The Story I tell...

 

Kids.  Jesus.

Me.

 

I am involved in something so much bigger than me. I am involved with the Living God.  He is the Lord of all. He has called me to himself. In the midst of this, He has enabled me to have a wife....two kids, and a calling to walk alongside teenagers to invest in them.  The hope?  That they might come to know Christ and follow him.  Mostly, I listen to their lives...to the stories they tell and to the new story we form together as we develop friendships.

I tell stories.  I tell people of a God who loves them infinitely greater than they can fathom....and sometimes I might not even say His name....but underneath it all, I am always telling of Jesus Christ. That is what Young Life does.  That is who God has called me to be. I tell of a YL Leader standing on a hill at football practice....of meeting Jesus in a for-real manner on a hill at Windy Gap, a YL Camp.  I tell of a wonderful embrace...a hug of a lifetime in the barn, at my Dad's house...when I came home.  I tell of a man named Jesus who pierced my soul and said, "Come, follow me...and I will make you a fisher of men.."

I tell of a beautiful woman....one whom I pursued most of my life - and then, it happened..she said yes - we got married. I tell of these two little boys who showed up and have tackled my heart only to never give it back.....but that Jesus is the true gate keeper of my heart and my life.  I am different only due to His love.  His love for me.  His love for you. He makes me different - thanks be to God!

I listen to stories.  I hear of my friend who shows up with a gun in his car - to school.  I hear of a girl who has slept with more guys than she can keep up with and who shows up at YL club only to feel accepted for a brief hour or so - and then back to the rat race of pain and non-trust in her life.  I hear of a friend who wrecked his nice new car as he was drunk..only to tell a lie to his dad and get another nice new car - he still takes pain pills to get high.  I hear of a man who met Jesus on Easter Sunday - who's life was gone..but because of the story told...and a God who changes lives...this man is now:  different.  I hear about my friend in high school who's addicted to his image, taking steroids, dealing with anger, wishing he knew Jesus intimately but struggling to throw away his life - wondering how can God really love him in this way....wondering..waiting.

 

Stories. Everyday, stories. I cannot think of something else that becomes more meaningful than the story we tell of Jesus Christ.  The story of a God who became his own creation...who humbled himself...and took on all of this mess....in order that I might have a new covenant..a new faithful commitment from Him - faith=eternity with all the spiritual blessings in the heavens.

Wow.  The stories.

 

-ao