“One time we were bruised, bankrupt, and haunted
You have called us loved, you have called us wanted.” – John Mark McMillian

Life is a story. The problem we is we are living right in the middle. Page 270 of 500 (0r maybe 276). And we are not even sure the story is about us. Maybe we are one of the extras – sitting two tables over from the main character’s conversation. As people who do not change the story.

I took Ivy to the Orthodotist this morning. An easy way to let go of 5000 dollars. But my beautiful little girl does not want to smile opened mouth… first grade. I am not sure what Hell is like, but I picture its full of our old gross deeds. I know the pages recounting all of my snide remarks and cutting words will someday burn there… as will yours and those that have hurt Ivy.

But sitting in that office was unlike any experience before. Ivy was given an I-pad to play. There were video glasses to watch movies. In the waiting room, where I sat as she got x-rays, there was coffee. Not the standard pot – left on the burner too long. No, it was a Keurig machine…

Coming back from Haiti has changed me. It is hard, even painful to look at excess. Not just because I know my 5000 dollars is paying for the coffee. But because Pastor – who we spoke of Sunday – is saving for a house. Haitian tradition dictates he have a house before asking for a lady’s hand in marriage.

A house in Haiti costs about 5000 dollars…

It is so easy to get caught up in the everyday flow of life. In the everyday flow we pay bills. We try to get ahead. We plot our own life’s course. But here we miss the great story arc passing around us. While we are sipping coffee, God is on the move. He is inviting us to participate with Him.

He wants to write us into the story. The gospel story. Not the tales lost in Hell. But the story repeated and retold forever before the throne.

The story that tells of the bankrupt. Who could not afford their way home. Only to discover they were children of the King. A story that did not end with the New Testament, but continues as the church moves forward.

I want a page in this story.

To turn the pages from Peter and Paul. To flip to Timothy and onward, deep into the book, I want to read “There was a man named Sean and he…”