How do you know a follower of Jesus? They want to do what he wants them to do.
Jesus said, whatever you do to that little one, the orphan, you do to me.
Am I willing to hear the story of this world? Or do I avoid mission's trips because I don't want to hear that story.
Orphans stories are part of Jesus' story.
For a lot of people, God becomes a genie who is supposed to make MY dreams come true.
The invitation from Scripture is not to stop dreaming, but it's to make my life part of a bigger dream.
Make my life a part of a bigger story!
Dreaming God's dream = shalom.
Shalom = Where things are the way God wants them to be.
God's dream, shalom, WILL comes to pass ... Shalom is coming "in that day"
1 billion people in our world are tormented by hunger.
A child dies of hunger every 6 seconds.
But shalom is coming, because God says it is so.
Up there is coming down here.
(John is now inteoducing the next speaker, Nancy Beach)
****Here is Nancy*****
(Nancy's saying some nice things about Ortberg and how he helped her communicate better)
(Nancy shares the emcee duties for the Willow Creek Leadership Summit ... That's what I recognized her from)
I learned the magical words as a child, "Once upon a time...."
I devoured story books as a child, then onto plays at school
One author has marked my journey more than anyone else... Frederick Buechner
"Telling the Truth" by Buechner sits on the shelf of "cherished books" in my house.
I am compelled to share some key passages with you from this book
Buechner: The Gospel is bad news before it is good news... It shows us our brokenness before it shows us the love of Jesus
(My laptop is severely heating up right now. My lap is toasty!)
Only 10% of the Bible is in a thought-organized format. The rest of the Bible is a collection of love stories and parables.
Jesus the story teller always spoke openly about the stark reality of God's presence
But he also spoke openly about where God showed up...
Sometimes we swing too far on the pendulum and spend too much time on one side or the other – despair and joy
The mark of a good fairy tale is the turn, the catch of the breath.
There is a child lurking inside of everyone of us that persists in the thought that fairytales can still come true.
How do I tell stories that introduce light as well as dark.
"God with us" might be comething that people really struggle with this year.
How has God been with you in the past year?
Holly LaRent reading her story that Willow Creek is basing their Christmas services on....
(This doesn't translate well to blogging. Get the DVDs if you want to check this out)
(It's Holly Laurent, daughter of Bob Laurent who is reading her story ... Sorry for the mistype)
(And now .... Page 3)
(And Nancy is back...)
The very best stories awaken our faith it God.
I challenge you to tell your stories as truthfully and beautifully as you can for the cause of Christ.
(Nancy is praying and she's out.)
