I know the ending...

I know, long time, no blog. Life gets busy sometimes...

At any rate, tonight I went to church for our Wed. night youth service. During July we just do the middle school & high school together with no small groups. Truth be told, I wasn't even planning on going tonight, I enjoy having the month of July off. I was sitting at dinner and just really felt God leading me to go and I am glad that I did.

The gentleman that shared the final segment in the "Heroes" series, this one focusing specifically on Jesus. He shared that there are 4 parts to a good story:

1. Grand beginning
2. Greatest purpose
3. Conflict
4. Satisfying resolution

If you are a Christ-follower, you already have your "Grand Beginning" and your "Satisfying Resolution" is living with Christ in heaven forever, that leaves our "Greatest Purpose" & "Conflict." I have to be honest, I'm not a big fan of the "conflict" part - I would love to get through life without facing it but as the speaker noted, conflict is necessary as it gives the hero something that they must overcome.

Have you ever gone ahead and read the ending of a book before you are done with it? Did it make the book easier or harder to read? I guess that depends on the ending. With books that I know are going to be tough emotionally, I like to read the end of the book first. Knowing how it ends somehow makes reading the tough stuff in the middle easier. An example of this for me is the book "My Sister's Keeper." I HATE reading anything about cancer and people dying so I wasn't too keen on picking this book up at all but friends kept telling me to read it. I read the ending first so I could prepare myself for what was to come.

I'll say it again - I read the ending FIRST so I could prepare myself for what was to come. Knowing how it ends somehow makes the getting there easier.

Wait, as Christ-followers we KNOW what the ending to our story is - eternity in heaven with Jesus. Should that change how I view life? In light of what I know the end will be, how will I live differently? Should I worry as much? Should I live with such anxiety and fear?

I liked how the speaker ended the night: "Let God write your story, He is a much better writer than we are."

I already know the beginning & end of the story - let's see what the middle holds.