AUGUST 25, 2025

    “Carve your name on hearts, not tombstones.” 

― Shannon L. Alder

PSALM 124-127

1Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion,

which cannot be shaken but endures forever.

2As the mountains surround Jerusalem,

so the Lord surrounds his people

both now and forevermore. (125:1-2)

1 CORINTHIANS 7:1-24

21Were you a slave when you were called? Don’t let it trouble you—although if you can gain your freedom, do so. 22For the one who was a slave when called to faith in the Lord is the Lord’s freed person; similarly, the one who was free when called is Christ’s slave. 23You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of human beings. 24Brothers and sisters, each person, as responsible to God, should remain in the situation they were in when God called them.

JOURNAL 

I love movies...even the bad ones. The reason is that within a two-hour window I am able to see a story resolve itself. Most movies follow what Joseph Campbell called the hero’s journey. The pattern is simple yet profound: the ordinary world is disrupted, the call to adventure comes, the hero resists at first, a mentor steps in, trials unfold, sacrifice is required, and finally transformation is achieved. Things were good, then they turned bad, an unlikely hero was called, and through their struggle and surrender the day was saved.

The problem is that my life is not tied up in a neat two-hour window. My story stretches a lifetime and beyond. That reality makes it easy to grow discouraged when things do not resolve as quickly as I wish. I sometimes long for a soundtrack playing in my head, because when I know where I am in the story I find courage. When I lose focus and flirt with the thought that life is purposeless and random, it is easy to lose heart.

But God has not left us without a map. He has woven the power of story into our hearts because story is what connects us, to the past, to Scripture, and ultimately to Him. The psalmist reminds us that “those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever. As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people both now and forevermore” (Psalm 125:1-2).

In a sense, we are each living out the hero’s journey written into eternity. Abraham left his homeland for a promise. Moses resisted his call yet returned to Egypt to confront Pharaoh. David stepped onto the battlefield as an unlikely warrior. Esther risked her life for her people. Paul was blinded on the road to Damascus only to rise transformed as an apostle. And at the center of it all is Christ, who embraced the greatest call to adventure, leaving heaven, enduring the cross, and rising in victory.

Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 7:22-24 that whether we were slaves or free when God called us, our true identity is found in belonging to Christ. We are bought with a price, and the call is not to escape our story but to remain faithful in it. This is the essence of the hero’s journey as God tells it. We may not get to tie everything up in two hours, but we are invited into a much larger narrative—one that is eternal.

So how can I know and embrace my place in the story God is telling?

• Accept that God loves me and that I am a valuable part of His story.

• Embrace the gifts and talents He has given me.

• Live the rest of my life devoted to the story and my place in it.

When I remember that, I hear the echo of God’s words to Joshua, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you” (Deuteronomy 31:6).

And maybe that is the truest soundtrack of all.

6Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” 

DEUTERONOMY 31:6