Riding freight trains. Working sawmills. Picking cotton. Felling trees. Pouring molten steel. These were just some of the stories my
Grandpa told. He didn’t tell them in a
dry, matter-of-fact way either. Like
Mark Twain, he made even the most mundane thing sound like an adventure that
many people would pay to experience. As
a small child, I was convinced that every word Grandpa said was the absolute
truth. As I grew older, I began to think
they were outrageous tales told only to amuse.
By the time I got into my twenties, I discovered, by talking with
numerous relatives, that each adventure was indeed factual. I began once more to see Grandpa with the eyes
of a child enthralled by the adventures of his life.
Perhaps you, too, have met someone who
allowed you to explore depths of adventure through his life story. He allowed you to vicariously see and
experience things you might never have seen or done otherwise. Granted, to some
his stories were nothing more than tales, fables or fabrication. But to you, because you have eyes that see
beyond words and a heart that believes, his stories are the very fabric of
life.
I sometimes wonder if this was not the
difference between those who followed Jesus and those who didn’t – eyes that
saw beyond words and a heart that believed.
Without doubt, to those who did not possess such ability, Jesus could
easily have been considered nothing more than a teller of tales. The very idea of God taking the form of
humanity, walking among us, taking our sin upon Himself, dying in our place and
being resurrected three days later is the stuff of tall tales – unless it is
true.
Two thousand years of history bear witness
to the truth of what Jesus said and did.
He came exactly as the prophets predicted. He did the very things they said He would
do. He was verified to be a truth-teller
in His life, His death and the profound impact He has had on the world since. Indeed, throughout the generations since
Jesus walked the earth, countless individuals have given their lives in support
of the Truth He spoke. Only a crazy
person willingly dies for a lie.
There are still those, like the Pharisees of
old, who think the story of Jesus being the God-man is the fabrication of a
deranged mind. He was, if He existed at
all, nothing more than a teller of tales.
But as I discovered with Grandpa, sometimes the most outlandish stories
are the most true. And they are the ones
that will impact your life to the greatest degree – if you have eyes
that see beyond words and a heart that believes.
