... why I feel so proud?

OK, I feel somehow like a proud daddy when his kids take their first step (yeah, I know, like he had anything to do with it). I feel that way because of developments in some young people’s lives over the last few years. These young adults were in my youth group in Michigan some twelve years ago. Just in the last few months I have heard of some of their accomplishments. Sadly, it hasn’t all been great news because of some life choices, but most have been positive, even incredible. So it makes me proud (yeah, I know, like I had anything to do with that either). It makes me feel good that God called me to participate alongside their growth as young Christians.

What led to all this discussion of me being proud (of what I'm not sure), was that I wanted to include an excerpt from an article published recently at the Youth Specialties website. It is written by Brian Brophy, one of my youth group guys, now a youth minister himself in KY. In this article he talks about why we love stories, the Bible being God’s story, what it is like to be in God’s story, and then telling it. Good stuff Brian.

How would you tell the story of your life? Would you start with the details of your birth then tell about your childhood? Maybe you’d describe in detail the day you first experienced God’s saving grace. Perhaps after that you’d describe how you met the person with whom you fell in love. It would be your life, your journey, your story. Now think about the story of the Bible. How would you tell it? Would you start with “In the beginning God created…”? Would you then explain the centuries-long revelation of God to the Israelites? Perhaps after that you’d describe how Jesus came to earth to ultimately save the people from their sins. Then maybe you’d explain how he still works in people’s lives today. It would be Jesus’ purpose, his actions, his story. But what would happen if God took the story of your life, and the story of the Bible, and told them both as God’s story?

In the beginning I created…and one day I created you and you were born…before you were ever born I spent centuries revealing myself to the Israelites…so that as a child you could learn all of those stories and begin to understand my character…ultimately my son, Jesus, came to earth to save the people from their sins…and one day you realized the power and truth of what Jesus did, embraced my love, and were forgiven of your sins…I am still at work in peoples lives today…I worked in your life when I answered your prayers for a godly spouse.

The biblical text isn’t some dusty, ancient book of cute stories written long ago in a far off land. The Bible is the very story of God at work in our lives. It’s the very essence of what God is doing in our lives today. “In the beginning” was the first line of the story of God’s work in this world, and the story has not yet reached “The End.” God desires each person to become part of this story. We have to teach teens that in a world that values the superstar, the leading man, and the hero, God invites us to become one member of the cast of the greatest story ever told. God tells us to forsake the glory of our own story and become part of the glory of a heavenly story. God asks teenagers whose worlds revolve around themselves to become characters that will be immortalized not for who they were, but for the role they played. God asks the lonely soul to join a band of characters millions wide and centuries deep. God asks each member of the cast to share billing with such great names as Moses, Elijah, Peter, Paul, and Jesus. I believe God created us to connect with stories for the sole purpose of drawing us into God’s story.

You can read the entire article here by following this link: http://www.youthspecialties.com/articles/topics/story/aa.php
Have a great day living out God’s story in your lives!


(Sorry about the old pic;
Brian I don't even think you're in this one,
but it is the group at Livonia )