This is my story

We love country music around here. I try to mix in some gospel every chance I get with Aaron Watson or Alan Jackson. I was coloring with the kids one day last week and decided to put on Alan's gospel c.d. My head was beginning to hurt and something told me to add in a bit of calm to the ever-present chaos that goes with a pack of happy, but quite loud children. The first song gave me a childhood flashback to my days at Caney Baptist Church. My Pappaw, J.D. Harris, lead the music there for many years. He was a tall, big man with an even bigger, deep voice. When I heard Alan start singing "This is my story, this is my song, praising my savior all the day long" it brought back memories and stirred up something in my spirit... like music so often does. The music serenaded us and on we colored. As I traced Strawberry Shortcake's hat in hot pink, it hit me that I have a story of my own that is being written during my time here on earth. I thought... How is my story right now and and what will it be when I die?

I carried the words of the song and the concept of my own personal story around with me for a few days. I attended a funeral of a dear friend, Monte Cole, last Sunday. Pastor Ken shared with us that he had the chance to ask Monte just days before his death about his walk with the Lord and his life. Monte summed up in 2 Timothy 1:12. That verse reads "Yet I am not ashamed because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day." I sat in the pew still, quietly, and thought to myself...That is Monte's story! He left us this week to be with the Father and will be missed, but what a story he left behind because Mr. Monte KNEW whom he had believed in. I drove away from the church with a smile on my face because I celebrated the life of a man who had a story that began and ended with Jesus Christ!

His story forced me to slow down a minute and think of my own again. The modern world we live in would like to have us believe that our stories will be written over the huge things we accomplish in life, like the promotions, awards, diplomas, dream vacations we can afford, cars we drive, or the powerful positions we hold. I realized quickly that my story lacks all of that, but seems to be unfolding in everyday life as I drive to and from town down 488 passing by the same parts of the beautiful countryside. The plot of my story seems to include tasks like frying eggs in the morning for my hungry boys, packing lunches, making to-do lists, and saying Hi to other parents in the hallways at school and in the isles of the grocery store. That is really my story right now. I am sure not in the valley like times past, but I also don't see the top of the mountain from where I am standing. Oswald Chambers excited me about the mundane days in life when I read "There are times when there is no illumination and no thrill, but just the daily round, the common task. Routine is God's way of saving us between our times of inspiration. Do not expect God always to give you His thrilling minutes, but learn to live in the domain of drudgery by the power of God." I had my four children line up this morning all dressed for school with their backpacks and lunchboxes and took their picture. I had to remind myself that THIS IS IT! My story is right here in between the stack of bills I need to sit down to pay and empty box of cereal on the kitchen island that needs to go in the trash. God is involved in every bit of it too!

Even when we accept that life will not be lived on the mountaintop, but often in the daily grind of life, there will still be twists, turns, and temptations that will throw us for a loop. We may feel like our stories are really soap operas, and that life is not smooth sailing. I have accepted a truth about why it is not easy. Even if I am a born again believer in Jesus Christ and trust Him with my life, He will not totally take over and write my story for me. He will guide me, the Holy Spirit will talk to me, but God will not author my story alone. I have to be a willing participant. I do have free will. How often I have thought "Lord, before I said that...why didn't you stop me?" A familiar thought too has been "God, why did you let me do that?" If I am honest.... I have to understand that the Lord is walking with me and talking to me, but He will let me go my own way if I insist on being hard-headed.

This free will is like a giant dot to dot that the Lord has drawn just for me! It was originated, just like my life, to be beautiful, unique, and a one of a kind. The dots when connected correctly will make an amazing picture for all to see. The Lord puts the dots on paper, but I have to draw in the lines that make the connections. If I connect the dots with lines in the correct order and stay in line, it will all make sense and have purpose. Every single dot, or day, will have meaning. However, here comes the part about the free will... I can also choose to go somewhere else, or to another dot, that feels better, looks better, will make me more money, or that will even make me more popular. When that does happen, and it does for us all, we look up and think "This is not where I am supposed to be and nothing feels right." That feeling is because we got out of line. If we keep on going in our own direction, we run the risk of looking up years down the road and discovering that our picture is a mess. We don't have a clue which dot is next or even what we are doing. We are lost.

However, this is the amazing part of the dot to dot story of YOUR life. When we realize that we are way off of track and our life looks more like a toddler's scribbling than a precious work of art created by the Lord, He meets us where we are and brings us back. He erases the mess! When we ask for repentance and turn, He is gracious to start a new work of art based on our mess and add our goof up to our testimony. Our story takes on a new shape. It is then full of wrong choices and lines that really don't match up perfectly, but it is still beautiful. I have learned the hard way though that we can't ask the Lord to forgive us and not TURN from our sin though. If we simply say "Forgive me, Lord" without a change in action, our path continues on in the wrong direction. The dot to dot keeps on going and going and will end in disaster. We must make a change in direction with the Lord's help!

I look around and see stories of individuals asking for Jesus to join in, letting Him fully in. I know a young father and husband who has allowed the Lord to get a hold of his life and as a result, he is free from years of addiction. He looks different, talks different, and is a light like I have never witnessed. What a story that is turning out to be! Another one near to my heart is a woman fighting the first stages of cancer with her Bible by her side, choosing to daily fill up on the Word. She is giving God the glory and relying on Him to show her the next "dot" on her picture. So...how is your story today? Does it resemble a masterpiece in progress or look more like a big mess? A well written story begins and ends with Jesus Christ, and He is willing to meet you where you are.