Do You Know the Storyteller?

This is actual photo of my books, on display in the middle school media center of the school in which I work as SRO.

A recent development in my writing journey, is the arrival of some of my memoirs to the book shelf of the school library. The middle school in which I serve as the school resource officer, is gracious enough to offer three of my family memoirs for students to check out. The librarian told me she was sure it would be a success at our school, because she said there is just something different when you actually know the storyteller. As I looked on while a student checked out the last available copy of my book for the third week in a row, it made me really stop to think.

We have a written story of history; a memoir if you will, put together by over 40 authors over a couple of thousand years, with all of these interconnected cross-references. This huge historical book, which is really one long story about our Creator, is God-inspired Word. John 1 says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. ⁴ In him was life, and the life was the light of men. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it" (John 1:1-5, ESV). One can tell just by the way the passage is phrased, the storyteller wants us to know His story. His Word, made flesh through Jesus Christ, brought the ultimate light to the world. And it specifically tells us that the darkness has not overcome it. Why do you think He wanted us to know that?

I think the short answer is, He wants us to know Him, so that we are not overcome by the darkness. And He provided us a way to get to know Him...through His Word...through the STORY.

You see, the kids at my school have not stopped checking out my books. Why? According to the librarian herself, there is just something special about reading the story, when you already know the author. And here is my epiphany. The whole reason I wanted to put my books in the school library, was not to make money; on the contrary, I wanted the students to really know more about the storyteller. So it is like this neat exchange of information. I am sharing myself with the kids I love to protect! Do you get it?

God wants us to know Him; He provided His story for us to get to know Him better - and the better we know Him, the more we love the Story!!!!!!!

How awesome is that? Imagine being the character in an author's book, and the author wants you to get to know Him better. That is the position each of us is in, because we are already partakers in the course of history - His story. This is an analogy that is easy to grasp, simple to understand - yet so easy to miss if we have let our Bibles get dusty. I read the Bible every day. Through the week I read it in sequential order, always picking up where I left off the day before. On weekends, I read random verses, or pick out specific verses pertaining to seminary assignments, devotionals that I am writing, devotions that I am planning, sometimes a Sunday school lesson, and a weekly Bible Study that I lead. All of this inundation of Scripture, is the one thing I can get inundated with, and still NEVER GET ENOUGH! The more I read, the more I want to know. And the more I know, the more I want to read. It is so fascinating.

I love the fact that my kids at my school want to know more about their SRO. And I love the fact that they will get to know me even better by reading my stories. This will give them an ultimate knowledge of the storyteller, and maybe even a better appreciation for the guy behind the badge.

Don't you want to know your Creator, the ultimate Storyteller? The better you get to know Him, the more you will want to know. And the more you want to know, the more He will reveal. And perhaps, by the time this world is all said and done, by the time history is finally finished being written - you will know the ultimate Storyteller, and the Man on that cross.

In Christ,

JEF