How is Your Story?

"You get a feeling when you look back on your life that that's all God really wants from us, to live inside a body he made and enjoy the story and bond with us through the experience." P. 6 A Million Miles in a Thousand Years Donald Miller
       I have been reading this book for the past few days.  I am only 46% through it (Thank you Kindle for allowing me that information).  But so far Miller has really been connecting a lot of dots for me.  Essentially the book is about living a better story for God.  He uses the analogy that we are characters and God is our author (not much of an analogy as it is the truth).  But, if this is the case, how do you think our Author is reacting to the decisions we are making in his story?
     I love to write.  I do it all the time.  Miller uses his experience with writing a screenplay and books to help illustrate his points and this I am able to connect to.  He made a point that when you are writing a story often times the character in your story hijacks it from you.  I may be the one typing out the story and I have my ideas as to how it will end but my characters steal it from me and do what they want.  It really does happen, you may think I am nuts but write a story and you will understand.  You will also understand the frustration this causes.
    So, if god is our author and he has our stories in mind, he knows where he wants them to go.  But we continue to hijack it and do what we want, take the stories a different direction.  Imagine how this makes Him feel?  I picture him with a mug of coffee, frizzled hair and a Mac Book in front of him.  He has not slept in a while because he is frantically trying to fix our story, to make it a good one.
   Let's allow him to author our stories.  Follow his guidance and become great, complex, but solid characters.  As Donald Miller says, we need to know who our writer is.  
     So friends, how are you living your story?  Are you hijacking it or are you living it?  I often hijack mine and then question the Author later.  Lets us embrace our stories, embrace the plot, and live the story out.
With Love Y'all.
Opher

Hamilton

Well, I am back in Toledo after a few days in good old Hamilton.  It was very nice to be home for a few with my family and to see some good friends.  You know, I always hear people from Hamilton rip on the place.  They are always complaining about how crappy it is but they are also the ones who never leave.  I have been out of Hamilton for five years and I miss it dearly.  I am not sure if I would want to live there permanently after school but I do love the city and wish to see it and the residents doing well.
      While I was there I went twice and checked out Tru West Coffee, a new coffee slash cafe type place that my old Young Life leaders opened.  And it was great.  The atmosphere was great.  Both times I went I saw people I knew and realized that this place is legit, it was always busy.  I never thought that a place like that would fit the people of Hamilton but oh, it does.  I was sad that I kept missing the Cannon's, the owners, by a matter of minutes.
     I had a discussion with a great friend of mine while we were sitting at a table there.  We discussed how the Cannon's do so much for our great city.  They have been leading YL there for a while, not sure how long but before I was in HS at least.  They not only lead in Hamilton as volunteers while having 2 kids and one on the way, but they moved their lives into the city.  They live their ministry each and every day.  Seeing the success of Tru West shows how much the community appreciates them.  The thousands of kids they have helped to reach along with other Hamilton YL leaders.  It is very comforting knowing that the city in which I love has at least one family that is fully committed to seeing it shine and seeing it have a Christ presence.
So, get yo butt over to Tru West and enjoy the service and atmosphere, and of course the menu.

McDonald's

Tonight I attended Soma, it's the Young Adult Ministry of North Point Church.  It was only like the third one I was able to make since it began in August due to other commitments.  But tonight was a great night to go.  In fact, every Soma is a great one to attend.  I try to listen to all the sermons online.  Sammy, the Pastor for this ministry and the other Pastors at North Point have an incredible vision for the city of Toledo and the young adult community.  Their passion is very evident by the way they live their lives.
   But tonight Sammy spoke about how we need to find our "McDonalds".  Meaning, we need to discover in what aspects of our lives RIGHT NOW we could be serving God more.  We all have goals and places in life we want to go but RIGHT NOW God has us where we are for a reason and we need to bring glory to him for that.  We need to go out to our "McDonald's" and serve our friends, family, co-workers, strangers, who ever we come across.  The Lord most certainly spoke through Sammy tonight and he was indeed a great vessel for the message.  Friends, I would encourage you to listen to this message (thesomacommunity.com)  And think about what your McDonald's is.
     I know what mine is and I know I need to be a better server in those areas.  I know that I often times look ahead in life and forget about what I am doing in the here and now.  But think about it this way, Jesus knew the vision his father had given him, he knew he was the Son of God but yet he did not start his ministry until he was 30.  What was he doing those first 30 years?  He was working at his McDonald's.
Love y'all
Opher

Take Solace

I take solace in knowing that the Lord always has my back.  No matter what I do or how hard I try to run from him, he seeks me.  Over and over again He provides for me when I thought all was hopeless.  In the arms of Christ nothing is hopeless and I encourage myself and my friends to embrace him, he will not let you out of that hug.  He is our shepherd and we his sheep, he will always watch over his flock.
With love
Oph