Amazing stories...but who do we tell?

Mel Gibson has directed a movie which has just hit the screens. Hacksaw Ridge is based around the life of American Desmond Doss during World War 2.

During his research, Mel uncovered numerous stories of heroism from family, friends and official documents. Such was the extent of the bravery within these stories, Mel told Doss' family he was forced to ‘tone down’ some of the stories because they simply aren’t believable! The acts of bravery from this man, a Christian Pacifist who refused to hold a gun but wanted to support his country through other means, are, for Mel Gibson at least, beyond belief.

The reason why so many people wanted to document and share what Doss did for them is because they were so affected by him. In many cases he saved their lives, and in countless others they saw an extraordinary man desperate to serve in extraordinary ways.

This man has been posthumously awarded the Medal of Honour, the highest honour, awarded for personal acts bravery. And rightly so. But our God is immeasurably bigger than Doss, to the point where his actions are insignificant in comparison. Yet do we share and document how much our God has done for us so zealously? Is He the first person we bring into conversation, much like young loves keen to drop their other halves into every conversation? When people ask us how we deal with tricky situations, do we share how prayer makes all the difference?

My 9 year old daughter Emily recently swam 500 metres non-stop. She hasn’t had a single swimming lesson and only plucked up the courage to swim out of her depth six weeks ago. We can’t stop telling people about her achievement because she is so amazing! Another story: God healed my knee from an old football injury in 2000, meaning I was able to play sports again. And another: after hearing our car would cost just over £300 to get through an MOT, we arrived home 5 minutes later without telling anyone to find an anonymous envelope with £300 inside - the envelope just said “Thought you might need this. God bless.” And countless other times I’ve been given words of knowledge from the Lord that He wanted me to share with others...wonderfully super-natural stuff! Yet, have I jumped onto Facebook as much as I did with Emily spluttering her way through 20 lengths? Have I written books about how much God has saved my life in ‘the battlefield’? You know the answer.

CYO isn’t an opportunity to ram Bibles down throats - we wouldn’t be invited back into schools if we did. But, we are in them to represent our God, just like all of us wherever we are. So, here’s the challenge: Let’s get sharing the amazing stories about our God and what He has done in our lives. I’m sure we’ll be surprised by the amount of people who really want to hear, and immeasurably surprised by how much we will see God move as a result of those situations. Who knows? Mel might hear about it and get directing again….he may even need to tone it down for it to be believable....!

God, please continue to do unbelievable things in my life. And please give me opportunities to share stories about them with those who want to hear.