Our Own Story

Our Own Story

“The person who sins shall die. A child shall not suffer for the iniquity of a parent nor a parent suffer for the iniquity of a child; the righteousness of the righteous shall be their own, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be their own.”

-Ezekiel 18:20 NRSV

Last Saturday was a day full of theater. It ended with an electric, albeit weird, performance of Spongebob Squarepants the Musical – a storyline where Spongebob, Patrick, and Sandy Squirrel all figure out who they are and the value they have, as they save their town. But the first show is really where our story begins today.

The first show was at McKinney Boyd High School where my nephew was in the orchestra for The Little Mermaid, and having served for 6 years on the west side of McKinney, I still run into people here and there. There were a few at this show, but Steve and Linda stood out…well, mainly their daughter stood out.

It was hard to miss her. She played multiple roles. She danced. She sang. She was animated. She was funny. She was flamboyant.

She was everything that you would hardly ever associate with her parents.

Not to totally make insinuations, Steve and Linda have a good sense of humor and can completely carry on a conversation. But flamboyant, dramatic, and animated are not words I would use to describe them. I think Linda danced as a kid, but there was no evidence of any artistry that I ever saw from them.

Yet somehow they produced this amazing actress who wasn’t the lead, and yet she was noticeable throughout the entire show.

The passage above from Ezekiel seems like a harsh pick of scripture to make the point, but it’s a pretty famous and revolutionary passage of scripture because it emphasizes the semi-autonomous nature of each person’s own story. Every person shares context, setting, character-development, and identity formation with others, but it had been previously believed that children were simply inheritors of their parents’ shame or glory – that their story was simply a continuation of their parents’.

But God sees each one of us uniquely. Designed each one of us uniquely. We can be a dancer when our parents have no rhythm. We can be an accountant when our parents can’t balance a checkbook. And we can be loved…good…and blessed…regardless of the story we are born into.

I experience people who feel stuck in someone else’s story. Maybe they have pressure from their parents, maybe they don’t feel confident, or maybe they don’t think they have a story with God. I wonder if we embraced the philosophy espoused in Ezekiel – that we all have our own story – if that might set some of us free. I also wonder if it wouldn’t convict some of us to ask more fervently, “What is God doing in my life?”

Proverbs 16:9 reads: “The human mind plans the way, but the LORD directs the steps.”

We all have our own free will to shape the life we want, but none of our lives are devoid of God. I hope that you will take the time to consider what your story with God has been, and what your story will be.

Peace,

David Lessner

One of Creekwood’s most time-honored and beloved traditions needs your help. There are a plethora of ways to share what God has given you, whether it be cookies, greeting, security, parking lot flow, and more. Sign Up to Help Help our neighbors who are hourly employees at Harper Elementary or will seek food through All Community Outreach by adding a little extra to your grocery cart this week. Food may be dropped off at the Mission Center in the church. End of Year Giving Every year we try to put out a benchmark number to reach for the end of the year, including all expenses we have left and any deficit to expenses we may be carrying. In previous years, at the beginning of November we would estimate needing $245,000-300,000 over the course of November/December. This year, I’m delighted to estimate only needing about $155,000-175,000 to finish the year strong! This includes all expected expenses, payroll, apportionments, etc. for 2024. To put this in perspective, we traditionally have expenses of around $95,000 a month. We are in a much better position and I would encourage you to continue giving generously so that by the time we get to Christmas Eve perhaps we can take an all-together special offering for missions, family ministries, or something else! Some often ask, what happens if we have a surplus? Great question. We have some big ticket items coming up in 2025 that a surplus would absolutely help with. Things like: New projectors and screens in the sanctuary in order to remove the “yellow stain” on the right side screen. Cost is roughly $118,000 from the bid we’ve accepted. Renovating the back closet in the sanctuary to make it a more permanent choir closet. Cost is roughly $6,000 or less, and $2,500 has already been donated towards this. Building the columbarium. We have had interest in securing spots and you’ll hear more about that in March. The cost will be roughly $90,000 to construct with $22,000 already having been donated/raised. Starting new mission partnerships. Some of this money will be repurposed most likely from other mission funds, but we try to empower our mission teams with at least $5,000 for each budgeted mission partnership. And the list could go on: New carpet in the sanctuary. Improved lighting in the sanctuary. Youth interns fully paid for. Expanded hours for our Pre-K Director. And if we’re really dreaming big… A state of the art new building for our student ministries. Launching a satellite campus in Princeton or helping our Covenant Church Partner in Anna more significantly. Who knows? Faithfulness and Generosity combined can move mountains and make bold things happen for God’s Kingdom.

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