LIFE'S JOURNEY IS "HIS STORY"

Good morning, T,

This is our first true dialog. No more rule making and discussion Except to remind us, this is a DIALOG. I talk, you talk. Not complicated.
We can do this.

It’s about The Story. Taylor, just about everything I share with you will be framed by this one thing, The Story. When I say “The” Story, I mean HIS Story. I will always capitalize it as if it were something coming from God and deserves the honor of what I call “divine capitals.” It is, and it does; The Story.

Our life on earth is often called a “journey.” True enough. But that could mean wandering aimlessly and without a guide. I prefer to see our lives as one designed by God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit in what seminary people call the Counsel of the Godhead. Before the heavens and earth and even before time, They met to completely design all of life. Hard to get your mental arms around that one, eh? Thus, I like to say, "They wrote The Story of all of life, yours included." That's a "Wow" moment when it sinks in. It is not wandering, not aimless unless we make it that way ourselves. Unbelievable? Believe it! See Psalms 139 13-16 (below)

We could say all of history is His Story and the book would be a trillion pages with each life fully described with care and love. The front and back covers and the binding could be described as “The Story of Grace.” That would be the wonderful Grace of God that is beyond our comprehension.

But I want this to be personal for you as it is for me, for Dad, and for Mom and Nani. Yes, God the Trinity wrote your story as He wrote The Story. He selected when and where and what family you would be born in. Wow, what a wonderful opening chapter! Yes, the Lord God Almighty, Commander of Angel Armies (this is the correct translation of “The Lord” in the Old Testament) loves you as His own. You are, my son, even more precious in His eyes than even in Dad's and Mom's. That is another “Wow!” (Have Dad tell you what “Wow!” means to us. It came from our great horseback quest to the Continental Divide).

So, Taylor. You have the privilege of living out The Story He made for your life. There’s a sad reality, though. Most people, even Christians, write their own story. Not good; usually very bad endings. You’ve already discovered sin in your life. And you know about evil all around, and you have seen around people, even good people, living The Lie designed by God’s enemy, Satan. The Lie is the opposite of The Story. For the rest of your life, you will find yourself being tempted to write your own version, a sentence here and a paragraph there, maybe a page, even a chapter. Not good. It is very common that "good Christians" around you are living pretty good and decent lives...but they are stories they have written themselves without complete dependence on the Author of Life. Often story line come from The Lie.

So, here’s my simple start to our dialog journey for the year. You are beginning to live out His Wonderful Story. You will find times of disobedience, self-will, even secret sins. The sooner you get back to discovering the wonders of the life you see modeled in the Lord Jesus, the smoother life will be. How better to please God and live His full life than to Walk With Him in The Story. You will discover what He wants of you as a man made in His image. You’ll learn what “your glory is,” that is, just how He has designed you to shine for Him.

Yes, you need the disciplines of Scripture, the fellowship and counsel of family and godly friends (grandparents too, of course), you will want to serve God in your witness to friends, maybe even in career service in ministry. It will be part of The Story IF you are listening to and walking with The Author. (Which is like “following Christ” only better. It's side by side). So for all the clues I want to share with you about living the full potential of your life as a follower of Christ, we both will want to remember it’s His Story we are living out, not even the good one we invent for ourselves.

There, that’s a page worth on my laptop. The below is extra and is free. It’s worth meditating on:

Psalms 139: 13-16
Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out;
you formed me in my mother's womb.
I thank you, High God—you're breathtaking!
Body and soul, I am marvelously made!
I worship in adoration—what a creation!
You know me inside and out,
you know every bone in my body;
You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,
how I was sculpted from nothing into something.
Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;
all the stages of my life were spread out before you,
The days of my life all prepared
before I'd even lived one day.

I like this one, too. You’re suppose to listen to the counsel of your grandfather from the generation who’s lived life and has the counsel of God to pass on:

"The counsel of the Lord standeth forever, the thoughts of His heart to all generations" (Psalm 33:11).