Life Stories

I am writing this post from a very full heart.
We just came back from our bible study where we watched a video of Eduard Klassen playing his harp and telling his story.

Moved as I was by his story , what filled my heart was an emotional insight of how immensely important each of our life stories are.
As artistic and creative God is in nature- making sure not even two snowflakes are ever the same- it pales in comparison to how infinitely more creative God is in weaving each individual life story.
We are so prone to comparing ourselves with one another, so eager to make sure we fit ourselves into what we perceive to be the ‘socially accepted’ mold.. But in doing so, we diminish or devalue that very things that make us unique , the very things that God made ‘different’ in our life on purpose. Each of us has the incredible privilege of having our own story to live that will proclaim God’s grace and goodness throughout all eternity .
If you are reading this – please know that this message is for you !
God wants you to know that His life in you will bring glory to His name in a way that can not be duplicated. God has a perfect script that He wrote only for you – no one but you can play the lead role !
If you do not live it , the story will never be told !!

I had not heard of Eduard Klassen until tonight.
His story began in 1927 when 1,600 German speaking Mennonites moved from Winnipeg to Paraguay to preserve their freedom to teach their children in German.
From the cold -42’ Canadian winters , they moved to 52’ summers in Paraguay. They were allowed to settle in a wilderness area that was over 500 km. from the nearest city. Life was very difficult and they lived in extreme poverty. Even by the time Eduard was born in 1960, things had not improved much. His parents worked hard to provide the bare necessities for life. Their home had mud walls and floor and a grass roof, they slept on grass mattresses filled with cockroaches and leeches. He was 15 before he saw a paved road.
Musical instruments and singing in harmony was forbidden in their churches, but when he was seven years old his father brought home a shiny box that he excitedly told his six boys was a radio. Eduard said it was the most amazing thing he had ever heard, the music and the German preaching they heard that night. It changed their lives. To a little seven year old boy who had grown up in the jungle, the idea of little people singing and talking in the shiny box was magical. Then, later, missionaries came who confirmed the gospel they had heard on the radio and they encouraged the children to go to the city to be educated.
When Eduard was 20 he told his parents that he had had enough and was leaving to go to the city. He had heard of some of the amazing things that were part of city life but had never seen or experienced them. Knowing nothing but the primitive life in the jungle he had much to learn. He could barely read or write and had to learn Spanish in a hurry.
He spend 6 years studying in the theological seminary where he majored in music, learning to play the Paraguayan Harp – a beautifully ornate harp that is much lighter than the classic harp and has the strings very close together.
When he was 25 he flew to Germany at the invitation of an evangelist that had heard him play in Paraguay. He, along with two other students, tried to absorb the culture shock. When they first went into a washroom in Germany , they realized that water was supposed to come out of the pipe thing sticking out over the sink but there was no handle. They decided to look up into the pipe to see what was there – it was a motion activated tap and of course they got soaked for sticking their heads under it !!
Eduard is a warm , humble man who is in love with the Lord and has given his life to proclaim what God has done in his life. He is wonderfully gifted musically and his love for God comes from his heart !
He travels full time around the world with his harp, his testimony and his Canadian born wife and their two little sons.
He says that never in his wildest dreams could he have ever believed the plan that God had for his life , and it is his greatest joy to praise Him for it !

We are blessed by stories like Eduard’s … and praise God for what He did in and through his life – but instead of taking it as encouragement that our life also has significance and purpose in God’s eternal plan - we pull back and think… I can’t do that !
Of course you can’t !!! It’s not your script.

I read a moving account of another life story.
A man who owned a little shop on a street in England, became a Christian later in life . He wanted to do something for the kingdom of God and not knowing what else he could do , he promised God that he would witness to at least one person every day for the rest of his life. Every day he went out of his shop into the street and laying a hand on a shoulder or an arm would ask,
“If you were to die tonight, do you know where you are going?” and he would press a tract into their hand. Most people brushed him aside , ignored him or threw the tract on the ground. For over 30 years, rain or shine, he never failed in his promise – even though it seemed he was totally wasting his time, not one person ever came back to thank him for his witness. He died , knowing only that he had been faithful to his promise.
A traveling evangelist was holding meetings across the country and across the sea in Australia and other countries. Again and again he heard the stories of men and women who got up in the meetings to tell of how their lives had changed after an encounter with a little old man on _____ St. in England.

Is not this man’s faithfulness, day after day for so many years, not worthy of perhaps even higher praise than the one who is recognized in this life??
So judge not until the end of your story is known, perhaps your life is one where the best will not be seen until God reveals in eternity your life story.
Live each day the best that you can, focusing on what is before you to do , do it for the glory of God…and leave the script to God.
But know for an absolute fact that your story is important … and either in this life or in the one to come your life story will take center stage!
- and then you can take your crowns and throw them at Jesus feet, saying,
“Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour….” ( Rev. 4:10,11)