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I know that it’s not revolutionary it’s not a new idea.
It’s not a recent discovery. It’s something that we all know.
We either know it intrinsically or innately Or certainly we know it by experience.
Unless we are ourselves a primary player in a particular drama
We’re always on the outside looking in. Unless we are directly involved in a thing
We only see what others choose for us to see. There’s always a story behind the story.
There’s always, perhaps more accurately, an image behind the words.
I think it’s important for us to remember that when
We encounter the world or, more specifically, as we encounter the people in the world.
I was reminded of it last week. She and I get together when she wants to
She has been battling cancer for quite some time now very courageously.
It’s roller coaster. Some of you know that first hand.
There’s all types of questions and thought and emotions that surface.
She and I get together and talk those through. We try to land on some particular piece of
wisdom Or develop some insight.
We try to find something that we can hang on to
To get us to the next wave. Mostly we just get together and pray.
I have to tell you that sometimes I find myself wondering
Just who is ministering to whom. Our rolls seem to reverse or alternate whenever
we are together. She said something to me last week that has
just been haunting me Or actually humbling me. She said, you know
David, when I talk about Enzyme levels or white counts
When I talk about chemotherapies and treatments and options and choices,
I don’t see those things. That’s not what I see in my mind.
Even as I speak the words and as I talk about them
The thing that I see is my 13 year old son. There’s always a story behind the story.
There’s always an image behind the words. When he says hey I’ve got two interviews
this week Is he seeing an application? Is he seeing
his interviewer? Is he seeing the room where he will have his
interview? Is he seeing his resume?
Or is he perhaps seeing, even as he speaks, The image of potentially having to tell his
wife and his family That the job went to someone else.
Or when she says, he’s in a better place. When she says, he doesn’t have to suffer,
He wouldn’t want to live that way. Is she seeing the heavenly realms?
Is she seeing this husband that she’s been married to for decades
Birthed into a new existence and a wonderful reality?
Or even as she speaks those words Mustering all the faith and the courage that
she can Is she seeing his empty place at the dinner
table Or his empty chair?
There’s always a story behind the story. There’s always an image behind the words.
I don’t think all is lost. There is hope. There is hope in the love and the grace of
Jesus Whom I believe to be the Christ, the son of
the living God. God himself said that I will never forsake
you. I will be faithful to you. I believe that with everything that I have.
There is light at the end of the tunnel. But in the meantime, I’m going to remember
that There’s always a story behind the story.
There’s always an image behind the words. And I’m going to “understand” a little
better. I’m going to “care” a little more deeply.
I’m going to “love” a lot bigger. I hope you’ll join me.
God’s peace everybody.