The Story - You

Hosea was just your average Jewish guy. He lived an average Jewish life(probably), doing average Jewish stuff. This all changed though when Yahweh, the God of heaven, told Hosea to marry a prostitute. Hosea does it(man, I wish I knew his thought process), and he and his wife Gomer have three children. When each child is born, God steps in again to pick the names for each child. The first child, a boy, is named Jezreel, because God is about to avenge the blood of Jezreel on the house of Jehu and somehow put an end to the house of Israel, the people chosen to be dedicated to Yahweh. What a downer of a birth.

It only gets worse. Hosea and Gomer have another child, a girl this time, and God says to name her Lo-ruhamah, meaning "No Compassion." God says to name her this because He will no longer have compassion on Israel, saying that He will certainly take them away. At this point, another child probably doesn't sound like the best idea, but lo and behold, bouncing baby number three is born. This time, another son named Lo-ammi, meaning "Not My People." God says Israel is not His people, and He is not their God. Whoa. Chapter 1 of Hosea; the quintessential "bummer" for Israel.

Humanity has come a long way. Time flows onward; story after story is written. People live and die, everyday. Sometimes I think we forget about this; that every one of the countless people that have walked on this ball of dirt has a story. You are part of that.

In the book of Romans, in Chapter 11, Paul gives us some insight into the crazy plan that God has weaved to make sure that you, no matter who you are, can be reconciled back to God. God chose his people and called them Israel(wrestles with God), and since then, God's plan has unfolded in such a way that there is a way for all to return. I dare you to read about it.

This is a story about God and you. The whole Bible attests to it. All of scripture is screaming to you, trying desperately to let you know that every breath you take is of infinite importance. Let no one say that you are worthless. Your value has been set by the one who set all things into motion.

The Story being written is a love story; that's right, God writes romance. It's a story about how things started really good with us and God, and ended up really bad. It's a story about how God wanted us back, even after we traded His love for our own selfishness. It's a story about how that selfishness has persisted in every generation of people on earth, but God never got sick of loving us to the point of giving up on us. It's a story about coming home, life being unfair, and the captivation of hearts both divine and human. No one out there is telling a story like the one God is writing. And like I said before, my God is a God of happy endings.

Let me go back to our friend Hosea, who has to be sweating bullets after the events of chapter 1. Chapter 2 begins with a (very graphic)rebuke of Israel's turning away from God. After the choking words of despair though, comes a message of hope. Israel will be forgiven! In fact, things will be better than they were before! Verses 14 - 23 paint the beautiful picture of God's grace and forgiveness. And guess what, Jezreel(child #1), who before represented bloodshed and vengeance, now represents new life!

It gets better. God will have compassion on "No Compassion"(child #2), and God will say to "Not My People"(child #3) "you are my people!" Hosea sleeps well for the first time since chapter 1.

This was a prophecy, told by Hosea the prophet, that was fulfilled by Jesus. Now all of us, those who were once not God's people, have the opportunity to be God's people. Those of us who God would not have had compassion on now are able to receive it. God wants you back.

I hope you who are reading this are never satisfied. I hope you continue, whether you follow Jesus or not, to wrestle with the story of scripture. I pray you don't look at scripture as a heap of distant history, but rather a story about God and you. God wants you to know what He's gone through to get you back, and to know that there is a happy ending waiting for you. We can't understand all the stories God has used or is using, but we know He is and we know why He is. Because he wants you back. Because you were made for this.

Romans chapter 11 ends with a verse that says from God, to God, and through God are all things. You are from God. You are to God. You are through God. So join us! The Story is better the more characters there are. Give God the pen and let the adventure begin.

The Story - Plot

I've been to Atlanta, Georgia two times in my life. The first time I went, I had just started writing, and was about the equivalent of a bone dry mop being thrown in a swimming pool. When you pulled me out, I was sopping wet with life and love, still thousands of gallons left for me to consume. I wrote every day, page upon page. I wrote names and places and thoughts and feelings and prayers. Atlanta trip #1 was where I discovered story.

While in Atlanta our group worked with an organization called SafeHouse Outreach. SafeHouse is a ministry that attempts to be the hands and feet of Christ to people on the streets. They work with churches and organizations throughout Atlanta to provide the gospel, food, addresses, and generally love to those who need these things. Their motto is "Sho Love." When volunteering with SafeHouse, this is what we did. We met tons of people, talked to them, prayed with them, ate with them, became friends with them, listened to their incredible stories. It was all very real. That's what I remember most about the first time I was in Atlanta. The people were real, the conditions were real, and to many who we chatted with, Jesus was so very real to them.

SafeHouse does a service every night before serving a meal. These services are usually just a speaker from the church or organization that is providing the meal, though occasionally there's some music too. One night while we watched on, a speaker told a room full of people on the street something along the lines of "accept Jesus and He will solve all of your problems!" The message wasn't exactly that, but I wrote down that the way this man talked made Jesus sound like a wad of cash.

Jesus is not a wad of cash, thankfully. He is much more than that, and no where in the Bible does it say that starting a life where you follow Jesus will make things "better." In fact, the Bible says that if we choose to give God the pen, the story he writes for us will often times be viewed as stupid and offensive. It may even drive someone to kill you. That is the fullness of the gospel. But it's worth it. This is what the story is about.

If you ever read any other part of this blog or even if you stop reading what I write right after you read this post, know this: this is the most important blog post I'll ever write. If you remember nothing else from reading this blog, remember these words: you exist to love and be loved.

We are already doing the second part. God loves us, no matter how we are. We see this through Jesus, God's son and God in the flesh who loved sinners, tax collectors, prostitutes, and even the religious leaders(though they made Him pretty angry sometimes). So, by looking at the gospel and seeing how Christ died for me, and you, and everyone, we can ask the question; why would God do that if He didn't love us? We are loved. The first part is the tough one. We are made to love.

In the fourth chapter of the book of the Bible called 1st John, we come to understand that God Himself is love. If God is love, then the only way to love is to do so through God. So... we need a way to do that.

Luckily Jesus Christ tells us that He is the way(see post #1). Accepting Christ and following Him to God is the way we love. The book of Romans tells us that if we confess that Jesus is Lord of our lives, and believe that God raised Him from the dead, we'll be saved. We'll have salvation.

Salvation is only where God begins writing the story though. Unfortunately, the church often times stops here. We have a "get em' saved!" mentality. Then, after salvation is attained, we leave people stranded, with absolutely no idea what to do next. The problem with that mentality is that you were not made to "get saved." You were made to love, and the decision to give God the pen and follow Christ is what allows you to do that.

Last time, I talked about how the story that God is writing is a big story that includes everyone's story together. That story is about how God is bringing everything back to Him. The conflict is that we have sin, and sin can't be in the presence of God. But we have a rescue in the form of Christ. Christ is who brings us back. Christ is who does the work of God. My God is a God of happy endings.

In Atlanta there are real people. There are real people living real stories, many of which are being written by God. Their stories are often hard to hear, but their lives reflect the hope that comes from following Jesus. They can see it, even though they have nothing. Hope. That's what I mean when I say God is a God of happy endings. This is what we wait and hope for; this ending of the story of redemption. This is the plot of the story God writes for each one of us. You were made to love and be loved.

You were made for this.

The Story - Characters

Sometimes when I don't have much schoolwork to do(and sometimes when I do), I like to walk to this place called Corner Coffee. These outings combine two of my favorite things; walking and coffee. One of the best things about Corner Coffee is that there are all kinds of people who frequent the place. At Corner Coffee, I've seen students, artists, lovers, coffee folk, scholars, friends, family, talkers, and loners, all flowing in and out and side to side. When you sit back in a chair and watch it all happen for a while(depending on the day and hour "a while" could be anywhere from 5 minutes to an hour), you start to get this amorphous feeling of home. Deep in my gut I always get this twinge of family.

There's no way I go to Corner Coffee enough to be considered family(unless I'm counted as some kind of zany uncle who stops by for Christmas). But that's alright. I go for the people. Well... the coffee too, but I'll talk about why that's important later.

Something as formal as a blog requires an introduction. My name is Matt Culler. I live and go to classes at a place called Shippensburg University. I live out my life in a stream of narrative, every step I take is the next letter written on the page; the words I speak are ink that falls from my mouth onto the leaf. Recently, I've discovered writing and how good it is. I believe in the power of stories.

I've come to see Yahweh as a God of stories. He wrote the Bible, which is a book of stories, and He's writing a story for my life and your life. These stories that God is writing are never just about me. That would be boring, and God is not boring. Each one has a diverse cast of characters. God loves characters.

Let me cut to the chase; I love people. I've found that the more I give God the pen, the more He writes my story in a way that draws me to people, and the more I interact with the other characters, the more I love them. At Shippensburg I have two majors, Psychology and Sociology. I study people and how they interact with each other. I came to Shippensburg as a computer science major. Why I am now a Psychology and Sociology major, I don't know. But I do know that when I gave God the pen after coming to college, He wanted me to learn about people. His story is so different than the one I would have written for myself. But it's so much better. My stories are great because of the people I've come to know.

In the book of Matthew(my favorite book about Jesus), a whole bunch of religious leaders are talking to Jesus about which law was the most important law to keep. Usually, Jesus responds to questions like this with some kind of story(God loves stories) or just another question. This time though, Jesus cuts straight to the point. He replies to them, "Love God with all your heart, soul, and mind."(Deuteronomy 6:5) But Jesus doesn't stop there, He goes right on ahead and rolls out commandment number 2! "Love your neighbor like you love yourself." (Leviticus 19:18) Love God first. Love people second.

What would Lord of The Rings look like if it was just a story about a short guy who threw a ring into a volcano. Maybe a bit exciting...but what about Sam? What about Aragorn? What about Legolas? What about Gimley and Merry and Pippin? These characters and their interactions with Frodo and each other are what made the story great.

We're called to love people. Every kind of people. Jesus even says later to love the people that wrong us. It's not easy to love people sometimes, but think of how many opportunities you have! Your story is probably full of characters you've encountered, and if you've given God the pen, I know for sure it is. So love them. Go places with them. Do things with them. Listen to their stories.

Being at Shippensburg has taught me about people. Formally by studying Psychology and Sociology, but informally too as I live and thrive with the campus. The quickest way to fall in love with people is to live among them. If I've learned anything from being here, it's that we need each other. Your story, and my story, and everyone else's story all come together to make one big story God is writing about Him and us. So it makes sense then. First we need God, then we need people. When it all comes together, it makes for some really good stories.

So, I go to Corner Coffee and feel a little sense of home. I look at people and imagine their stories. I think of the places they've been and the people they've been with. And now they're here. Somehow we're all there together, living our stories in the same location, if only for a little while. Then they're out the door again, off to the next interaction, the next sentence of their story being written. I'll stay a bit longer, relishing in the midst of the conversations and interactions. But soon I'll walk out the front door, back into a whole world of people doing stuff. Singing songs, dreaming dreams, living lives, and seeking seeking seeking.

We're all part of the Story.

Paragraphs and Pages

Relient K has a song called "Life After Death and Taxes." There's a lyric in the song that reads "this is how I choose to live, as if I'm jumping off a cliff, knowing that You'll save me." Powerful. Crazy.

In a book I read called Jasmine, there's a teenage character named Du. Du is an adopted Vietnamese teenager who's lived through the worst. We find out that Du has been tortured, held in a prison camp, shot, abandoned, and forced to be on the run as an orphan for much of his childhood. After coming to America and being adopted, Du attends a high school where his life finally has peace. The narrator, Jasmine, scoffs at the surprise of the school administration when they see that Du is "doing well." Jasmine suspects that the folks at the school believe that Du should do badly because of his past, yet she knows it is Du's past that allows him to succeed. She questions why Du would have a problem with an abridged and modified version of "A Tale of Two Cities" when he has already lived through hell. Jasmine explains to us that Du has "always shot with live ammunition; never been able to use safety nets; and has always lived without multiple choice."

Du has quite the story. After being adopted into a family that resides in a rural Iowa farm town, it is no surprise to find Du near the end of the book leaving home for a hitchhiking journey to Los Angeles to find his sister. There was more to be written for Du.

That is all fiction. Yet what is true for Du is also true for us. We've lived. We've been places. We've experienced tragedy and sorrow. We've seen the brilliant daylight of joy. We've tasted. We've heard. We know, albeit slightly, the mathematics of humanity. We're here. Thriving. And it is in this living that we find Matt Theissen, jumping off of cliffs. He is unafraid. Why? What brings a man who has lived, known, tasted, seen, experienced, to take such leaps? Theissan's cliff jumping is not safe. Du's expedition to Los Angeles, though we never learn of the result, is clearly risky as well. For both Du and Matt, the answer was not in front of them. It was at the end of a road of hardships. At the end of a whole essay of living.

Nobody likes the word essay. It conjures up images of tests we're never quite prepared enough for, trains of thought derailing, and the frantic scrawling of nonsense that somehow becomes coherent enough to earn you that precious "A," or in my case, that acceptable "B." But, an essay always starts the exact same way. A piece of paper waiting to be filled. Multiple choice tests are quite different. Placed in front of us is a packet of information with the correct answers laying right there for the taking. If only we can discern them. When we look at life, which way do we find ourselves living? I tend to lean towards the essay.

I see my life before me as a blank page, waiting to be penned out. I see life as more than just a series of questions and answers. Life doesn't come to me as chunks of words and sentence fragments, but as paragraphs and pages. Du's story had been shaped by his experiences in Vietnam, and would continue to be written as he sought out his sister in LA. Our story is shaped by what was written in the past and the pen keeps moving. There is a frightening inevitableness to it all.

When we look back upon the story that has already been written, what do we see? A life of greatness? A life of adventure? A life of meaning? I want to truly live. I want to fall backwards into the wind knowing there's nothing there to catch me. That's the kind of story I want. Do you feel that? It's the call that beckons us to jump off that cliff. It comes from deep inside of us. Our very soul longs for the adventure of full life. We can hear the call all around us; in the movies we make, in the ways we speak, in the songs we sing. We want more.

In the book of the Bible called John, Jesus tells us that He has come to give life. But not just regular life. Life in abundance. Life to the full. To live fully, we have to take the life of Jesus. Yet, we cannot have two lives. We cannot live our life and let Jesus live through us too. In short, we have to die. We have to kill the flesh and let God take the pen. Jesus tells us elsewhere in the Bible that He is the way, the truth, and the life. If we experience life at all, it's just a piece of Jesus.

The awesomeness of a story, the validity of an essay, depends on who the author is. I don't know about you, but when it comes to the story of life, I'm a terrible writer. So I gave God the pen. If you've ever read the Bible, you know that Yahweh is a God of adventure, joy, peace, and victory. He is a God who writes the kind of story we yearn for. Matt Theissen jumps off cliffs "knowing that You'll save him." He knows the full life Christ has given him. I'm discovering it as well.

Look at reality and see it for what it is. We live a life where we shoot with live ammunition. We walk tightropes with no safety nets. We live without multiple choice. There is no guesswork, only blank space that is quickly being filled with ink. These words make up pieces of the story God is writing with my life, if only when I allow Him.

What you read here is a series of thoughts that represent my dying and Christ's living. May you find Him in my words.