9 Dec, 2009

Allow Me to Introduce Myself

Adopted Siblings Reunited After 80 Years

KANSAS CITY, Mo.--A reunion 80 years in the making finally took place for a metro family.

In 1928, three siblings were separated through adoption. The unexpected separation fueled an unyielding desire in all of the children to reunite one day.

Exie Davis recently celebrated her 90th birthday, but she can still remember the day her baby sister Lillian disappeared.

Story provided by: nbcactionnews.com.

Acts 17:26-28 (New International Version)

26From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. 27God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 28'For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.'

What does God's Story scripture teach us about God meeting people right where they are?

At this place in the story Paul is traveling all over the place to share the good news of Jesus. He has traveled to Thessolinica, Berea, and when we catch him in this quote he is in the middle of a speach in Athens.

We can assume Paul had been in Athens for at least a few days because he talks about the things he has seen in Athens, like the statue to the "unknown god." Paul uses the "unknown god" as a starting point to share with the people gathered around him about the knowable, personal God.

Paul walks back in history and explains to the the Athenians the beginning of all things, and how God made all humans from one man, Adam. Then Paul explains how God had a time and place for each of us that we might seek after Him.

Jesus uses Paul to meet the "thinking" Athenians at their point of understanding.

 

How can we connect today's God's Story scripture to our lives?

First,this passage should stir in us thanksgiving for a God who pursues us and views us as his children.

Then, I hope it moves you to a place where you want to seek after the God who is seeking you. He tells us a lot about Himself in the bible. He also shows things about himself in the world functions. We know God is creative, because only creativity could piece together animals like the duck-billed platypus. God doesn't leave us with an "Unknown" or "Unknowable" God.

How can we connect today's story , God's Story scripture, and our story to others?

Today's story offers a lot of parrellel to Paul's sermon. Three children born to one father and then seperated. Their seperation left them seeking for years. For one of them, the youngest Lillian, the rest of the family was completely unknown. They each had a unique and special place where they impacted numerous lives, and though they were seperated they were never far from each other.

As Christmas approaches you and your friends will start talking about the relatives and old friends with which you will reconnect. In the midst of that conversation you can bring up this story. "I read a story the other day about a family that reconnected after 80 years." The door is open to share with your friends the connections you see between that story and the things Paul said to the people of Athens.

Spend some time with today's story, and God's Story scripture so you can pick out more connections between the two.

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The Daily Bide is brought to you by a team of writers from Youth for Christ/USA. The writers all have various years of experience in youth ministry but share a common bond in serving Jesus and discovering what it means to abide deeply everyday and to connect God's Story with those around them. A number of the Daily Bide writers have also written portions of our 3Story® resources. You can check out our resources at the 3Story.org website or connect with our writers at 3story@yfc.net. If you have a question or a story you would like to share, please reference the Daily Bide date in your email.

YFC works with young people on campus and in the community in over one hundred countries around the world so that they might have an opportunity to become a follower of Christ and be a part of a local church.