Life's All about the Story!

There is nothing as powerful as a story. I recently wrote about how small things change history, but really every part of our whole story changes history.

Jenna and I just finished watching Season 5 of LOST. And while out running I explained how I have been incredibly tired in the past few days, she said the same thing. Then she proceeded with an answer that blew my mind. She told me that we both had no energy because we had just finished watching LOST and we now had nothing to be excited about. In a twisted sense she was right. Thankfully I can say I am excited about many others things in life. Nevertheless she got me good with that answer.

My challenge for you is to ask people what their favorite stories are and you will always get an answer. In fact let me know what you favorite story is. Just post a comment to this note. I am interested to hear what your favorite stories are.

So why are stories so powerful? I believe the answer is that stories explain all of life. I cannot get it out of my head how powerful stories are. It is hard to explain how much I enjoy TV shows, movies, and even sports playoffs (there is a story within sports too). As I say that, I question why Facebook and Twitter are so big? The answer, they let us look into the story of other people's lives. I follow Asthon Kutcher on Twitter and that kid cracks me up. For your information it is incredible how much he Twitters. Even more so, it is incredible all the funny thoughts that go through his mind. How about music? Specifically a whole CD, aren't there a slew of CD's that tell a story? Currently my favorite story in the form of a CD is 'The Fray' (Best New CD on the Market!). The CD describes many of life's difficulties in the perfect way. (Kris Rose, can you second that?)

On to the good stuff, my favorite stories of all time:

TV Show: LOST

Where in the world did these writers develop characters like Jack Shepard, John Locke, Benjamin Linus. (As a disclaimer, I will say LOST is an incredibly crazy show that can make you seem as if you are indeed LOST. Of most importance before you judge the show, it is imperative stick with the show to truly enjoy it. Right, Zack Tracy? You taught me that.) It is in the story of LOST that we see people's lives collide and unfold on an island. At times their lives manage to collide even while they are away from the island. It is in this complicated story that we learn of Jack's need to fix things, we learn of Kate's continual choice to run from her past, we learn of Sawyer's desire to get revenge on his parents death (along the way we witness his witty humor), we learn of Locke's faith and his tragic past, we learn of the crazy life Benjamin Linus lived on the island, and most recently we learned of the mysterious character of Jacob. The writer’s ability to weave the storyline of LOST into these characters lives is inconceivable. To all my friends excited for season 6: Zack, Kaitlyn, Adam, Brian, Jon, Jennifer, Kris, Nate, Josh, Jessica, and Jenna, it will be here before we know it!


Movie: The Dark Night

The remarkable story Wayne empire. Bruce Wayne has all this money and power at his disposal. The first movie brings us into the story of the Dark Night. This movie propels us into the story of the Joker and his ability to manipulate people in doing nearly anything he wants. With this ability the Joker seeks to turn Gotham upside down and then right side up again. In fact, you never really know what the Joker is up to. In spite of the Joker’s antics, Bruce Wayne (Batman) is the one individual who stands in his way. The only other man who attempts to do what Batman does is Harvey Dent. Harvey Dent (Two Face) tries his best to bring justice in Gotham city, but in the end the joker gets inside his head. This sends Harvey off into the deep end.

The story reaches a climax with Gotham swinging on the pendulum of evil and good, it is Batman and Joker who square off to fight this battle. The Joker is up to no good as usual, as he places bombs on two boats and gives the passengers of each boat a remote to detonate the bombs on the opposite boat. The situation is an incredible predicament as one boat holds Gotham's worst criminals and the other boat holds Gotham's average citizen. To top everything off, if one of the boats does not choose detonate the bombs on the other boat before the time runs out then both boats are blown into oblivion. To level the fighting ground Batman creates a device that allows him to locate the Joker at any time. The device is phenomenal from my perspective. In nothing other than a miracle Batman finds time stop the Joker and disarm the bomb.

In spite of the heroics of Batman to save the citizens of Gotham, Two Faced Harvey Dent is on a path to get revenge for the death of his loved one. It is in this twisted finale to the movie that Batman takes on the mistakes of Two Face to keep the noble image of Harvey Dent alive. As Batman takes on the mistakes of Harvey Dent he now becomes the one that Gotham is after. Batman is the new evil character despite the fact he is innocent. Batman chose to take the fall for Dent because he knew it was best for the City of Gotham. It is by this fact that we are left waiting for the third Batman. Batman is now on the run…(By the way Batman sits just behind Titanic with $533,184,219 Million Dollars Grossed making it the second highest earning movie of all time. I hope it jumps into first. Thanks to Heath Ledger for his role in the movie. He will be forever missed.)


the Greatest Story of all Time: the Story of Christ

This is a man who has a story. It is a rather simple story that is told in the 4 gospels of the bible. (On a side note: I believe Christ knew the power of a story. While Christ was alive he often chose to teach in the form of a story. I believe, and have been taught that Christ taught in stories or parables because this is the most effective way to teach someone. Christ obviously knew of the ability of stories to teach men since he was, is, and continues to be God in the flesh.) The true story of Christ is simple yet horrifically powerful. It is the story of an innocent man, a carpenter, a teacher of the law, and man who stuck up for all people, and a man that he died a tragic death on the cross. This is the man who was perfect, the only man who was without sin, and we the human race choose to kill him. In spite of man’s choice to kill Christ, the Lord would raise his son Jesus from the dead. From the death and resurrection, we learn that his son Jesus is the ultimate sacrifice, he is our advocate in heaven, he is the one we must put our faith in to have ever lasting life. The bible explains that the name of Christ now holds tremendous power. Romans 14:9-12 states, 'For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living. You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God's judgment seat. It is written: " 'As surely as I live,' says the Lord, 'every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.' " So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.' Simply put, the bible says that one day all men will bow before Christ and give an account for their life.

For many the story of Christ is a story of complexities. But the reality of Christ is that he lived, he died, and now he lives again in heaven. And one day we will all stand before him. It is this story that beckons respect, our fear, and above all it demands our love for Christ because of what he has done for us. (A simple fact about this story it also ranks in one of the highest grossing films of all time. Mel Gibson's ‘Passion of the Christ’ brought in $370,773,867 dollars. Sadly the passion of Christ does not tell the whole story of Jesus, but many of you have an idea what he went through for your sins and mine.)

I leave you with a list of a few more stories. Here is a short list of others story's that captivate my mind: (Starting with a list of my favorite highest grossing movies within the top 100 list) Pirates of the Caribbean, The Lord of the Rings, Transformers, Iron Man, I am Legend, Twilight, Gladiator, (Moving to my other favorite TV shows) Heroes, CSI, Step by Step, Family Matters, (Onto my favorite playoff stories of all time) Mike Jordan's two 3-Peats, St. Louis Rams Super Bowl Champs (XXXIV), Tiger Woods 2008 US Open Championship Win, and finally Orlando Magic taking down the Celtics, and the Cavs in this years playoffs.

It’s all about the story!