Telling Stories

In Tajikistan there is an ancient epic story that is told only by specially trained story tellers. Villagers hire these people to come and tell the story in the long winter evenings. They gather in homes where they can share warmth and food, and they listen, fascinated, as the epic unwinds. For a while they forget their hardships and the cold and are instead caught up in a world that existed long ago. This story reminds them of their heritage and of who they are as a people.

Someone has said that every time the Gospel is shared, it should begin with the phrase, "Let me tell you a story." That story might be the personal account of what the Gospel has meant to the storyteller, or it might be a story about someone in the Bible or maybe it's a story that Jesus Himself told. Jesus certainly knew and used the power of story telling.

You and I have countless stories to tell. Yesterday my friend Michele told a story to someone she met and it ended with that person taking the story book (Michele's old Bible) away with her. Now we are praying that she will open and read the book for herself.

In John 4, the woman Jesus met at the well persuaded a whole town to come and meet Him simply by telling her story. In the end they had their own personal stories to tell about their encounters with Jesus and they told her that her story had brought them to that point.

"They said to the woman,

'We no longer believe just because of what you said;

now we have heard for ourselves and

we know that this man really is

the Savior of the world.'"

John 4:42

The beauty of Jesus's stories is that He always drew from the moment and incorporated what was going on around Him to catch people's attention. He used nature and business and human relationships. Everyone of us can find a story to tell. Even if we aren't bringing the Gospel into it, it's great fun to tell each other stories. I think that is why Jesus did it...and I think that is why we might try it....just for fun.