A Story Worth Telling

I have a story worth telling.

I love stories.

I love that life is simply that - a story.  I love that life consists of stories within a story; and stories within a story within a story.  I love that one story in your life shapes the next.  I love that one story in your life relates to a bigger part of your story.

A story for you:

We have an Open Boat on Next Wave once a week which is a time to open our doors and invite people onto the ship to give them a tour, tell them about what we do and have conversation.

Last week, a new story was lived.  A man came and was pretty quiet during the whole tour but from the moment I sat with him, he started telling me about his life and I could immediately see how God was trying to get a hold of him and change his life.  I had a great conversation with him and prayed for him in the end before he left and I hope and pray with all my heart that this story continues and it moved him just one step closer to knowing God.

I got to be a part of his story that day.
And he is now a part of mine.

That's just one small story from one small hour in a day.

A good storyteller doesn't just tell a better story though.  He invites other people into the story with him, giving them a better story too.*

What story are you living?
Who is a part of your story?
Who's story are you a part of?

I think God puts the right people in your life exactly when you need them.  Some for a long time, others for a short time.  But the amount of time doesn't matter.  What matters is what you do with that time you're given with them.

People don't live without a story, without a role to play.*

Over 2 years ago, I was about to begin a new story - A Better Story
What a story it's been.

I have a story worth telling.

It's our stories that shape us.

It is our stories that inspire others, that encourage others, that bring life to others, that allow us to relate to others.

It is hearing others' stories that we are inspired, that we are encouraged, that we come to life, that we relate to them.

I don't want to miss out on these stories.

A story is based on what people think is important, so when we live a story, we are telling people around us what we think is important.*

Do what makes you come alive.  It is when you come alive, when you truly live, that the best stories are written.
And it will be a story that brings life to anyone who reads it, anyone who sees it lived.

We all have a story worth telling.

Don't hide your story.  Don't keep your story locked within yourself.
Tell it.
Share it.
Live it.

 *Donald Miller - A Million Miles in a Thousand Years

    

Words for Today Pt. 6

Every creative person, and I think probably ever other person, faces resistance when they are trying to create something good...the harder the resistance, the more important the task must be.

The story made us different characters than we would have been if we had skipped the story and showed up at the ending an easier way.

Life itself may be designed to change us, so that we evolve from one kind of person to another...humans are alive for the purpose of journey...the point wasn't the search but the transformation the search creates...We're designed to live through something rather than to attain something, and the thing we were meant to live through was designed to change us.

~Donald Miller

One Year.

One year ago, I hopped on a plane in San Francisco with a one way ticket to England.

What a year it’s been.

One year ago, I never thought that in one year’s time, I would have gone to 19 cities in 4 different countries.  

I never thought that in one year’s time I would be doing things I never thought I would or could or even imagine doing.

One year ago, I never thought that in one year’s time I would be sailing a ship into Liverpool.

That happened today.  

I thought a lot about that today as I was on the helm of the ship steering it between buoys through the channel.  Where was I this exact time last year?  I was starting a crazy new adventure with God. A lot happens in a year. 

I have learned so much about myself, so much about God, did outreach during the Olympics, created a number of lasting and incredible friendships, travelled a lot and so much more.  It would take me a really long time to go through everything from this last year.  It has been so incredible.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE YEAR (in no particular order and not an all encompassing list)

~ Room 108 - It’s hard to put into words how much Room 108 has meant to me this last year.  This is where Sidney and I lived together for a total of about 6 months.  I could write a ridiculous number of blog posts each recounting something special from Room 108 but to sum it up - BANANA.

~ Guy on a Buffalo - Search for it on YouTube

~ Snow - It snowed in February on the Oval.  This night was comprised of the back and forth of a dance party and playing in the snow.  There’s just something so great about staying up until 1AM playing in the snow with awesome people then getting up at 7AM to go for a morning walk in the woods.  It was quite possibly the best weekend ever. 

~ Next Wave in April - I had a week off so I came to the Next Wave while it was docked in Liverpool.  I spent a lot of hours sitting and reading and enjoying much needed off time.  Going to Scotland happened there as well. It was also the week that the idea was sparked for me to come back to the ship.  Lesson from this - be careful where you take your vacations...

~ Baking with Jade - enough said.

~ Breakfast and a Burn’s night - Early one Saturday morning, a small group of us grabbed some food and got on a train then walked an hour to an abandoned castle to have breakfast.  Then that night, we got all dressed up and went to a Burn’s night consisting of Haggis being paraded around the room and old folks dancing until well past 11PM.

~ IMPACT UK DTS - The first 8 months of 2012 was this DTS.  So many great people, so many memories, so many places.  So good.

~ Wales - I co-led an outreach team of 5 to another YWAM base in Wrexham, Wales and it was such a spectacular week.

~ Wales (again) - As a whole IMPACT UK DTS, we went to Cardiff for a week of outreach together.  We put up lots of tents and walked in some very deep mud.  We did more than just that...

~ Bible reading - 2012 was started off with the entire Oval community reading through the Bible out loud.  Many early morning hours were spent in the board room on the very top floor of the clock building getting tongue tied reading 1 and 2 Chronicles out loud.  You try that.

~ Nickey Line - My most favourite place.  Period.

~ Christmas - The 6 of us made that day a great holiday away from home.  We cooked, we made stockings, we blew bubbles, we watched A Muppet Christmas Carol.  It was good.

~ Wales (again) - Catherine and I took a trip up to Wales to her family's cottage.  We climbed a mountain.  And made flapjacks.  And found the co-op...

~ Next Wave - I moved to a ship in September.  Since being on this ship, life hasn't stopped.  I've sailed 4 times, only getting seasick once (woo hoo!).  It is definitely a new place with new people but I have seen God do so much in the time I've been here and I have learned so many new things, not just how to sail but more of how to lead.  

~ Sunset - I saw the most beautiful sunset on our sail to Cardiff.  I don't know if anything can beat that.

I know that this is just a very short list for a very long and full and exciting year and I have left out so many things and I'm sure once I post this I will remember even more from this year but this will suffice for now.  

A lot has happened in this last year.  I wonder what will come in the next.