Storyline

For the past 2-3 weeks, several area youth leaders and I have been working on putting together "Storyline," an experiential telling of Christ's death & resurrection. It's modeled after the Catholic stations of the cross. Each youth group was responsible to construct one scene of the story, given the scripture and narration. Our group has been working on Jesus praying in the garden of Gethsemane. This project has been a huge undertaking has been a huge blessing to be a part of, but it has also stretched my patience and I've sacrificed a lot of time away from my family. During one of those long nights, as I was in our room of Storyline, painting rocks or moving trees, I found myself bitter, frustrated, and having a little "pity party" for myself. Then God gave me one of those "ah-ha!" moments. I thought of Christ and ALL that He sacrificed for me: His home in heaven, leaving His Father, being misunderstood & mocked, and ultimately sacrificing His own life! As Jesus prayed and agonized in the real Garden of Gethsemane, he was overwhelmed to the point of death. Who am I to complain!? Christ has sacrificed ALL because of His incredible love for me! I realized I had become too much like Martha....working hard, doing good things for Jesus, but with a bitter attitude. I want to be more like Mary... simply sitting at the feet of the Savior... listening, worshipping, totally and completely focused on Him. The amazing privilege we have to tell the greatest story ever is really quite humbling. The mystery of Christ's death and resurrection and the victory that He won for us has been made fresh in my heart and mind. The enormity of Christ's love for us makes me so overflow with joy.

This project has been a huge privilege to be a part of and I pray that MANY people in the community will come through and KNOW that Jesus is the Risen Savior who loves us all so much and that by surrendering your life to Him you will truly never be the same! I pray that people will walk away in awe of our great God!

If you'd like to experience Storyline for yourself, it is located in the building across from the Post Office in Zeeland (used to be 5 Star Realty and Glow Ministries... or if you're really old you'll remember it as the bookstore :) ). It's open every day, starting Sunday, from 3:00-10:00pm (midnight on the weekends). Easter Sunday will be the last day we're open. Also, if you happen to be awake at 7am on Saturday, be sure to watch WZZM 13... they had a reporter there for about 2 hours this morning and she's doing a segment on it. I guess I didn't really explain exactly what it is or how it works. As you come in, you will be greeted by one of the youth pastors who will give you instructions. Each person is given an MP3 player w/ headphones and the narration will lead you through. There are 10 "chapters" (rooms), and each room depicts a different scene. All in all, it should take about 1 hour to go through Storyline.

And now here are some pictures for a sneak preview:

"But what about you?" Jesus asked, "Who do you say I am?" Matthew 16:15
"My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me." Matthew 26:38
"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Matthew 27:46