The Future Belongs to the Storyteller.

The hum of the sliding doors and the cool air said 'welcome' as I wandered into the most incredible grocery store in Austin, Whole Foods Market downtown. It's a few minutes from work so I enjoy going there for lunch. A stroll past the deli, pasta bar, seafood counter, and back to the chocolate fountain is a feast for the senses. It's a place for hippies with money and while I'm not a hippie nor do I have money, I still feel welcome. I had a sandwich made and on the way to pay stopped by the brighly lit section filled with bottled drinks with names like Odwalla, Naked, Vitamin Water, Bolthouse Farms, and Pom Wonderful. I picked one up trying to figure out why in the world anyone would pay so much for so little. On the back of the bottle I picked up, was a story of the family that runs the company that makes the super healthy concoction. I was hooked and read the whole thing. I didn't buy it but I stood there like a fool and read the back of a bottle. The next bottle I picked up didn't have a story about family values, but rather a funny schtick about why in the world you would want to drink this stuff. It poked at the FDA and even itself but, again, I was grinning. It seems like someone's breaking the rules when a product for purchase foregoes dry facts to put a bit of fun in its packaging. It got me to thinking about facts and fiction. God bless the internet but it's made facts free. Facts are everywhere and as long as you have that computer, any question can be answered and any statement of fact can be found. Formerly priceless information is now free. It's truly a wonderful world we live in. But with all those facts, do you think people are interested? For awhile maybe and then we all begin to sound like Cliff from Cheers. We know a little about everything and a lot about nothing. This opens up the world to the storyteller. It is the right brained person who will eventually rule the world, for as the market for facts is saturated, the appetite for creativity is growing. Growing to the point that those who have the ability to tell a story may find that the world opens up to them in new ways. On this note, Jesus would do well here today. "A certain man had two sons" or "A sower went forth to sow" or "Who of you having a servant" or "There once was a rich man" or even "The Kingdom of Heaven is likened unto..." Ahh the master storyteller. Stories give us a clearer perspective for they walk us through events that we would have never encountered and introduce us to characters we would have never known. Though the stories themselves may not be true, stories often convey 'truth' to the heart whereas facts only affect the mind. The most powerful stories, however, are those that are both true and convey truth at the same time. The message of the Gospel is that kind of story. I was told recently that many of the 7000 islands of the south pacific have people on them who have never heard the Gospel. "Never heard the Gospel???" I said. How in the world is that possible today? He said, "The last time some of them had a missionary was 30 years ago and since that time there have been children born so in some places in the world there are 30 year old people who have never heard the name of Jesus. It's like being back at the turn of the century all over again. RC Sproul said that more people will die today having never heard the Gospel than at any time in history and tomorrow will set a new record. The church is at its most prosperous yet we have not kept up with the growth. I've just told you a story. It's both true and it conveys truth. I just figure that if a story can get us Americans to spend 3.50 on a bottle of juice, perhaps it will also prompt us to do more to spread the Gospel too.