Tracy’s Story
Tracy pondered what she’d just heard. Could it be that all these years she had been doing it wrong? Tracy was attending a student leadership conference with her youth group. She was sitting alone in one of the seminar rooms, feeling detached from God. The empty room matched her empty heart.
Tracy had always wanted her friends to know and trust Jesus. She could remember back to fourth grade when she helped her first friend trust in Christ. Her best friend back then was Erica. Erica was from Trinidad. She spoke with a beautiful accent and was the best dodgeball player in the school. Even the guys picked Erica to be on their team. Tracy thought Erica was the coolest, gentlest person she had ever met, and Erica really liked Tracy too.
Erica and Tracy became close friends quickly. They often hung out at Tracy’s house after school. One day Erica asked Tracy why her family was so nice. The question surprised Tracy, as she didn’t really think of her brothers or sister as particularly nice.
“I guess because we all know Jesus,” was the only answer Tracy could think of.
A few days later, in the middle of a fierce dodgeball game, Erica walked up to Tracy and asked if they could talk. The girls walked outside the game’s boundary line. Tracy waited for Erica to speak.
“I want to know the Jesus you and your family know,” Erica stated.
Tracy wasn’t sure what to say. Could it really be that easy? She hadn’t even invited Erica to church or told her any of the Bible verses she knew. Still, here was Erica asking how to know Jesus.
On the playground that day, Tracy introduced her friend Erica to her friend Jesus.
Tracy sighed as she recalled that day six years ago. So much had changed since then. She tried so hard to memorize the right verses, to follow the steps she learned in youth group, and to invite her friends to church. Somewhere along the way sharing Jesus became hard and discouraging. Now none of her friends ever ask why her family is so nice or how to know Jesus. None of them seem interested at all.
All this came into focus for Tracy as she sat alone in the seminar room. Just a few minutes ago, the seminar leader had been talking about living a 3Story life, getting so close to Jesus that you can’t help but be real with your friends. He said that knowing verses and answers wasn’t as important as knowing Jesus deeply and daily. Tracy realized that she knew pieces of her friends’ stories, but they didn’t know much of her story. And they certainly didn’t know that her story was part of God’s Story.
Could it be that she had been doing evangelism wrong all these years? No, the seminar leader said, the old ways weren’t wrong, just maybe not as effective.
On the one hand, 3Story sounded so much more natural. It felt freeing to not have to know it all. Still, committing to abiding every day and really listening to and loving her friends would not be easy. On the other hand, it just made so much sense.
“God,” Tracy prayed, “I know You want my friends to know You, and I also know that You are already working in their lives. Please show me how to join You. I want Your Story to become more of My Story and more of Their Stories too. Amen.”
Tracy got up and walked out the door. Now only the room was empty; her heart was full.