The Ultimate StoryTeller

One thing I truly enjoy? Doing things. One thing I like to do? Listen. (and talk, too... Kind of contradicting.)

Music, radio dramas (Go Adventures in Odyssey!), an unusually witty joke, people's different laughs, a train whistle, I delight in listening to all of those. But my favorite sound to hear is people telling stories. God stories.

There's plenty of reasons that God stories are my favorite sounds. For one, there's a plethora of God stories, and THAT proves over and over again that our God is surely alive and on the move. Jim and Elisabeth Elliot? Totally influenced by our Savior. Bethany Hamilton? No doubt. Even the people around us in everyday life? Completely. These are tales and twists only He could fathom! It's thrilling.

Here's the thing with God stories. No one tale is ever the same, thank goodness. To quote Aslan in The Horse and His Boy, "No one is told any story but their own." God, the Ultimate Carpenter, carved out our story before the world existed. Down to the last detail. The stories He made? These are the testimonies of people who came to Christ and were redeemed when He died on the cross. These stories are the ones that Christ followers tell when they recognize something in their lives that was only possible with God. These are the stories people tell when they come home from a camp or mission trip, eyes wide and a smile across their face.

And none are the same. No one is told any story but their own. No testimony is better than another because God was involved in all testimonies. No story is better than any other because God worked wonders for every single one. Two people can have totally different experiences on the same trip and they are equal in significance. God tailored each one to fit the right person. He makes no mistakes.

I know I've complained about my story before. And more than once. I've wondered how He could use a testimony like mine. I grew up in a family firmly grounded in Jesus Christ. I've been one of the 'good kids' who never seemed to have serious issues. I think at times that this story of mine is dull. My problem is, when I complain about it, I forget that I know nowhere near the knowledge God knows. I don't understand why He does what He does.

The resolution? Next time I think about being a "Doubting-Israelite-in-the-desert" (and even when I think God blessed me with a God story that will blow people's minds), I need to pull a Psalm 66:1-3~
"Shout for joy to God, all the earth; sing the glory of his name; give to him glorious praise! Say to God, "How awesome are your deeds! So great is your power that your enemies come cringing to you. All the earth worships you and sings praises to you; they sing praises to your name."

Soli Deo Gloria! He's the Ultimate Author and StoryTeller. :)
KatieQue

Jesus Goes to Beaches, Too.. Two.

So my favorite day ultimately was the day I fasted and prayed for the people on the beaches, but I can't really describe that. It something you would have to experience yourself. But my next favorite day was the last day on the beaches...

We normally had an apologetics class and an evangelism class in the mornings, but the last day on the beaches was Sunday, so instead of an evangelism class, we had a church meeting with each other instead of the rest of the Californians at OGN. That day we got to choose our beach partner and it could be a girl or a guy. A guy from our group named Andrew asked to be my partner on the beach so I said yes. That was probably the first God thing I saw happen on the beaches, and we hadn't even left for them yet! See, Andrew had already been before, so he had experience and different classes, so he knew what to say. He was a guy, so we could approach men or women on the beach since I could start conversations with the girls and Andrew could start the conversations with the guys. Plus, he had fasted the day before and was hyped up for the last day on the beach. We had three prayer requests: Andrew wanted a conversation with a strong believer, no matter what it was they believed in, we both wanted to have a hard conversation on the beach, and I particularly wanted to talk with an athiest. I had mentioned the athiest part to Parker and Joy the day before, so it wasn't just off the top of my head. And Parker and Cori were fasting that day, so they already had our prayer requests.
Anywho, so Andrew and I are sitting in our seats, literally bouncing, we were so excited. We prayed for people to talk to before we left, we prayed for people when we were in the van, and right after we got out, Andrew stopped us and we prayed for people again. Then, we look up... There's a tiny beach with less than fifty people on it and a park beside it with about the same amount of people. Not many options.
Time passes, we got rejected maybe twelve times in a row before we finally met a guy who was willing to talk. And wouldn't you know it, God was working... The first guy willing to talk with us was an answer to Andrew's prayer! He was a strong believer in his faith. He was a Catholic of some sort and he had moved to California from Egypt about a year ago because he had been persecuted where he lived. We didn't get to talk with him for long cause he had to go, but Andrew was thrilled to see his prayer answered, and I was thrilled to know God was working in ways we couldn't imagine.
We talked to some more people, texted the fasters with prayer requests, got rejected some more, when with an hour left, God answered another prayer. This man named Kevin was our hard conversation, and we spent a good half an hour talking with him before we had to leave.
We walk away, analyzing our conversation with Kevin. I check my phone for messages from the casters and Parker had texted me "I'm still praying you meet an athiest."
Literally two minutes later, Andrew randomly asks "Hey, you wanna go talk to that guy?" and motions toward an elderly man standing by himself and watching the sea. Why not?
And God answered the third prayer- this man, named Tom, was Irish. And also an athiest. :)
Soli Deo Gloria!
KatieQue