Worth Repeating

Did I ever tell you the story about the time I was up 230 feet of a 300 foot tower in Ethiopia?  How about the time when I was in a rock band while stationed in Southern Spain and we lost one of our PA speakers on my last gig with them? Or how about the time my ship, USS Caloosahatchee (AO-98) stopped off the coast of Florida for a swim-call and I dove off the side, 30 foot, and almost knocked myself out? Or how about the time I was saddled up with a co-worker in Spain and after three and a half months I surrendered my life to Christ?

If you’re alive, you have a story.  And that story is made up of chapters and passages of time, some decades long, and some just mere moments in time. This thought was prompted by my niece who recently was grieving for her grandfather that had lost a battle with cancer.  She posted a request on Face Book for people to remember stories of Thomas R. Sr., her “Papa.”  Many people left short one or two sentence remembrances of their interaction with Tom through the years.

Just as Pastor “Bob” reminded us on Easter Sunday, “some stories are worth repeating.”  We need to keep them fresh in our minds; the story of God, especially in the life of Jesus, when He walked among us.

Usually when I’ve read a book, and remember how it ends, I have no desire to re-read it.  I mean what’s the point? The suspense of the main characters is missing when you know how it ends.  But there are some books in the Bible that I’ve read numerous times.  I know how they end, but something else happens while re-reading them, new material is revealed to me that I don’t remember being there the first time I read through it, or the second, third and so forth. It’s almost like the author, God, said “You weren’t ready for it the first time. Now you are. Chew on that for a while and then come back for more.”

It’s these nuggets of Jesus’ (or Paul, Peter, James…) life that add to my understanding of the nature of God, especially when someone is trying to make their point of using scripture as a basis for their actions. There have been many times where Hollywood or someone just didn’t seem to read or understand the same story like I remembered it.  That’s why it’s good to know the stories well enough to see an “out of context” statement when you see or hear it.  Another reason I like to know this, is “How would you know what Jesus would do, if you don’t know what Jesus did?”

As the man said “Some stories are worth repeating.”  Never let the story of Christ grow old, keep it fresh in your mind, heart and soul, it’s a story worth repeating and knowing.  It will help you with your own story.

God Loves You and So Do I ~ Rocky Starland