Story

I've been thinking a lot about the concept of "story." Really, I've been thinking about this for the past couple years--I wrote my senior thesis for English on the narrative patterns in Scripture that resurface in all of literature. From stories like "The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe" that directly reflect the narrative of creation, fall, redemption, and new creation to literature like "Beloved" that rejects the pattern, and in that rejection makes a statement about the reality of the fall.

Needless to say, God reveals himself in story. Jesus preaches with stories. Stories reflect the heart of the Lord and in response, we should be well practiced in the art of storytelling. Stories dig deep and penetrate and we all have stories that are worth telling. In efforts to move forward with this idea, I'm going to practice my storytelling. My goal is to write a story a day and train myself to look for story and for the ways that God is showing up--it may be deep, it may not; I may offer some reflection, I may let the story speak for itself...I don't know. But, it's worth a start:

Yesterday my roommates and I went to this Irish joint down the road from our house to hear a band we'd heard about. The band sang some classic Irish pub songs--some familiar, some not, some border line irreverant, others completely irreverent. They had their groupies, and I was definitely not one of them. I enjoyed the music, laughed, danced, but clearly I was not a huge fan of the Irish Pub Scene. And someone called me out.

I was standing there halfheartedly clapping when a random guy came up to me and the following conversation ensued:

Guy: "I'm on to you; I can see right through you."
Me: "Excuse me?"
Guy: "You're not a fan of Irish music..."
Me: "Really, it's that obvious" (sarcasm was thick)
Guy: "Why are you here?"
Me: "Just enjoying a night out with friends...which I'm doing."

We talked for a few more minutes and then parted. But his words stuck with me. I'm on to you; I can see right through you. Although the situation wasn't all that signficant, it got me thinking about what drives me, what I'm passionate about. Am I someone who is sold out for what I'm representing, or am I putting on a facade that people can read right through?

Needless to say, random guy convicted me to daily present myself to the Lord and ask him to fill me with a true and heartfelt passion so that I'm not faking it and representing something I half heartedly believe.