Story Time

As I was pouring myself a cup of coffee this morning, I found myself whistling the theme song to The Odd Couple. Now before you think what is wrong with him, I did see the premier episode of the remake of this TV classic starring Matthew Perry a couple of nights ago.  What amazed me, was I was able to whistle the whole song.  This got me to thinking about a movie clip from Planes, Trains & Automobiles, take a look.

Isn't it funny how no one knew 3 Coins in a Fountain, but they all knew the Flintstone's theme song?   This is how I feel a lot of times as I talk about God and the Bible.  I mention a story from the Bible and I get a dull stare, but mention The Office or some other television series and their eyes will light up as I'm told about their favorite episodes. What have we become as a society?  

Before the advent of TV, people used to sit around in their living rooms and listen to stories on the family radio.  Without being able to see something, they were forced to imagine what they heard with their minds.  Depending on how good the actors were really made a difference as to how well they could imagine the scenes.

And even before then, people told stories to pass down from generation to generation their culture and history.  Storytellers were sought out in ancient times, and applauded for their abilities to tell a tale, and I'm sure the more animated they were, the more people wanted to listen.  You see a type of this in the movie Return of the Jedi too when C3PO tells the Ewoks the whole story of what has happened to them.

One of my favorite things to do is tell stories. I've been told I'm pretty good at it too.  I think it's because I get very animated when doing so.  Stories nourish something within our hearts.  If you've ever been around a little kid, you know they cannot get enough stories.
Eugene Petterson; the author of The Message is quoted as saying, 
"Stories are verbal acts of hospitality."  I love this quote!  When we tell stories, we are being hospitable, which is one of the things to hold society together.

And what better stories to hold society together, than Bible stories? These nourish our hearts in a way no other stories can. I think it's because not only are they fun to listen too, they teach us how to live too.  There is a great book called Egemeier's Bible Storybook which you can read to your family as a way to help them learn about God and His Kingdom. It was written in such a way as to make it easy to understand.  You can click the link which will take you to my friend Joe McGee's website where you can purchase your own copy.

I think it's time we brought story time back. I'm not saying to throw your tv away, but maybe turn it off once in a while and give your imagination a work out and read stories together as a family. Just a thought.

Strength and honor for the Kingdom and the King!