Why do you do what you do? Are you happy with the life you’re living? This is a great big world created by a great big God, have you found your place in it to do something only you can do?

What is this story you’re telling with your life? Each year is a chapter, each day a new sentence. Have you forgotten the thrill of being excited about what the next sentence could be and the satisfaction of savoring the chapter you’re in?

My favorite book is called “A Million Miles In a Thousand Years” by Donald Miller. Since reading this book for the first time nearly 10 years ago, I now look at God’s creation of the mountains and the oceans, the sunsets and the thunderstorms, and I see his invitation to me to come create with him. He created all of this, placed you right in the middle of it with the ability to go and do and be, along with the deep desires and great passions, and says “here, come create with me.”

Every day is your invitation to live a better story. God is the master storyteller. Oh how he can weave together lives and events and orchestrate divine appointments like no others. Oh how he can take something so bad and use it for such good. There are no limits to his reach or his capabilities. And remember, he created you in his image. As a follower of Christ, you have his spirit living within you.

You think you’re powerless? You think you’re just along for the ride? You show up for life as some kind of puppet being pulled one way and pushed another? No girl. You have power dwelling inside of you. You have a continual invitation to live your story.

Yesterday I took 15 women on a sailboat in Key West. There we met a mate on the boat named Isaac. I want to tell you about Isaac. First, you should know, this 27 year old young man with a great smile and bright blue eyes looked like Jesus. He also looked a little like Fabio with his long hair, but mostly I thought he looked like Jesus. He shared his story with us. Straight out of high school he began his 8 year journey of hitchhiking across the country. That journey eventually brought him to his first boat where he discovered his love of sailing and planted the seed of his dream.

He plays guitar, has a gentle servants heart, sails like a master, and remember, he looks like Jesus. I told him he should put on a robe and tell the stories of Jesus out on the water on his boat, play a little guitar, break some bread, share some wine, and he would have one heck of a powerful sailing charter! I would sign up and bring all my BIG Life girls!

During our conversations with the boat’s mate that looked like Jesus, he shared something his mom told him before he left home. She said “Son, if you’re not going to write a book, at least live a story worth writing about.”

WOAH … live a story worth writing about.

Are you?

We read in the bible about Moses who used a staff and parted the Red Sea to save the Israelites, we read about Joshua who led an Army to march around the walls of Jericho 7 times until the walls fell, we read about Peter praising God in a prison cell until the chains broke, we read about Daniel entering the lions den and leaving without a scratch, we read about Shadrach, Meshach and Abendnego enduring the fiery furnace and coming out without even a hint of smoke. We also read about people who screwed up and have stories of great redemption. Noah in the belly of a whale, the woman at the well who had been married 5 times, Saul who led the war on all Christians becoming a crusader for Christ called Paul.

These are stories worth writing about. Stories we read and are impacted by still today. Now we have our chance. We have been placed here in this world to live our story. Will it be a story of adventure? A story of redemption? A story of love? A story of impact? A story of building, creating, growing, exploring?

Don’t let it be a boring story of just existing. Don’t let it be a story of enduring one day after another without purpose and meaning. God created you for so much more than that.

Donald Miller wrote “Once you live a good story, you get a taste for a kind of meaning in life, and you can’t go back to being normal; you can’t go back to meaningless scenes stitched together by the forgettable thread of wasted time.”

Did you hear that? Meaningless scenes stitched together by the forgettable thread of wasted time.

How much of this one precious life are you wasting my sister? How much is totally forgettable, unimpressive and honestly just lived unintentionally?

Jesus said in John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

Honey, you’re alive, but are you really living? Are you stepping into that full life Jesus came to give you, or have you allowed the thief to steal your joy, kill your dreams, and destroy your potential?

I’m not saying you have to hitchhike across the country for 8 years, or buy a sailboat and hit the water … I’m saying we have to wake up and live today like it’s the only day we’ve got and stop wasting it on meaningless scenes.

This morning, you woke up to an invitation; an invitation to live this day like a darn good story. Remember what it means to have meaning in life. Step out of the norm and dare to see what is possible for you. Live your life in a memorable way because I promise Jesus didn’t die so you could have a boring, comfortable, normal life with a guaranteed paycheck and good benefits.

Accept the invitation to live. Open your eyes wide and breathe in deep. You’re surrounded by divine opportunities and majestic beauty. Be there for it. Step on up and create within this creation. This is your one shot at life, girl don’t waste it!

So, this is what I learned yesterday after spending the day on a boat with a man who looked like Jesus. It left me to wonder what part of Jesus we’re supposed to be representing today. I may not look like Jesus, but could I love like him? Could someone leave my presence and feel like they have felt the love of Jesus? Could we care like him? Serve like him? Listen like him? Share like him? Lead like him? Could you bring some Jesus with you to work today? Could you bring some Jesus in your home today? Could you live in such a way that makes others feel like they just spent a little time with Jesus?

Could a car ride with you be like a trip with Jesus? Could a random conversation with you at the grocery store be like a chat with Jesus? Could a text from you be like a message from Jesus? Aren’t we here to be his hands and feet?

Now that’s what I’m talking about!!!!!!!! This is a story worth living, now you can’t turn back.