiritual revolutionaries who is attempting to rescue Jesus from religion and give him back to everyday people.

That's definitely been the case for me.

PDL is an insightful collection of thoughts and stories from someone who refuses to follow Christ by a formula. Bill Dahl nails it when he writes about the presence of Jesus in our common lives and ordinary relationships. Purposeful living is boiled down to authentic living rather than held hostage by western evangelicalism. A great read for anyone who is ready to dive into the unpredictable waters of a faith-driven life.

Update: John Smulo recently wrote up about Bill Dahl and his PDL ezine. John has an article in the current edition.