stories...

Over the past few weeks our journey, our story, has had unexpected twists and turns. The experiences Jeanine and I have walked through together will continue to shape our lives, probably for the rest of our years. As our hearts and lives have gone through cycles of brokenness and healing, we've been reminded that pain is a universal experience. There's not one person immune from feeling the pain of loss, disappointment, or struggle. But, neither is there anyone who cannot receive healing.

As we've heard so many life stories over the past few weeks with pain as a consistent theme, we're reminded of a choice we have to make. In our places of feeling and being broken, we can try to control our lives and drive them our own way, seeking out what we think is a better way (definitely our natural inclination). Or, from our places of brokenness we can discover ourselves as part of a larger story, one where pain is exchanged for gladness, and sadness for joy. Each of us has a story that matters: it's the one of where we've come from. At this point, now, each of us gets to decide how the rest of our story will go. Fighting and struggling to make our own way, or loosening our grip to something, to someone beyond ourselves.

We choose the bigger story, the one bigger than us, the one with hope and mystery, the one whose founder is Love himself. It's the story that brought a random group of people around a common table last night to journey together for the next 15 weeks. It's the story of Jesus - God, showing His grace is available to every person, extending the invitation to be a part of the greatest love story on the planet. That's the story, check it out.