As I prepare to teach a class tonight, I was thinking about our individual stories that we call life. When asked about our lives we describe what we do, who we are related to, and memories along the way. When I watch a play or movie, all the people in the production have their own stories, but somehow everyone fits into a bigger story with a moral and a happy ending. I think that’s us. We become so consumed with our own stories that we forget the Big Story, God’s Story that we’re living in. In my story, suffering makes no sense and it to be avoided at all cost. In God’s Story, suffering is redeemed and used to promote the Story.
Above is a picture of a field in Rwanda where Genocide criminals serve time after prison and everything they earn goes to the families whose lives they destroyed. To the individuals, both the victims and the workers in this field, how do their stories makes sense without some bigger Story to redeem them? If God can’t heal, restore, and redeem us then our individual stories are just sad. But if God can do all He says He can do, then our stories are the characters in His Story about making all things new. Our stories become how He tells His Story. I want a part in that drama!
