“If you want someone to see facts that are outside their current reality, use story to take them on a tour of the big wide world and help them stay interested long enough for it to become real to them. Stretch their reality with story.” – Annete Simmons

I believe in the power of story. You can list a pile of facts and statistics to try to convince me of something and I will probably smile and nod, but if you tell me a really good story, there’s a pretty good chance I’ll fully engage and become convinced.

Yesterday in church, I shared a re-cap of the story of Moses in the Bible. (I’m not going to do that here, but if you can find a Bible, read from Exodus to Deuteronomy in the Old Testament.) It’s an interesting story whether or not you’re on a Christian journey, and I firmly believe that, if we are open to it, we can all learn from each other’s spiritual and historical stories.

The story of Moses is a significant one in the Old Testament. He begins as a child in slavery and ends up fulfilling his destiny by returning to Egypt to rescue his people from slavery. What does Moses story teach us about following our calling?

1. You need good people to keep you afloat. If it hadn’t been for some feisty women (his mother, his sister, two bold midwives who refused to obey Pharaoh’s order to kill the male babies, and Pharaoh’s own daughter who adopted him) Moses would have never lived to fulfill his calling.

2. You might really screw up sometimes, but that doesn’t mean God won’t use you in powerful ways. Moses killed a man, ran away without facing judgment, and yet lived to be one of the greatest leaders in Biblical history.

3. Sometimes you will receive your calling in astonishing ways. For Moses it was the burning bush. (It’s interesting to note that the burning bush only came after years of Moses doing nothing more extraordinary than herding his father-in-laws flocks.)

4. Even though you protest that your skills are not good enough, God will keep working on you until you are faithful to what you’ve been called. Moses argued for a long time that he wasn’t the person best suited for leading the Israelites out of slavery, but God didn’t give up until he gave in.

5. There will be people whose skills will balance yours and together you will be stronger than apart. When Moses insisted he was not a good public speaker, God said “fine then, take Aaron and he can do the speaking for you.”

6. Sometimes people “shoot the messenger”. Just because you feel called to help some people, doesn’t mean they will welcome you with open arms. The Israelites, for example, got rather upset with Moses because their lives got a whole lot worse before they got better. (The story of Elizabeth is a good example of the same thing.)

7. You might have to wait a long, long, time before you’re ready to fulfill your mission. Moses was 80 years old and Aaron was 83 before they went to lead the people out of slavery. Sometimes some seasoning and maturing is necessary before you’re ready for a great task.

8. Even when you’re sure you’re doing what you’re meant to be doing, there will be lots of obstacles, set-backs and stubborn people. If you’re living with a lot of frustration right now because you just can’t seem to make any progress, read the story of the plagues in Exodus. Moses had to be really, really persistent before Pharaoh would let the people go, and even when they left, Pharaoh sent his men after them.

9. God’s not going to leave you, even when you feel lost. While the Israelites were traveling, God appeared as a pillar of cloud in the daytime and a pillar of light at night to guide them.

10. Sometimes, God will do powerful things through you. It won’t happen often, but once in awhile, if you’re faithful to your calling, something amazing will happen and you’ll know you’re right where you’re meant to be. For Moses it was the moment he stretched out his arm and the Red Sea parted.

11. Unfortunately, after the powerful thing, you might have to wander in the desert for 40 years. We all know that feeling of let-down after we’ve been remarkably successful. Be prepared for it, because it is almost inevitable.

12. If you’ve been called into leadership, expect to have to deal with “stiff-necked” and whiny people. Moses had a lot of them in the group he lead. These people were never happy and it seems that none of them held the vision of the promised land in their hearts. Leaders are, by nature, usually visionary people, but those that follow tend to be more realistic about looking for the boulders and stumbling blocks along the way. We need both visionaries and realists in a group, but it’s often tricky to balance the two.

13. You might never see the promised land in this lifetime, but that doesn’t mean that your mission has not been fulfilled. Moses died within sight of the land he was leading his people to. It may seem depressing to not enter it, but I think we all need to lead like Moses did – with our eye on the ultimate prize, whether it will be realized in our lifetime or not. When Rosa Parks sat down on the bus, she had no clue that her action might open the doors to a future black president – she just did what she felt called to do at the time.

What can we learn from the stories of your history or religious texts? Feel free to share some that have inspired you in the comments.

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