storying

Who doesn't love a good story? We enjoy sitting and listening to stories. We enjoy sharing stories (I mean, isn't that what blogging is about?!). We enjoy watching TV and movies, both which tell a story. We enjoy reading a good book. Stories shape the world around us. Many of us grew up going to church and hearing stories from the Bible. Those stories stick with us throughout the years.

Being in Africa we've learned more about stories. Here many cultures are oral cultures. They did not have a writing system for many many years (and some still don't), so the way to share about their culture & history is through stories. In Ghana at our home stay, we were without power one night and sitting outside looking up at the stars. The husband of the house said that he remembers when he was a child sitting outside listening to his grandfather share stories. He looked forward to that every night.

One of our focuses while there was to share stories. We would learn a new Bible story everyday and then look for an opportunity to share it. I had the privilege of sharing the story of the Woman at the Well to a group of women in the market (John 4:1-30). At the end of the story they told me they had heard it before, since they go to the Catholic church. However, even though they knew the story, they said it blessed them that day. They sat and listened so attentively to what I had to share because it came from God's Word.

I wish I was like that. So often I hear a story from the Bible or even a sermon that I think I've "heard" before and I tune it out. If only I learned to listen more to those stories. I know God would use it to teach me every time.

Another thing I learned was something I already knew... but it really sunk it. I learned how relevant God's Word is to our lives. Often we'd ask women how we could pray for them and they would share with us a difficulty in their lives. I cannot tell you how many times God brought a story to my mind through their sharing and how many times I wanted to kick myself for not knowing the story well enough to share.

I left there challenged to learn more stories. I want to be able to encourage those around me through stories from the Bible. And I want to learn to do this while we're in the states as well. Because, like I said, we all love a good story.