Skip to main content

A Story Well Told



            This past summer, my family spent two weeks on the north shore of Lake Superior and it was great!  I would highly recommend it.  We visited a bunch of State Parks.  We hiked miles and miles of trails.  We saw lots of waterfalls and we even “cliff dived” (or more accurately “cliff jumped”) into the lake.  None of that surprised me.  After all, we went there because of the trees, the hills and the water.  However, there was one aspect of our trip that I truly did not anticipate and that was hearing Gordon Lightfoot’s voice every five minutes!

           Every store we went into, all up and down the coast, was playing “The Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald”.  You know the song that starts, “The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down of the big lake they called 'Gitche Gumee’”.  (If you still don’t know the song, “Google” it and you will likely say “Oh, I remember that song”). 

            The “Edmond Fitzgerald” was a freighter that carried taconite iron ore from mines near Duluth, Minnesota, to iron works in Detroit, Toledo.  On November 10, 1975, the ship got caught in a fierce storm and sunk, killing all 29 men on board.

            Now, the odd thing is that the “Edmond” was not the first ship to sink in Lake Superior.  Hundreds of ships have gone down over the years.  Neither was the wreck of the “Edmond” the worst disaster in terms of lives lost.  However, it is the one sinking that everyone remembers. Every souvenir shop carries replicas of the “Edmond”.  Why?

            The song!   Gordon Lightfoot’s song captured people’s attention and connected people to that event in a way that has not happened with any of the other wrecks.  The result is that now, almost 40 years later, people still remember, talk about and write stories about the “Edmond Fitzgerald”.

            My point:  A story well told will connect.

            As Christians, the stories that we have to share (both about our own faith and those regarding the life, death, burial and resurrection of Christ) are the most hopeful, powerful, life-giving and eternity-changing stories ever.  They should be anything but dry or boring. 

            I Peter 3:15 says, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.”

            So, can you tell your story?  If someone were to ask about your faith and what it means, could you tell them in a way that is clear, engaging and interesting?

            If people are not listening, maybe the problem lies as much with the “tellers” as the “hearers”.

            An important story, well told, always connects.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Art of Noticing.... Seeing what we need to see and what we miss when we don't

 What we focus on in life matters. Here are some scriptural reminders that will help us see correctly.  https://youtu.be/Rn76tV0ZH8s    
Post a Comment
Read more

New Article: A Path Worth Following

  Jehoram was a terrible king.  He reigned in Judah around the year 850 B.C. and he did not care about God or his people.  His first act as king was to assassinate his six brothers so that no one could challenge his authority.  He was brutal and selfish.   Therefore, when the Bible sums up his life, it says, “Jehoram… passed away, to no one’s regret, and was buried in the City of David” (2 Chronicles 21:20).  Did you catch that?  “To no one’s regret!”  What a terrible phrase for your tombstone. On the other hand, consider a lady named Tabitha.  She lived in the city of Joppa in the first century A.D. and we are told, “… she was always doing good and helping the poor” (Acts 9:36).  She became sick and died.  This caused the community so much grief that they called Peter, who was in the nearby town of Lydda, to come and help them.  When Peter arrived, a crowd gathered, bringing all the robes and other clothing that ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Consider This: Press The Button!

  Consider This:  Press the Button! My favourite TV game show is Jeopardy.  I used to like it even more when my kids were younger, because I could easily beat them and look smart.  These days, after they have grown up and gone to university, it is much more difficult.  However, Jeopardy is still the only game show I will watch. In a book I read, a contestant who did very well on the show shared the secret to his success.  He said (and I am paraphrasing here), “You must press the button before you know the answer.  Everyone on Jeopardy is smart. Everyone knows the answer. The key to winning is to act.  You must jump in and press the button, assuming that your brain will catch up and supply the answer.  If you wait until you are sure, you will be too late!” Press the button! Too often, we hesitate, not because we do not know what to do, but because we do not want to do it.  Sometimes, we fail to act because we are not sure how the situatio...
Post a Comment
Read more