The Importance of Story – Part 1
All of us are part of a story. The story is still unfolding and of course it is His story that I refer to. But inside the greatest story ever told, each of has our own story. Most of us never really think about our stories or look at our stories to help us figure out our lives. The question we need to be asking is how did I get here? As a Church Pastor, the question for me becomes how does what I do fit with my story? It is along this line that I hope to write here in the days ahead.
As I write I will be including things from my past as well as things that I am thinking about and dealing with in the moment. Together, these thoughts and ideas should help in piecing my story together. I think that life is found as you live out your story. BY the way, my story, like yours, will get a little crazy at times. None of us has a perfect story and each of our stories bear the impact of a fallen world and the marks of relationship with sinful people, just like us.
Today I am still contemplating a situation that happened yesterday. It is interesting to me that often times when I am thinking about a scripture or a sermon, events will take place that seem to make my thoughts more alive. It is a constant reminder to me that God is ever present in my life and journey. I have been thinking for the last few days about the Golden Rule. Matthew 7:12 says that we need to “do to others as we would have them do to us”. This is a simple verse and principle that we teach to children and yet it can have a significant impact on all of our relationships if we will practice it in our lives. The reality, at least for me, is that I do not always treat people the way I want to be treated, and that if I did, life would be a lot simpler.
Anyway, as I am thinking about this verse and really trying to work on making it a part of my life, I have an encounter that makes me see again that I often fall short. We were having an upgrade in our phone and Internet system at the church done yesterday. It has been working fine, but trying to be good stewards we had purchased a new bundled plan that would save the church some money. The technician came and began the process and told us that our system would be down for about an hour while he made the change. It took a little longer than that, which was fine, but once the upgrade was finished, half of our system didn’t work. I was still fine, knowing that things like this happen when you are working with technology and change. Where I started to lose it was when I could feel the technician began to make this problem, my problem. He wanted to leave, I wanted the phone and Internet system to work. I was told I would need to bring in a IT person. It was at this point, even while I as thinking about the Golden Rule, that I failed. I didn’t yell, but I was trying to make the technician own his part of the process. I was adamant that it wasn’t my problem. So, he wanted to leave and I pulled the trump card. I know his boss really well. I said “do you think your boss, my friend, would want you to leave with my system not working?”
The poor guy didn’t leave all day. The problem was obviously more than he could handle and he had no idea what to do, but I had just put fear all over him. I am fairly sure he will not be coming to church anytime soon and even if I had some sort of point to make, it wasn’t worth it. This is where story comes in. What is it in me that gets so mad when people try and make something “my problem” when I just really want them to do what they are supposed to do? It has something to do with injustice but there is a very selfish twist in it. I want people to close their circles but I am aware that I don’t close all of my own. There is obviously something deeper that can only be understood in the context of my story. I am not sure where it comes from yet, but I am thinking about it and hopefully it will rise up to the surface soon.
Category: Church Pastor
