Tuesday, September 4, 2007

mighty acts of the Lord

I was reading in the book of Acts about Stephen the other day. I was struck by his recounting the events of the Israelites. As he walks through their history his focus was on the mighty acts of the Lord. I wonder if we were to tell our own history, might we recall such events such as this is when I went to college, and this is when I bought a car, and this is when I moved to another state, and this is when my mom got cancer. I wonder if Stephen was to recall the events of the Israelites in this way if it might have resembled this: “this is when Moses left Egypt, and this is when Moses got married, and this is when Moses was in a really hard place in leadership, and this is when Moses looked at the Promised land and couldn’t go in.”

In contract, Stephen seemed to say “this is when the LORD called this person, and this is when the LORD spoke directly with his servant, and this is when the LORD moved by parting the waters, and this is when God made this promise.”

I wonder how my story might differ if told from Stephen’s vantage point.