The Lausanne Global Conversation is on the World Wide Open Network
Author: Stephen Stringer
Date: 16.06.2010
Category: Orality
Have you ever been asked who was the person who had the most influence over your life? I seem to be asked that question a lot. My answer is always the same. My grandfather is the one person who taught me to be a man, a person of integrity, a husband, and a father. I wish that he had not died before I was born.
Yes, the person who has influenced me most was a man I never met. Every time I gathered with my family, my uncles told me stories about their father, my grandfather. I remember running from my car into my uncle’s house. My brother and sister were happy to see their cousins and play games. I was giddy with the anticipation of meeting my grandfather again through the stories. Those stories shaped me and made me who I am today.
I am now being shaped by the stories of another man I never met. He was a poor carpenter’s son, yet he had the wisdom of one called the Ancient of Days. He has taught me to be a man of God, a disciple, a husband, a father, and a co-heir with Christ. I wake up everyday, giddy with the anticipation of meeting Him again through the story.
How have stories of your heroes shaped your life? How have the stories of Jesus impacted you?
Keywords: story, worldview, culture, orality, family, shaped, transformation, Jesus
Views: 13354
Comments: 3
Recommendations: 0
Conversation Post Comment
United States
Stories of people I have never met continue to shape my life. I look forward to hearing stories of people on missiontrips or people evangelizing in their own country no matter how dangerous and doing it with joy. I rejoice when their oppressors accept Christ even after their conflicts with the person that withness to them perhaps just thru the power of forgiveness.
As for stories of Jesus or Jesus’ stories (parables), every time I hear one, I find new meaning in the same story I hear while ago. It continues to change me and shape who I am in Christ.
11.07.2011
United States
I have been challenged in my reading to really put myself in the sandals of Jesus and the people he met and interacted with in the gospels. What a life changing experience this has been! If we can communicate this to those we interact with and let the Story of Jesus explode in our hearts and lives, we and the world would never be the same!!!
22.06.2010
United States
The stories from the life of Jesus that have most shaped me are those that show his Voice and his Hands at work. Jesus was the ultimate and actual example of incarnational ministry. What an amazing example of living in the moment and ministering to those that were around Him. To watch Jesus intentionally focus on those who He wanted to impact - no matter how small or how poor showcases God’s values and distinguishes them from the values of this world.
16.06.2010
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