Collecting Stories about God

I'm collecting stories of how people have experienced God in their lives. I believe that God desires to reveal himself to each of us. But not one of us can know God in God's completeness in this life. As the Scripture says, "we see through a glass darkly". It is by sharing our spirtual experiences with others that we gain insight and understanding into who God is and how He involves His children in the life of His kingdom. In many ways, the Bible is a collection of stories of how everyday people experienced the Living God.

I once asked Steve, my brother-in-law, what his favorite TV show was and he surprised me when he replied that he didn't watch TV.
"But you have a TV in your house. I've seen it."

"Yeah, but I don't watch TV. I play TV."

What he meant was that he played video games. He had no interest in a vicarious life of news, sitcoms and game shows. He wanted involvement, participation, and more control than a mere remote control. Seated in his easy chair, Nintendo control in hand, Steve was playing TV.

I've never really gotten into video games past Pong, but I understand what Steve was saying. You can only sit on the sidelines so long. At some point you want to get off the bench and get into the game. Sad to say, many of the things we do at church seem to say that faith is a passive vicarious thing, rather than an active living involvement. We sit in pews, listen to sermons, and read scriptures. All passive. All playing off someone else's experience. When do we get into the action and experience it for ourselves?

From now until Christmas, I am collecting stories of how people in our church experience God for themselves. They could be stories of answered prayer, unanswered prayer, how you met God, a time you knew God was close, a time you heard God, or a time you stepped out in faith. I will use some of these stories as the basis of the 2005 Lent Adventure devotion journal. All stories will be printed anonymously. Please email your stories to me at steve@revnorman.com