What's your story?

Once upon a time....

... Is typically a beginning to a story, a fairy tale. What's interesting in life, is that everyone has a story. My story isn't yours. Your story isn't mine. I haven't been down your road and you haven't been down mine. Some of my story is silent, some of it is known and some parts of it are only known by a very few. My story isn't just my story, it never has been. I was raised in church, but not just in church as a "thing" you do. I was raised in what developed into a personal relationship with God. So, my story, is shaped by that. It's intersected by, overflowing with, affected, stretched and intermingled with that relationship. If you don't know about that part of me, then there is something missing, you don't know the whole me, you don't know the whole story.

As with all of us, some parts of my story have intersected other peoples lives, where it intersects, I don't always share; because sometimes those intersects might make me look good, but would wound or hurt other people, sometimes it might bring joy, but remove mystery. Also, there are parts of my story where I feel I failed and was less of the person that God or myself wants me to be. (Hopefully, in those cases of weakness, sharing those parts of my story would show how God steps in and rewrites a story, an intersect of divine intervention that is outside the bounds of the normal transcending normalcy and presenting forgiveness, grace and mercy.)

Funny thing in this world, stories affect us. We tell stories of history, of peoples and days gone by, of fictional persons and worlds and of modern people, real people; we look for hero's to cheer and monster's to boo. Some stories inspire us to greatness, others terrify us and make us wonder if we should go out at night. We learn from stories, we teach from stories. Sometimes, when something is too scary to deal with in reality, or reality is too real, we tell or remember a story of courage and hope, so we can help others and ourselves find the courage to face our fears.

Stories come in the form of parables, fables, gossip, allegories, biographies, auto-biographies, press releases, cartoons, tv-show's and more. Sometimes they come in the form of pieces of overheard conversations, half-truth's, real truth or outright lies. They are all stories, and they all tend to influence how we think and what we do. Lies have done in companies, stopped armies and started wars. Tales of hope, courage and integrity have built empires, saved businesses and inspired courage that makes us all stand up and take notice.

When it comes to stories, mine is as varied and diverse as many others. Whatever you may see on the outside, maybe it helps to know that I've seen times of hardship and nothingness. That, even since being married, we've lost everything and gained back even more. We've seen God perform miracles that defied all logic. There are many ways that our story influences our decisions, much as yours may influence your decisions. Our family doesn't make the same decisions everyone else does, or have the same reasons others do for making the decisions that we do make and have made.

So, does that make us self-righteous in our decisions or choices? No, it doesn't. But, we believe we are not called to walk the same road as everyone else. We work very hard to make choices that honor God, family and country. Sometimes, if you look at them from the outside, they seem completely wrong, in fact... if you made the decisions we did, they probably would be wrong for you. God doesn't intend for you to follow our path, our road. He has a road mapped out for you that will take you through your own set of refining fires and blessings.

Times may be tough, and we face the reality of them, every day. However, even in the midst of that reality, we know that God works out the impossible and won't give us more than we can handle. Besides, America was forged in battle and its freedoms created and protected with many lives. Jonah was forged in the belly of a whale, Daniel in the lions den. The examples go on and on. We have a story to follow, a road to tread, that is not only a great adventure, but has been tread by those greater than us, who cut that road with more than we have ever had to sacrifice. We choose to follow that road, humbly, in their footsteps.



So, why the long post and all the explanations of things that confuse? Simply put, my wife and I believe that there is more to how we are supposed to live. We are pressing on, we will take today's hardships to be shaped into what we are meant to be. We want to be more, live more. So, in spite of a little pain or hardship, we choose to push forward. May we honor God and those around us in that.