Story time....

Many of you remember back in your childhood, either your mom or dad or another family member reading a story to you. It might have been at bed time or before your afternoon nap or maybe on those lazy Sunday afternoons after church while resting and relaxing. I bet many of you love thinking back to those stories. I wish I could remember them. Back in 1999 I got sick and with this sickness I lost a lot of memory. I don't remember having any of those story times with my mom or my Aunt Sharon or my dad. It hard sometimes thinking about that and not being able to remember because I know they happened. I know how much I would value them today if I could just remember them. We all have our favorite stories right? Mom had this story, Dad loved sharing or reading this story. Those are awesome times to reflect back on but they are experiences that really grab our hearts. We all have stories in our lives. A story is unfolded each and every day we walk this life. God is not done with your story yet. See my stories are different than your stories because I have experienced them. I have lived them, shared them, suffered in them and smiled in them. But they are MY stories. I can tell a pretty good story as I bet you can as well. But no matter how good I am at telling a story - they are still my stories and you can only grab and feel so much of the realness in them.
God is much the same way. My walk with God is my story. Its real, its alive and its flippin awesome. But its my story .... Your story with God is your story and even if our stories are similar or very far apart - they will always be personal.
We only get so much out of other peoples stories. I can remember not long ago standing in front of the students in our student ministry - yes they let me do that from time to time - and I was pouring my heart out into them. I had experiences and stories to share that mean huge things to me. TO them - I am just standing there telling them a story - maybe they get it, maybe it changes them a little, maybe they feel something through the words - maybe not. Its MY STORY. Its MY EXPERIENCE.
I can stand there all day and cry out in my words, study and fret to make sure every single word is carefully chosen and my story is prayed over to be ok as if I was telling God this story. Does it have His approval? Would He want to listen to it?
Your relationship with Jesus is not based on my relationship with Jesus. It is based on YOUR personal experience with him. I can show you what he has done in my life. I can tell you time and time again what He has done to make my life better and more worth living for Him. I can pick you up and take you to church on Sunday - you can sit through 2 services a Sunday for years. You could be in a small group, be prayed over, encouraged and still NOT HAVE the story in your life of Jesus. Do you really know Him? Is He the focus point in your life? Are you choices lining up with Him or of the things of this world?
Looking at the personal stories of recorded history through the eyes and hearts of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John - their stories were personal. John wrote that he heard, saw, and touched Jesus. It was his personal experiences with our Lord that he wrote. Sure John was one of His disciples, but the awesome truth is that you can have that same experience with Jesus. You can hear his voice speaking into your life. You can see His work in your life. You can let Him touch your innermost part of your heart and He can change you.
What makes a story more compelling? You tell it through your personal experience. What makes your story with Jesus compelling? The same - you must tell it through personal experience! You have to know Him to experience Him.
You are as close as you want to be to God.

Whats the point in all this if you won't let it change you?