Paolo and Tomas, cousins, lived on a small island in a big river. They were born there as were their parents before them. In the fields, they found a spot of shade as they ate their merienda before returning to work the land. As they were eating mangos, Paolo put his mango seed in a …
Category: stories
Joseph— The Boy Who Could Not Read a Room
Joseph one day walked into the tent where all of the male members of Jacob’s family were together. Joseph’s brothers pretended not to notice him. Jacob said, “Joseph. You are late. Was their anything wrong?” “Oh no Father,” replied Joseph. “It just took me longer than I expected. With my brothers, who were supposed to …
Another Important Life Story
The last post I included the first life story I created. As I stated before, none of us have a life story. We have to create them... and there is a potential for infinite stories based on our experiences, thoughts, motivations, interconnections with others and the world, and meanings we come from the interpretation of …
Propositions Versus Stories
Some Christian seminaries really love propositional statements. A propositional statement is a statement that can be judged to be TRUE or FALSE. It can be objective or subjective. "The sky is blue" is often thought of as an objective proposition since it is a statement that can be determined (objective) whether it is fact or …
How Do You Know if a Story Does NOT Make Sense?
Many years ago, a missionary family visited our Bible study. This was several years before my wife and I went into missions. They showed us a children’s book they produced. It was based on a story of an Amazonian tribe with which they work. Just now I tried to look it up. I thought the …
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Escaping the Labyrinth: A Parable
The story of Theseus and the Minotaur is well-known. In the story, Theseus volunteered to enter the Labyrinth--- a maze-like structure created by Daedalus, in the Minoan capital of Knossos. Doing so was considered a death sentence. Either Theseus would be killed by the Minotaur, a creature who is half-man and half-bull who roamed the …
“When Bill Caught Death”— A Reflective Story
Bill texted me early today. “I CAUGHT DEATH!! GET OVER HERE NOW!” Bill was not one to CAP LOCK his messages so I figured it was important. I drove over and Bill opened his door even before I got out of the car. “Get in here now! I got him... or it... or whatever!” I …
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Ollie and the Meaning of Life— A Story
Ollie hatched and drifted up to the surface of the pond. As his eyes adjusted to the surrounding landscape. He saw a dragonfly clinging to some grass growing from the edge of water. Of course Ollie did not know what a dragonfly was, or grass. All he knew was his name and he did not …
Is the Bible a Legal Drama or a Love Story?
Some see the Bible as a disconnected set of stories, poems, history, letters, and more. I do believe, however, that it should be seen as a big story with lots of chapters. But what type of story is it. An obvious possibility is that it is a legal drama. And there are strong reasons to …
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The Bible– God as Author and Actor
A story is: “an account of characters and events in a plot moving over time and space through conflict toward resolution.” The Bible obviously has characters and events, which takes place over time and space. It moves through conflict to resolution. To me, the bigger question is whether there is a plot. A plot to …