YOUR STORY

Stephanie Grunau, Bearspaw Associate Pastor

I love a good story. Stories remind us of who we are and where we come from. Are there certain stories in your family that you look forward to hearing? It’s these stories that help shape our identity and connect us to our heritage.

I think of my grandma, who often shared how she came over from England on a big ship in the early 1900s as a toddler. She ran away from her father and nearly fell over the edge into the ocean! Someone standing there snatched her from a certain death and saved her life. That story became part of our family’s narrative which served as a reminder of God’s protection and our thankfulness that Grandma was with us. She loved Jesus and I have no doubt her life helped to build my own faith. The retelling of that story in our family reminds me of this.

Stories capture our interest, and that’s one of the reasons I’m so drawn to the Bible. As a child, I loved hearing about Joseph and Moses. And, of course, the life of Jesus was instrumental in building my faith. Tim Mackie, co-founder of The Bible Project, points out that many of us assume the Bible is “somehow like a moral rulebook of divinely approved behavior.” But in reality, it’s full of stories about people we don’t want to be like! Instead, Scripture serves two key purposes: they tell us a particular people’s experience of God and they act as a kind of mirror to ourselves so we can learn more about who we are in the context of God’s greater story.

Stories are a powerful way to build our faith and encourage one another. That is why I am so excited for our upcoming Worship & Prayer Night on Sunday, February 23, from 6:–7:30 p.m. at Bearspaw—one of three we’ll have this year. It will be an evening of worship, prayer, and connection for the entire RockPointe family. One of the things I’m most looking forward to is hearing personal stories, shared by a few members of our congregation, about Jesus at work in their lives. These testimonies will remind us of the faithfulness of Jesus and the assurance we have in Him.

So, come and have your faith strengthened and your heart encouraged. As you come, come prayerfully and in anticipation that the evening will become an important part of your story!

I hope to see you there!