Whether we’re popping the latest Hollywood mega-hit into the DVD player, downloading the runaway bestseller onto our Kindle, or buying front row seats for the Tony Award winning drama, we all love to get immersed in a good story. We see ourselves in the characters, get lost in the plot, and try to envision how we would respond in similar circumstances.

At Forest Home during the week of June 20th-25th, our high school students and leaders heard the challenge to consider their own story. In our culture that makes reality television stars famous overnight and for no real reason, we were asked to consider what kind of story our lives would tell if the cameras turned around and focused on us. Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 3:2-3, You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts, helped frame the week as we pondered the truth that our lives are like a story, open for anyone to read. 

Our students reported that the week helped them to consider exactly what it means to live a God-honoring story in a world scarred by the Fall. For many, this week marked the first time they had ever honestly considered how their life story is touched and shaped by brokenness. They thought about how vast the love of God is that redeems us from our hurt and liberates us to live a story about his faithfulness.

Most of all, our students were reminded that, in our world of brokenness, our quest for a significant story always leads us to the cross and resurrection of Christ. Only there—in the greatest pinnacle of any story ever conceived—do our stories find resonance. Only because of Calvary, can we hope to live a life that moves beyond a narcissistic devotion to our brokenness and into the fullness of worship of the God who saved us when we were yet enemies.

As we all seek to live a story worth reading, may we continually reflect upon the work of the true Author. And may his work in our lives read like a bestseller about his faithfulness, grace and mercy.