Paul had his story down pat, but it took a major turn when he encountered Jesus.
There is a danger in emphasizing My story too much.
God approaches people differently. Our stories are very different. If I make too much of my story, I may think myself too special and expect your story to be like mine.
There is a danger in emphasizing The story too much.
If the story becomes static, distant, detached, foreign-culture, then it looses its connection to me, you, and us here and now.
If you tell me the old, old story over and over in only the same words, it tells me that it is not really mixing in the flow of your life and affecting your story.
It becomes dangerous when the chosen vocabulary of the story becomes so formalized that the good news has a singular expression and reception.
(e.g., reconciliation, redemption, release from sin, forgiveness, healing renewal, salvation , liberation)
We may keep learning new depths to the story and finding more unexpected points of connection with our own stories as we take time to examine, form, reform, and share both stories, together.
What do you think?
€ Can you picture the setting of one of the earliest times in your life that you sensed God's love for you?
€ Isn't forming stories hard work? Isn't it easier to just ride the waves and say "whatever"? Why bother?