Story-Telling

I have what I like to call a blogosphere. It’s much like a great big hall with over twenty different windows. I can walk up and down this hallway as much as I like. Once or twice a day, someone will pop from behind a window and invite me over to hear their story. There are over twenty people who I want to hear from. They each have their very own window where I can peer into their lives. They built it themselves. They wanted to share the big exciting things that are going on and so they built a small window.

They are all very different from me. Some are guys and some are girls. Some are twenty years old and some are much older. Some speak fast and excitedly like they can’t contain themselves. Others carry you away to other realms with long descriptions. Some are funny and full of joy. Others have pain too hard to carry and have heavy hearts. They all have stories.

One of them was abused in the church throughout her childhood and adolescence. She loves Jesus more than anything and you can tell when she speaks to you. She recently started going to Mass and wears a veil. She says it makes her feel closer to God. She tried going to a Protestant church, but felt like she would kill herself. There were too many memories. Her husband cried with her and supported her decision to leave the church. She teaches her kids that there are such things as fairies and elves and laughs with them.

Anther one of them leads a ministry serving Christians who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. He is gay himself. And he believes that is okay. He feels that he can be gay and a Christian. He hopes to find a good guy to settle down with and marry someday. Christians attack him a lot. But, he keeps going and doing what he believes is God’s will for his life. He loves going out with people for coffee, but hates coffee. He does, however, love hot chocolate.

Yet another is a missionary in South America. She has a husband with a very large bushy beard and three teenage boys. She swears a bit and talks very ADD-like. She disagrees with the short-term missions trips that are used by churches. She calls it another form of poverty tourism. She gets some people mad at her too. She honestly doesn’t care what other people think of her. She doesn’t think people should hide who they truly are. She loves God and she will let you know…and she will also want to talk about her theory of asexual unicorn reproduction.

One more is a pastor who left his church two years ago. He is a writer, artist, and cartoonist. He is very passionate about people finding healthy community. He hates how the church has treated people and provides support for Christians who want to transition out of a life within the church.  His cartoons illustrate this with humor and, at times, brutal honesty.

 I love these stories. I like being able to walk down this hall and get out of my own head. I like hearing how things are going for my blogosphere friends. They challenge me on things that were always concrete to me. They give me new ideas on how to live my life.

Their stories make me want to live a better story.

The kind of story that makes other people feel:

Encouraged                  Empowered                   Embraced

I sincerely hope that I can be that story to someone...but if I am, then I'm going to need to work on being a much better story teller. I need to take risks, speak up, and love people more than I thought possible. And if I can do that, then you can too. :)