So, What’s Your Story?

Stories are powerful. We love to hear about other people and their experiences. We are drawn to other’s woes and wonders. We are fascinated with how others deal or fail to deal with life’s curve balls. Our books, movies, T.V. shows, tabloids and plain old coffee shop gossip center around stories. We love to hear them and tell them. They are our intangible possessions. All of our material possessions can be taken away, but we will always have our stories. They are the true stock of our lives and the living legacy that makes up the heritage of our families and societies.

Our Lord knows this about us. He is familiar with our love affair with stories. And that is why He used parables to teach about the love and mercy of God. I recently took a class where we studied how Jesus taught the disciples. And most lessons He taught were born of a parable or story. We seem to get the lesson if it’s interwoven in a good story. It’s one thing for Jesus to tell us to truly repent and we will be forgiven. But it’s another when He tells us the story of the prodigal son. In His story, we have a deeper understanding of the Father’s mercy and love.

As Christians, we love to tell the stories in the bible. We tell them to our children, study them in classes, and hear them proclaimed at Mass. We tear apart their meaning and purpose and try to apply them to our lives. We truly understand that Christ lives in those stories. He reaches out through His stories and touches our hearts. These stories are the heritage we share and legacy that courses through our veins with Christ.

That last part is what I want to touch on. Christ LIVES in us. He is alive in our hearts. He is at work in our lives. And the way He lives through us is in our stories. We have to reach out and share. We have to tell each other how Christ has touched our lives. If we don’t let Him live in our stories, then we don’t let Him live in this world. And this world desperately needs our Lord. We have to be bold and brave. We have to share how our lives are touched, molded and blessed by Christ. That is how Christ is able to shine in this dark world. We are the candles while He is the flame.

This is why I blog. This is why I publish my life all over the internet. Well, the interesting parts at least. I’ve been doing this for a while, but it wasn’t until recently that I could put the words as to why I do it. I do it for Him. He died for me. He bore all my sin on that cross. He makes me an everlasting gift to the Father. Sharing my life in this way is what He asks me to do. So I do it. It’s the least I can do. My obedience is so small and insignificant compared to His love and sacrifice for me. I wish I could do more. But I can’t lose sight of the fact that Jesus is alive, here in this medium through my story and the stories of other obedient and courageous men and women of Christ. This is what it means to be alive in Christ.

I recently shared my conversion story with a new website (www.whyimcatholic.com) which features the conversion and reversion stories of Catholic men and women. On this site, you will find some interesting people with fascinating stories. I encourage you to check it out. And then I encourage you to find your own story. Share it. Allow Christ to reach through your life and touch other hearts. Be alive in Him.