Thursday, September 12, 2013

The Story


 

In conjunction with the New Hope Presbyterian Church (in North Huntingdon) Redstone’s North Huntingdon campus is hosting a weekly Bible Study based on the book The Story.  The Story is the story of the Bible, God’s great love affair with humanity.  As the book jacket reads, “Condensed into 31 accessible chapters, The Story sweeps you into the unfolding progression of Bible characters and events from Genesis to Revelation.  Like any good story, The Story is filled with intrigue, drama, conflict, romance, and redemption – and this story’s true!”  There is a video series that accompanies the book, featuring one of the author/editors, Randy Frazee.  Participants in the study meet on Wednesday mornings at 10:30 am in the chapel to discuss a chapter and watch the video related to that chapter.  Great discussion follows! 

This week’s chapter, the second chapter in the series, focused on the story of Abraham and the birth of a great nation.  In his comments on this section, Frazee writes, “The Bible simply says, ‘So Abram went…’ In Hebrews 11 we are told, ‘By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.’  Now there is one thing I know about most senior citizens, holding in my possession my own AARP card: they don’t like change.  (How many senior citizens does it take to change a lightbulb?  ‘Change? Who said anything about change?’)  But this older couple – Abram and Sarai – dug down deep, got way out beyond their comfort zone, and did what God asked them to do.”

This faith story of Abram and Sarai (later to be known as Abraham and Sarah) provided us with great food for thought.  Many of the residents participating shared that they had a glimpse of this kind of trust through their experience of moving to Redstone.  They shared that they had felt the hand of God at work in leading them to consider a new home at Redstone, and that while it took a leap of faith to make the decision and the move, their lives had been blessed because of the choice. 

We also talked about how God never stops wanting to work through our lives – no matter how old we are.  While God may not bless us with children when we’re pushing 100 years of age (like Abraham and Sarah!) God does still want to work through us.  Living at Redstone provides opportunities to stay connected with a faith community and to continue to serve others through volunteering of our time and talents.   What a joy it is to know that God still wants to work through us at any age! 

God blessed and worked through Abraham and Sarah well into their old age.  And we are grateful that God continues to work in the lives of our residents as they, too, place their trust in God and say “Yes!” to the journey.

(The Story is available at many bookstores and online.  It is published by Zondervan Publishing. If you would like to join the study, stop by the North Huntingdon campus on Wednesday morning at 10:30.  All are welcome.) 
 
Visit The Story website: http://www.thestory.com/home
Visit our North Huntingdon Campus website: http://www.redstonehighlands.org/northhuntingdon.html

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