Grrrl, you know I'll run with that!

Thanks, Christy! I love the quote from Dr. Crabb's book. I think I've spent most of my life watching people tell their stories with His resources instead of telling His story with their lives. It's the way I was trained to approach church. There was a definite "recipe" of how the Christian life was done. Unfortunately, a missing ingredient of deep reliance upon God made it difficult to achieve the finished product. I've spent most of my life trying to "do" the Christian life with its rules and regs, and I'm just now learning how to be an "imitator of God."

It's easy to follow a prescribed code...to keep up appearances. MUCH easier than surrendering your entire life to be taken over by Christ. It's much more comfortable to stare at the story, memorize the story, even repeat the story than it is to let yourself BE the story. That takes Christ-following to a whole new level!!

What else could Paul have meant when he said, "I want to know Christ, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings" except a total abandon of self and structure. He wanted to BE the story, in all its resurrection power AND all its deep sufferings.

ME TOO!!! No more trying to cook up a half-baked "recipe" of my own. That approach just doesn't do the trick when compared to the experience of letting Christ take over and live FOR me. That's why the cross wasn't the end! Yes, He died for me, but He isn't still dead! He rose again to LIVE FOR ME... to give me the amazing privilege of going way past a set of rules and into intense interaction with Him. THAT's why the veil RIPPED OPEN!!

I haven't read Dr. Crabb's entire book, but that small portion speaks volumes to me. The story isn't mine, it's God's. He's the author. I'm just the pages and ink. But in order to let Him tell His story with my life, I have to stretch past things I can understand and logically explain. I gotta put down my own pen, so to speak. And you know what? I was runnin' out of ink anyway...

Back to you, Christy!