When someone tells you a story, do you automatically believe? Does it depend who is telling the story? How can you be sure? What makes the difference between a story you readily accept and one that you continually doubt? Is there ever a time when no matter who is telling you the story that you find it impossible to accept?
When I think of the storytellers in my life, I realize that I owe them a great debt! Before they came into my life, my imagination always knew it limits. Certain things were possible while others never could be. Possibilities came with boundaries. Opportunities expired. As I listened to their stories, I found myself in a world where nothing was impossible! Everything just might be, if not now then at some point in the future.
The importance in this change dramatically changed the way I looked at life. While some of the stories I hear are incredibly farfetched, there is a chance that I might hear the truth. As I opened myself up to the possibility, I found myself deep in stories of how God is engaged in the world. Compassion is alive, in all kinds of places and situations. Mercy lives, justice has not consumed it, even when revenge is overwhelming many that have historically remained strong. Love shows up in the oddest times and places.
God is working in your life, with those you know, and in the oddest places. The stories others tell may seem farfetched, however I would encourage you to open your mind up to the possibilities. One man did and his testimony echoes across time. “He told us how he had seen an angel right in his own house, real as his next-door neighbor, saying, ‘Send to Joppa and get Simon, the one they call Peter. He'll tell you something that will save your life—in fact, you and everyone you care for.’” (Acts 11.13, 14) The story goes on to tell how lives were changed because he believed. Great stories will be written as you work God in living.
