What is your favourite type of story? – action, horror, fantasy, murder, mystery, thriller, fairy, funny…Last few weeks I’ve been working on a story to tell you today. It’s not a love story (sorry girls) but it does start with a “Once upon a time there was a king and a queen in a far away land”…and there is a prince, a murder, a flight away from danger, friendship, a battle, some sadness, a rescue and of course a happy ending. I felt it was missing something, couldn’t quite put my finger on it until I got to the end yesterday and I realised it doesn’t have a true villain, so I’m going to have to rewrite it now and tell it to you another day…sorry about that!
Every good story needs a hero, a villain, some heroic deeds, a crisis or moment when all appears lost, a surprise or two, redemption, maybe a moral thrown in, in my opinion a happy ending (although modern stories don’t always end this way).
Stories can be very short. Some people are good at telling jokes – these are just short stories with a punchline or twist. Songs are short stories to music. Other stories are very long and drawn out – has anybody actually read the Lord of the Rings? Good job a movie was made but even that’s long…
The bible is a very long book. Our friend on the radio tells us every day he’s on, that the bible is made up of 66 different books by 40 different authors and is written over thousands of years.
It might be surprising to you for me to say this but the whole of the bible is the story of Jesus Christ. You can see him in every book, even before he was born on earth. My friend from India loves movies and he tells me that in the Indian movies, the hero often wears a mask covering his eyes. None of the characters in the story can recognise him but of course it’s plain to the audience. Just so with Jesus, once you’re a believer, God begins to show you Jesus in every book of the bible.
Each one of us also has a story being written, the story is not over yet (fortunately). And I’m sure we want our stories to be happy especially to have a happy ending! Where are you in your story? None of us really knows but - At the beginning? Best of times? Worst of times? Heroic deeds? Are you the hero facing a villain, maybe you are the villain!!! A crisis, all seem lost… In our stories I’m sure there have been a few surprises and not all of them good.
Jesus once said “All those who come and listen and obey me are like a man who builds a house on a strong foundation, laid upon the underlying rock. When the flood waters rise and break against the house, it stands for it is strongly built”. All of us face a crisis in our stories. We can face it on our own, but do we have the strength to get though?
The bible calls Jesus the Author of our faith! We can let him write our life stories if we want. He promises us that we can endure any storm and he promises us a happy ending. I’m getting older now and maybe a bit sentimental, but I’m happy with that! I hope you are too.
