The Greatest “Once-Upon-A Time” Love Story Ever

Don’t you love that start to a movie or a story because you just know there's going to be a happy ending at the end. I love thinking about my own “Once upon a time” love story, but no love story compares to this beginning…..

Once upon a tree…..a Creator gave His life for His creation. From the very beginning of time…..this true story began….but there was never, and there will never be a “The End”, to this story. It took our Creator stepping up to give His life for His creation so that all of man’s mistakes from the beginning of time, could have a happy EVER AFTER!

Every one of us are writing our stories by the way we live our lives each day. No, we don't have to have a "Once upon a tree"....story, because God lived that story once and for all for all of us. Some of our stories may seem ho-hum, while other stories may be adventures-of-a-lifetime every day, but we can choose how our story reads out. Maybe one of these beginnings would look good in your story:

Once upon a phone…..a devoted follower of Christ shared encouragement and love with his friend, and the friend met the Creator through him. It was a happy-ever-after phone story.

Once upon a greeting card….. there was someone who was hurting so much, but she realized someone else was hurting more than she was, so she shared the faithfulness of God in her card, and they both received renewed strength for their journeys of faith.

Once upon a car…..someone’s friend needed a ride to their doctor, so the driver became a chauffeur for God that showed what “mercy” looks like.

Once upon a dollar…..a kind-hearted soul, gave that dollar, and a hug, to a blind man holding a tin cup.

Once upon a rope…..someone tossed the end to a drowning man and saved their life. That day, the rope and the rope-thrower became a life-saver.

Once upon an altar…..someone gave their time to pray for someone who needed a Savior.

And that brings us right back to the very beginning of the “Once upon the beginning of time” story that has no ending, because in each of those scenarios the answer came with Jesus’ words to Peter “Peter do you love me? Then, feed my lambs. Peter do you love me? Feed my sheep.” And those words to Peter are Jesus’ words to us. “Do you love me? Love and care for my sheep.”

God started it all. He gave His one and only Son’s life for those who come to know Him as Lord. He asks us to be a part of His never ending story. Maybe we are the answer to someone’s prayers and, of course, we are the answer to sharing God’s story enough to give those He loves a never-ending story of their own.

In between the “Once upon a time” and the “happy ever after”…..there’s a whole lotta living going on – living to love and serve others, loving enough to be a light that draws them to the cross where our Savior died and to the empty tomb where He no longer lives, but is seated at the Father’s right hand, interceding and welcoming us to our HAPPY EVER AFTER with Him.

Once upon a Facebook post, someone told this story with the great expectation that God’s story begins in YOU and me!

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him, would not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16

The Expert in Anything Had to BEGIN

Ever look at someone and wish you had their talents or abilities or strengths and just wish you had even a portion of what they have? They, too, were at their beginning.....they had to learn; they had to spend hours developing their gifts; they had to be willing to be trained, they had to grow.

I became a pilot, a pianist and organist, a teacher, a securities broker and a real estate broker -- not to mention all the other things I've gone on to do -- because of training, studying, practicing....and determination, And, now, I've gone on to become quite accomplished in the world of technology.

Several years ago, I bought a cell phone that did it all -- talk, text, email, photos, music, internet, games. The nice guy at AT&T set it up for me. I was a happy camper -- ONLY $150 a month for my phone and service. But then, two years ago, my son created a social commerce company, Solavei to lower the cost of commerce and make it even profitable. I was excited to switch my mobile service to Solavei ($100/mo savings) and help people save, too. And in so doing learned more in this world of technology. Now, I am often the AT&T guy -- helping my friends and family get set up on Solavei -- and the best part, it also meant a $100/mo savings ($1,200 a year) for me -- not to mention, thousands of people have joined my network so I even have residual monthly income coming in. Who would have thought that this Nana would be competent in this world of technology? No one, including myself, but I was willing to grow, to be trained, to develop my gifts and to learn. I often laugh at myself when I'm talking about APN settings, MVNO, bandwidth, CDMA vs GSM, etc.

And what about you? What have you stretched yourself to become and do? God planted seeds inside you for you to cultivate and grow. Sure it may take hours and hours of training -- but isn't that what we did as youngsters when we began to read and write and learn arithmetic? Why would we stop now? Let's continue to take leaps of faith to become the best we can be! It comes with great reward. Now, let's wake up those seeds and cause them to GROW, today!!