The Story

 "I see your story, I see My name,
Written on every beautiful page.
You see the struggle, you see the shame,
I see the reason I came.

I came for your story, 

I came for your wounds,

To show you what love sees when Love looks at you."

 When Love Sees You 

Mac Powell /Nordeman/Herms

Stories

I love stories. I love listening to stories, writing stories, and telling stories. I especially love reading stories to my children. Our home has always been filled with books--on shelves, in baskets, hanging off nightstands, even tucked into seatpockets of the car. Cuddling up under a blanket and traveling on pages through time and space into another world cannot be matched by any Disney Pixar movie or an xbox game.

Unfortunately, I have not read books aloud to my kids in years. Two of my children no longer live with me, and the rest of us at home are in love with technology. My oral reading now consists of shouting across the kitchen into the family room: "Hey, Em, listen to this post on Facebook..." or "Jordan, turn down that tv. I found this funny quote on Pinterest..."

Our current idea of quality time together is truly new age: We compete against one another in Words with Friends. I am sitting on my laptop at the secretary's desk, Emily at the breakfast bar with her Mac, John on the chair with his iphone, and Jordan sprawled across the couch with the iPad, each of us intermittently calling out, "Will you please hurry up and go?' or "What? FIZ for 45 points. That's ridiculous!"

Little did I know the five letter word STORY would soon dominate my life. Everywhere I turn, I notice this word popping up. I should not be surprised, as God has a consistent habit of repetition in order to get my distracted mind to focus upon His will for me! In September, 2011, I purchased tickets for a December concert, The Story Tour. In perfect foreshadowing, this event prompted a resurgence in reading aloud to my children. Journeying through a new format to an eternal and true Story, the Bible is once again transporting us to promised lands through tumultuous times, engaging the enemy and sharing our heroes' dreams, battles, set-backs and eventually total victory. This Story is ultimately our story, and I am thrilled to share it with my family. Girlfriends, please consider that you are also a part of this story! I encourage you to read with us.

The Story Tour

On December 18th, my husband and I took Emily and Jordan to what we thought was going to be a Christmas. Some of our favorite popular Christian music artists performed. To our delight, The Story Tour encompassed abundantly more than just the Christmas story. Singer/songwriter Nichole Nordeman, composer Bernie Herms, and many others joined talented forces to write the songs and create coordinating videos based upon principle persons and major events in our biblical history.  

The musical Story project tells "how God's story of love and redemption intersects with our story of brokenness and failures resulting in a new story of hope and rescue. 'I think for me one of the goals was to be able to listen to these songs and feel more connected to these people that walked before us and learned lessons that we're still learning,' explains Nordeman. 'There's such a tendency to turn them into superheroes and have these big, takeaway, moral-of-the-story moments. For me it was all about the humanity. These were broken people who were desperate and needed God. They were just like us. I really believe that, and I think sometimes forget.'" (NEWS SOURCE: The M Collective, July 19, 2011)

That concert was momentous and amazing! The various artists who delivered the message and the live music inspired awe. Entertaining yet deeply reverent, the audience worshiped in unison with the performers. Our family continues daily to relive the stories since we now own both the dvd and the music cd of The Story project. We each have our favorite song or story, which warms my heart when I think how God touched each one of us in a unique way that night! (In addition, during intermission the kids and I chose a new child to sponsor (Hamil from Peru) through WorldVision. We are honored to partner with this program.)

The Story Bible

The Story is of course God's story, the Bible. But pastors/creators Randy Frazee and Max Lucado took God's story and developed a method for communicating it to God's people in a format tailored to today's standards of presentation and comprehension. Their work is receiving praise everywhere.

According to the website www.thestory.com, "The Story is helping people in churches everywhere experience Scripture like never before. Carefully selected verses from the Bible are organized chronologically. From Genesis to Revelation, (you) will come to understand God’s story and how (your) story intersects with it." The Story Bible, by Zondervan, is written in the form of a novel and accurately abridged. I have purchased the teen edition for my younger son. A children's edition is also available.

Frazee and Lucado developed a series of sermons, small group discussion videos and questions, and the concert tour all based upon the chapters in this Story Bible. My girlfriend's church in Columbia, Illinois, (Hope Christian Church) is in the middle of this series. She loves it! My church (Calvary of Lemont) will begin this Sunday, March 11th. I cannot tell you how excited I am for this journey, especially based upon last week's experience of reading it together with the kids. (And what an experience it is! But that is the subject of tomorrow's blog!!)

Our Story

I am guessing you have had an "aha" moment by this point in reference to my choice of subtitling at the top of this blog: My Story, Your Story, God's Story. I truly believe part of God's story is that inspiration He gives me to write to all of you. Included in my discourse, my Girlfriends, are your stories too! Visualize with me the beautiful fabric He is weaving as the vibrant, silken threads of our lives intersect, connect, and flow into one another. I just want to wrap myself in the comfort, laughter, peace, and security of that cloth!

Girlfriends, I thank you for reading my blog. I also thank you for sharing your lives and your stories with me and my family. I thank God that He created each one of you, uniquely and purposefully, to fit into His eternal story. I pray today that you will be inspired to know Him more, to understand His Story as it relates to your story. And if the Story Bible can help you in that process, I pray you will find a way to get one. Whether it is the old-fashioned, hardcover edition available at the bookstore or the modern method of an ebook for the Kindle or ipad, matters not. What is important is that you know the Story He just for you and about you! Ladies, God is good!

Now, if I could only maneuver in Words With Friends for a triple word play with CALVARY, I would be rocking the house!!!

Love To You All!