This summer I had the amazing opportunity to travel to Ethiopia with my whole family. We experienced many new things and we will never forget or regret going. One of our new experiences happened before we even entered the country. I have been on short flights before, but I have never been on a 16 hour flight with a 7 hour time difference. That got me thinking about how similar my experience was to something we are doing this fall at Country Hills Church.
Beginning in October we will begin “The Story,” a 31 week journey through the bible. Often when we engage with God’s word on our own, in a small group, during a teaching time we look at a small piece or verse. Sometimes we can find it difficult to understand because we don’t have the context, or the culture, or we misunderstand portions because we view them as a stand alone teaching. Many of us have become used to looking at the bible in this way without understanding the overall story, and we tend to miss some the majesty and wonder of God’s great plan for us and how all the pieces tie together.
When we flew I had opportunity to see the world in a different way. When we were close to takeoff and landing, or when there were no clouds below us I could see an overview of the landscape that pictures or words couldn’t give me. I saw various views of Ontario and the Maritimes, Europe and Rome, and finally soaring over Ethiopia. I couldn’t always make out the detail of a person or building, but I had a greater appreciation for the land as a whole. For example, I knew we would be arriving in Ethiopia during rainy season, but I had no idea how green and lush the land would be, nor would I have known just how much farmland there was in and around the provinces we travelled to. I also experience jet-lag for the first time and was a little disoriented once we landed. Both the overview and jet-lag are somewhat like what we will be experiencing this ministry season – in a good way.
We will be reading and learning about the overall story of the bible. “The Story” is a way to understand the overview of God’s story found in the bible. “The Story” takes much of the actual text of the bible, and divides it into 31 chapters without verses or section headings so that it reads like a novel – or story. Some people refer to this as the upper story of the bible, and refer to the individual events (smaller stories) as the lower story. It might be somewhat disorienting to view the bible in this way for the first time for at least a couple of reasons; 1. we are not used to engaging with God’s word this way (large sections at a time) 2. we will be skipping some of the stories and content found in God’s word in order to keep our focus on the upper story. When I started reading this way earlier this spring I was a bit out of sorts, but just like jet-lag I normalized and I have really appreciated my journey through the story of God’s great plan. In fact I have a much greater hunger for God’s word, and a deeper understanding of how much God loves us.
We will be going through this journey together as a church during our Sunday teaching times, as well as in our small groups, and family ministries beginning in October. My hope is that you will personally engage with “The Story” on your own and in your home. I am trusting that you won’t just learn a few things this ministry season, but that God will give you a greater hunger for His word, and a greater thirst to breathe and touch Him every day.