Carol's Corner

“If we think that this life is all there is to life then there is no interruption of our problems, our pain, not even of our privileges. But everything changes when we open up to the possibility that God’s story is really our story too.” Max Lucado

I Love to Tell The Story is an old Hymn which I have known since I childhood. As a child I heard Bible Stories every week at Sunday School and often in between from my mom or grandpa. However, as I grew up, I read the Bible stories I loved so much as a child. Now I realize that kids and audiences of all ages still love to hear them told, not just read verse by verse out of the Bible. ( I believe it is important that people know where to find the story so they can read it for themselves later).

How do you tell a Bible story? I believe it is the same way we tell any other story. We need to know it well. We need to practice it often. We need to learn to show the conflict, give word pictures for the setting and get excited about the whole story and especially the result – where God stepped intervened in the situation.

Think about the excitement of David and Goliath. On one hand you have a young shepherd boy, inexperienced in battle with a giant. He knew how to look after his sheep. He protected them from lions and bears with his slingshot but he had never worn armour. He had never thrown a spear. David also knew that God could do the impossible. His faith was huge.

Goliath stood nine feet tall. His armour weighed more than David. He had someone to carry a shield for him. He was a well trained soldier and he taunted the Israelite army. David approached the opponent who laughed at him, thought the fight would be a foregone conclusion with himself as the winner. Yet David, with his slingshot and five smooth stones, along with his faith in God defeated the giant.

When I speak at camp, at ladies ministry events, at church events where I am allowed to share my faith and the stories of the Bible, I combine telling of Bible stories with modern day faith stories for I truly believe that the God of the Bible is still God today. Too many times people relegate the Bible as a dusty old book that is not relevant today. Through story and message I share with them what I find to be true in my own life. God still intervenes in the lives of people but it does not always look like what we expect it to look like.

Tell me the stories of Jesus, write on my heart every word. Tell me the stories most precious, sweetest that I’ve ever heard. Yes I do love to tell all kinds of stories but I really do love to listen to someone tell the stories of the Bible. I love to listen to people tell me their faith stories and I love to tell the stories to others. It takes practice to tell the stories well, to take nothing away from the Biblical account not add extra facts. It takes knowing them well and then weaving them together with modern day God stories and audiences will respond.

One young fellow at camp this summer told me that I had made the Bible come alive to him like no one had for a long time. Thank you God for the ability to tell the stories you had recorded for us.

Do you like to listen to someone tell a Bible story? Do you like to tell them? They are already written, we just need to read, learn and practice the telling so we are ready when someone asks us to tell them a Bible story.