This is an amazing book and the DVD is such a bonus. It was great to see them go through the storying process and seeing the youth really get into God’s story. It makes such great sense to me. We have not tried out the process of storying yet, but I am very excited about the possibility.
Here is a little snipit from the book that I really liked:

“We need to stop tryinig to fit God into our lives and stories and realize that God desires us to play a role in his Story instead. As subtle a difference as it may seem, the shift in perspective changes everything. When we see ourselves as a part of God’s Story—as to opposed to God being a part of our stories–it awakens us to live in a broader reality, to live for and contribute to something bigger than ourselves.

Furthermore, fitting God into our own stories seems akin to trying to create our own realities–revolving around our own desires–as we ask God to bless our actions. We then invest time and resources trying to find out how the Bible is relevant to our lives instead of trying to discover and pursue how we might become more relevant to God’s Story already in progress.

God doesn’t have a relevance issue – -we do!

Again, Eugene Peterson describes this so well:

The Christian life is not about us; it is about God. Christian spirituality is not a life-project for becoming a better person, it is not about developing a so-called “deeper life”. We are in on it, to be sure. But we are not the subject. Nor are we the action. . .The great weakness of North American spirituality is that it is all about us: fulfilling our potential, getting in on the blessings of God, expanding our influence, finding our gifts, getting a handle on principles by which we can get an edge over the competition. And the more there is of us, the less there is of God.”

We’re called to join God and his actions in us and in the world, participating in what God is doing. When we get a picture of how our lives fit into the encompassing epic of God’s Story, we begin to see our path in God’s activity as his people in the world. Our focus changes. We move away form our own agendas to join God in restoring things to wholeness- -the way God created them to be. It’s a focus that moves beyond personal growth to participation in God’s kingdom.”

Michael Novelli