Epic - A Story of Promise
A great storyteller has a way of illustrating things and in at least a couple of ways. First they paint vivid word pictures that take you into the settings from place to place and then they draw you into the story by way of a great plot. They do that with vocal inflections, with pacing and with open space. However, any great storyteller will tell you that without a great story, they might as well be reading the phone book out loud to you. Great, compelling stories not only draw you in, they also have a staying power, a way of sticking around, of being told again and again, even generation to generation.
I would describe the term “epic” by saying that it is something that is not only bigger than us, but that is bigger than life itself. The Bible is an Epic book in and of itself and not just because it’s the holy and inspired Word of God, but because it contains a number of epic stories that have been told and retold again and again. Stories that teach us, stories that stir us, and stories that inspire us. Jesus, the master teacher Himself, often used parables or stories to get His central point across and in examining them, we can often see ourselves in the middle of those situations.
Throughout the month of April our Epic journey will take us to four stories that will do all three of those things and none of them begin with, “Once upon a time...” but are all told, not by the ones who saw it, but by the ones who were in it. When you live the story, it becomes real in a way that witnessing it from the outside can never quite capture, that’s why first-hand accounts are the ones you want to hear because not only were they in it, they are likely wearing it around as well. So I encourage you not to miss a single week. In fact, if you were ever going to get an unchurched friend to come to church with you, this is the month to do it!
