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Prayer from 2022
ℹ️ On rare occasions I'll write out a prayer, such as when it's hard to figure out my own heart. This was one of those times, here recorded in memoriam. Jesus, I feel dead inside. The passions that sometimes take me are like that quote, “all sound and fury, signifying nothing.” There are stories of pastors and businesspeople who burnt out and discovered something better, but I haven’t even done anything yet.…
The basic structure of a good story
A character who wants something and overcomes conflict to get it is the basic structure of a good story.
The point of life is character transformation
If the point of life is the same as the point of a story, the point of life is character transformation.
Without an inciting incident they won't enter a story
Robert McKee says humans naturally seek comfort and stability. Without an inciting incident that disrupts their comfort, they won’t enter into a story. They have to get fired from their job or be forced to sign up for a marathon. A ring has to be purchased. A home has to be sold. The character has to jump into the story, into the discomfort and fear, otherwise the story will never happen.…
The good news begins with the back story
Christopher Wright notes that nearly all Christmas renditions skip Matthew’s first sixteen verses; the geneaology of Jesus the Messiah. Maybe we’re missing something since Matthew wants to start with the geneaology? Matthew uploads the whole backstory of the Hebrew scriptures with a crafted geneaology that spans three covenantal arcs: from Abram to David, from David to the Exile, and from the Exile to Jesus. We’re supposed to have the promise to Abram that he would be the father of many nations in our mind, and that through him all the families of the world would be blessed.…
These are the words he read
I find myself aware that in reading the Hebrew Scriptures I am handling something that gives me a closer common link with Jesus than any archaeological artifact could do. For these are the words he read. These were the stories he knew. These were the songs he sang.
Short stories are modern parables
While reading The Space Traders by Derrick Bell it struck me that short stories are the modern world’s parables. The genre’s are different: parables are bare-bones and have one main point, while short stories can expand beyond a single point and include details which don’t develop the message directly. This was a fascinating discovery, since I’ve been pondering what it’d be like to develop my own parables. Would it be possible, like Jesus, to craft a short message in a cryptic parable that I could share with friends and family that wouldn’t be immediately understood but might later produce a light-bulb moment.…
Ways to define the Bible
The return of my understanding of the Bible as Story began with The Bible Project, and this book gives fresh appreciation for the subtle but crucial importance of the Story vs the many other approaches one might take to the Book. For posterity, I’ll list the others: Morsels of Law. To learn how to behave and to think. The Bible as foremost a book to learn how to submit and obey, and to spot rebellion and disobedience.…
Accounting is both story and science
Accounting standards are published internationally under IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards), and in the U.S. under GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles). These standards comprise thousands of pages outlining every accounting scenario imaginable. Because of the incredible breadth of content, accountants often specialize in one area of IFRS, such as asset depreciation. An outsider may conclude that a business which follows these standards is mathematically perfect in the way it’s represented on paper - pure science.…
Know and share your story
Effective entrepreneurs know and share their stories. Nothing engages an audience like storytelling. The story’s hero is inspiring, the villain is recognizable, and everyone cheers when the hero wins the day. Stories not only capture the audience’s attention, they cause emotions in the hearers that coincide with the speaker’s own response to the story ((Gallo, pg. 50)). Stories shape our perceptions of life and history. Who remembers the details of the Spanish-American war?…