Stories matter. They matter not only for sheer entertainment value; they matter because stories root us in who we are. They help us to remember where we came from, and even more than that, they help us remember that the Lord has been faithful to us in the past. And because He has been faithful to us in the past, we can trust that He won’t stop now. It is as George Mueller once said, “If the Lord fails me at this time, it will be the first time.”

We are big story-tellers at our house. Most every night at dinner eventually moves into some kind of story – a story from the kids about their day, a story from me or Jana about ours, or a story that we’ve told tons of times before that the kids have now started to ask us to tell again. We’ve done it so much the family has come to expect it.

Stories matter. They matter not only for sheer entertainment value; they matter because stories root us in who we are. They help us to remember where we came from, and even more than that, they help us remember that the Lord has been faithful to us in the past. And because He has been faithful to us in the past, we can trust that He won’t stop now. It is as George Mueller once said, “If the Lord fails me at this time, it will be the first time.”

We get that kind of confidence through looking back and retelling the great deeds of God on behalf of His people, our families, and ourselves. One of the greatest and most simple gifts we can give to the next generation is the discipline of telling stories.

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