Last night was my first class with Dan Allender. I’ve been looking forward to this class for months, ever since I knew I was coming to Mars Hill Graduate School. No pressure, Dan. I knew from reading a few of his books, especially To Be Told, that he would put a great emphasis on our individual stories. Mars Hill is big on stories. So is Dan.
As Dan invited us in to look at the story of the Gospel, the incarnation, life, death and resurrection of Jesus, he asked us to look at our own lives. Within each of our stories is a piece of the Gospel. We each have stories of incarnation, of life, of death and of resurrection. Dan told us a story of a painful time in his childhood which showed death and yet an unexpected friend that came into his life to make a huge impact became an element of his resurrection. It was such a beautiful story.
I’m sitting in class thinking, I need to reassess my stories. There are so many of them that seem like the wallpaper of my life, have always been there. I don’t see them as others would and consequently don’t give them the honor they deserve. I believe there will be stories that need to be held by another. To be heard and reflected to me. It will be a scary time. Not something for the faint of heart. But, I sense there is life and freedom in the telling.
Let’s see what stories come to the surface.
Dear Sharon,
I have recently become a fan of Dan Allender, having stumbled upon his work in the Public Library: Leading with a Limp. From there, I noticed that some Biblical counselors I browsed to highly recommended his BOLD LOVE.
I am currently absorbed by Bold Love and getting piercing insights I’ve never had about courageous, cunning love and loving evil people. When doing a Google Blog Search for “Dan Allender” (I do Google Blog Searches on my current interests when my technical writing assignments become too boring and I need a break), I was brought here to your blog. I will drop by every now & then (you are momentarily going to be in my Bloglines feeds). ENJOY your study…in my next communication, I’ll tell you about my interests in Biblical Counseling.