Friday, October 1, 2010

You HAVE to read this book.

Psalm 139:14-16

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; 
       your works are wonderful, 
       I know that full well.
 My frame was not hidden from you 

       when I was made in the secret place. 
       When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

 your eyes saw my unformed body. 

       All the days ordained for me 
       were written in your book 
       before one of them came to be.

I love the library. I love that there are thousands of pages among the shelves, each telling a different story; each unique in it's own wording. I love that you can hide away between the rows, obvious to none but the books in front of you. You can escape into the story of your own choosing; a pirate today or princess if you'd rather. If you don't like the way it's going, or the ending, you just set it back in it's place and pick another one- pick until you find the perfect story, the perfect ending. It's a beautiful thing, really, and so freeing to know that you can choose whichever story you want.
             Although life is not like this, we can't change who we are or where we come from, we do have the power to choose our story and our ending. We can decide on our character and what path we will walk down, ultimately leading to the ending we decide upon.

 If you've just read the most wonderful book, if the ending was as beautiful a picture as can be painted, wouldn't you share it with you friends? Wouldn't you tell them about this story, tell them to go immediately and check it out? Wouldn't you urge them to read it quickly, so you can talk about it and share in the joy of this amazing story? God has laid out a perfect story for us. It's filled with the most wonderful and intimate detail, and ends in the best way possible. Many of us are in the middle of this story, whether we've read all the chapters from the beginning, or we're just beginning in the middle, we've opened this book, this story, to the most amazing spot. Why are we not telling our friends? Why are we not sharing this story of love and loss and struggle and forgiveness? Why are we not spreading the word and urging our friends to check it out?

The library holds a million stories, each unique and individual, but none as unique and individual as the one God has written for us. It's the most epic, heroic, tragic, romantic story you'll ever read, and it's true. In the same way we would share a good book with a friend, let us share the good news of our own story- a story written for anyone who chooses the read along.