What Happened to the Epic Story I Was Going to Write?
I loved writing stories when I was a kid. Somewhere in my parents’ attic, there are probably decades-old blue-lined spiral notebooks filled with epic handwritten tales of knights and dragons, illustrated with my double-decker super-pack of 64 Crayola colored pencils.
Our childhood imaginations seem to get swallowed up by the responsibilities of life. But in our own grown-up ways, I think that creative drive still percolates just under the surface. We’re all still trying to live out epic stories where we’re the heroes who vanquish life’s dragons and change the world for the better.
Then we take a job, maybe start a family, start paying the bills—and that “epic-ness” gets lost in the mundane. Or at least in the “less than.”
Or maybe we chase a prestigious career as our giant-slaying storyline, only to discover that climbing the corporate ladder or building a successful business still doesn’t satisfy that epic story-writing instinct in our souls.
The issue isn’t that we want to write an epic story with our lives. The issue is that we’re trying to cast ourselves as the main character. We are already part of the most epic story in history—we just need to understand our role.
We aren’t the main characters in a story we’re writing about ourselves. We are beloved members of the supporting cast in the Great Story God has been writing since the beginning of time. And in the ultimate twist—the Author wrote Himself into this Great Story, slayed the dragons of sin and death, and rescued you, me, and all of creation!
Just because we surrender the central role doesn’t mean we surrender our value. We aren’t anonymous, uncredited extras in God’s Great Story. We are seen, known, beloved, and integral to the plotline.
We just aren’t the main character.
Jesus is.
The purpose of our lives is to spend them pointing to Him. You will find the epic storyline you long for when you surrender your story to Him.
What if tomorrow’s meetings, emails, decisions, and conversations aren’t interruptions to your epic story, but some of the very scenes God has intentionally written for you? How would you show up differently if you walked into Monday knowing your role is to make much of Jesus there?
Erik Cooper
Erik began his career in the business world before spending twelve years in full-time ministry, serving on staff at a large suburban church and later as a church planter in downtown Indianapolis. Today, he serves as the President of a family of business-oriented nonprofit organizations that work together to mobilize the marketplace to make Jesus known in the world. He leads The Stone Table, which equips marketplace believers and invests in global mission initiatives, and Community Reinvestment Foundation, a nonprofit real estate company providing high-quality affordable housing in Indiana and directing its profits to missions through The Stone Table.
