Who's Writing Your Story?

So there's this conference going on this week called Story 09. Seeing lots of cool comments on Twitter about it. Funny how it coincides with my devotional that I'm bringing on Friday morning at Greenville Rescue Mission.

My life is a story, so is yours. We write it but we don't write it alone.

I love how Jesus used stories when he taught. He found that stories reach people in a way that a systematic theology never can. The religious rulers of His day had been trying the systematic route for hundreds of years; isn't it ironic that they with the most knowledge completely missed the Messiah! Sadly, biblical knowledge is still the name of the game in many of our congregations and we are playing with people's lives! How awesome it is to see God raise up churches that are working to master the art of story-telling. Nothing seems to move us more than hearing the amazing work of God in each others lives as related by story, whether verbally, musically or pictorially.

Jesus invites us into the story that He is writing. I LOVE the account in John 4 when Jesus purposely travels to a region usually shunned by the Jewish community - Samaria. Jesus loved the people of Samaria (as indicated by His using a Samaritan character in one of His stories:The Good Samaritan) and was ready to get the healing process started between Judah and what were the rebellious intermarrying tribes of old Israel.

The woman that he encountered at Jacob's well was drawn into conversation with Jesus (Read Here) and what caught my eye like never before and prompted me to know this was the passage to share with the guys on Friday was this: "No one said what they were all thinking, but their faces showed it. The woman took the hint and left." We've ALL experienced that! These guys at the Mission are exteme examples of people shunned by society but we have at times shared that common experience with them.

On the flip-side, how many times have I turned people away with a look? Jesus' plans are to give people a "future and a hope". He wants to write our story with us. If I don't love my neighbor (everyone) as the Good Samaritan did, then I may be aiding Satan's authoring of people's story.

So who are you letting co-author your story?

HopeATL Workday

Wow, what an amazing day with the folks at HopeATL.

Around 100 of us from NewSpring Church had the privilege of going to Austell, GA (just southwest of Atlanta) to do some clean up in the neighborhood of Sweetwater Creek.

4 weeks ago, due to a tremendous amount of rain hanging over the Atlanta area, this neighborhood (less than 10 years old), experienced major flooding when Sweetwater Creek swelled out of it's banks and began pooling in the lower areas of the subdivision.

As you can see in the pictures, many had water up to the second story! What happened after the rains stopped was that many churches began disaster relief efforts. One in particular was Courageous Church led by Shaun King. This church has done a great job with awareness and rallying the body of Christ into action. All of these homes had to be gutted down to the stud walls and made ready for reconstruction. In the process of gutting, people's lawns were completely covered in drywall/sheetrock pieces (totally nasty!) and when we got there, our job was to bring the color GREEN back to this neighborhood.

It was pretty crazy and amazing to be a part of what was like a Colony of Ants on a pile of Sugar! We just kept going and going and by 4pm had touched over 40 home's yards - raking, sweeping, shoveling, and bagging. At one point, I looked up and saw about 3o people pick up a 10 by 20 foot deck that had floated 5 houses away and carry it back to where it came from!

Of the homeowners that came around (all had to move out!), our interactions with them brought many tears! I cannot fathom what they went through - one homeowner we met, described that day with, "One minute, there was 2 inches of standing water in the street, and within 1 hour, the water was licking at our rooftop!"

This is part of what it means to BE the church, and it was a blessing to get to be a part of this event!