or as long as I can remember, I have had a passion for stories; they’ve always been a hobby of mine. I can recall summer evenings as a kid sitting under the street lamp with my friends. We would tell stories to each other until our folks called us in for the night. I also had the benefit of having some youth leaders and Sunday school teachers who were wonderful storytellers. And, I was an avid reader. I read lots of stories: The Scarlet Pimpernel, the Sherlock Holmes mysteries, the Tarzan adventures...I loved ’em all! And, although these books were just entertaining to me, I knew even then that I was learning when a storyline worked and when it didn’t work. Film was the same way; as I got older, I was able to
discern that sometimes even a very expensive movie could be a disaster. During my high school years, my friends and I would talk about these failures in depth! We were all going to make movies ourselves or act in them or at least write better stories than the ones we had watched. I guess I was just convinced about my views and abilities and got a little too boastful. In fact, one of my youth leaders actually told me that, and he tried to caution me about the negative repercussions of pride. He didn’t make a dent in my adolescent armour! Know what did? Hearing and reading the Old Testament story of Joseph and his dreams (Genesis 37). Talk about prideful boasting! That was a great example, and it
Image: Felix Mooneeram unsplash.com
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