Weak Or Lovely

Life is _____________. Depending on the day, our circumstances, the weather we could fill that blank in with just about anything - but certainly we all have to agree, that at times life is difficult, complicated and painful.

Why? That is the big question, but no one has ever been able to answer completely. If we can't figure out why, can we talk about how - Sunday at Storyline's Gathering Mike Gathright considered how we can face and deal with the struggles of life by looking at the story of a man named Jacob.

Story Sunday

The Bible is full of God's stories. Our lives are made up of our own stories. Storyline is composed of all of those stories coming together. On Sunday morning, we heard a few Storyliner's share what God is doing in their lives and how that impacts all of us. 

CATCH PHRASE

For Clint Eastwood it was, "Go ahead, make my day."  For Arnold, "I'll be back."  For Fred, "Yabba dabba do!"  Mottos, slogans and catch phrases are common place in our culture.  Even Jesus had them.  And so does Storyline.
Sunday, at the Gathering, Mike Gathright looked at two of Storyline's catch phrases and explored how they relate to faith and our real every day lives.

IMPOSSIBLE FAITH

We often forget just how connected our world has become - cell phones, the internet, 24/7 news cycles - UNTIL we are disconnected.  When the network goes down or the cable goes out we almost don't know what to do.  Being disconnected makes life difficult to say the least.  Being disconnected from God is even worse.

Sunday at Storyline's Gathering Mike Gathright explored how we can connect with God and His grace.

Commercial Sunday

On Superbowl Sunday over 100 million Americans watch the game, with a worldwide audience of about 1 BILLION!  It is a truly a worldwide spectacle...and an incredible opportunity to sell products to millions of customers.  Maybe that is why it costs $8 million dollars per minute to run a commercial during the Super Bowl.

Sunday at Storyline's Gathering - the commercials were absolutely free!  This was Storyline's 3rd annual "Commercial Sunday" where Storyliner's shared their favorite commercial and how it inspired them.

Where He Always Is

There are some questions that are really hard to find the answer to?  Who are we?  Why are we here?  How are we supposed to live?  These are big and important questions, with very elusive answers.   Science, education, industry, technology haven't seemed to help us much with any of these. Is there a place to look for some answers?

These were some of the questions that Mike Gathright investigated Sunday at Storyline's Gathering.

The Prescription

Did you know there is one thing - ONE thing that EVERY person agrees with.  ONE thing that all perspectives, philosophies, religions and world views see the exact same way.  What is that one thing? 

Mike Gathright revealed that answer and then explored how and why Jesus takes a radically different path than every perspective, philosophy, worldview and religion.

The Hard Way

This is something everyone in the world has done and no one can remember.  Something we al went through, but had nothing to do with.  It was hard, traumatic, painful, messy and beautiful - it is one of the few universal experiences of all mankind.  Birth.  Even Jesus went through it.

Then, he told one man, he had to do it again!  Why?  

To be "born again" has such strong cultural and political and theological overtones in our society it has lost all of its original meaning.  Sunday at Storyline's Gathering Mike Gathright attempted to recover what Jesus meant by the phrase and what it could mean for us.

The Meaning of Christmas

There are some questions that are asked of us that require some kind of response - Christmas is just such a question.  If God really is searching for us, there must be a reason why?  Is it possible to face the incredible news of Christmas in such a way that our lives are opened up, enriched and invigorated?  The life of Mary indicates there is.  This is what Mike Gathright considered at Storyline's Gathering.