A story I could live.

I remember it clearly. It was the second day of IndyCC, December 29, 2008. It was late in the afternoon, I had already been to two talks, and I was ready to take a nap. I told my friend Sara, though, that she should go hear Steve Rieske talk about the Grand Story of the Bible. Steve was a cool dude on cru staff whom I enjoyed listening to and playing facebook Scrabble with, so I thought she should go check it out. Last minute, I made the decision to go with her. I picked up a $6 grande soy chai latte at the Starbucks in the hotel, and grabbed a seat.

Little did I know that this hour would forever change my life. As Steve started talking about the Bible using phrases such as "yearning for Eden," I felt like he was speaking a foreign language. To see the Bible as a story of the redemption of humankind, not just a bunch of Sunday School lessons with good moral lessons, awakened something deep within. And that God was inviting me into this story was incredible. This was a story I could live.

Donald Miller often explores the idea of writing a 'better story' with your life. If I wanted my life to tell a better story, what better way than to become part of THE story God has been writing since time began?

A story that began in the garden, where man walked with God in the cool of the day. Where man rebelled against God and broke the perfect relationship he had with both God and his fellow human beings, and himself became broken. Thus Death entered the world. But God (one of my favorite phrases in the Bible) had a plan. He would set a people aside for Himself, dwell among them, teach them His ways, and show them what it meant to be His people. They rebelled time and time again against the God who had showed them nothing but unconditional love. He punished them. He showed mercy. They repented. The cycle repeated. But God would not relent. He would pursue these people because that is who He is.

And then He entered the human experience. Becoming one of us, He put on flesh and walked among us. He taught, healed, and performed miracle upon miracle. And then He died, a perfect sacrifice. Three days later, He arose as King, victorious over death itself. And with His resurrection, He imparted resurrection life through His spirit, that those who were dead: those separated from God, enslaved to sin and self, hopelessly broken, unable to reach God, might be made alive. That they might have intimate fellowship with their Creator. That they might join in the work of transformation, becoming agents of hope and renewal. Ambassadors of God Himself.

This was a story I could LIVE. Not a faith that says, you're saved, now just do some good stuff until heaven. No. Heaven is here. The Kingdom is here. There is work to do. And He wants to do it with us and through us. Trying to fit God into my story is fiercely insulting to who God is, and leads to a religion of death and dissatisfaction. Taking my place in God's story, however, leads to life and peace. Not to mention adventure.

Today, as I listened to Steve tell the story once more, maybe for the last time... my mind wandered back to that afternoon. I think of what that Story has inspired in my life since that afternoon in Indy, and I am deeply grateful. I have heard him tell the story dozens of times since then. Sometimes I groan because I can anticipate his every word, but once in a while, it captures me once more. The deepest parts of my being resonate with its truth. The love, the mercy, the wonder, the hope, the triumph: it is a story worth telling over and over again. It must be told, for it is what we were made for. It is, indeed, a story worth living.