Other People’s Stories

Other People’s Stories

For many years now, God has allowed me to be the teller of other people’s stories. I tell my own story too. I tell it in teaching and in writing. (Maybe I tell too much: when my mother read my second book and I asked her what she thought, she said—after quite a long pause—“Well . . . it’s very personal.” And I guess it was.)

Years ago, when I had published nothing but the occasional poem or article, I was asked by my boss if I thought I could write a book for him. In delightful ignorance, I said, “Yes, I think so.” To this day I’m not certain why he trusted me to tell his stories, but in the next six years I wrote five books, crafting and reshaping and adding to and subtracting from words he had spoken, as if I were him. It was his voice that spoke from the printed pages of each one and his name on the cover—not mine. And, although in time I would come to feel less than comfortable with the arrangement, it was a tremendous gift. I listened. I learned. And I fell in love with the art of telling.

I have midwifed in large and small ways the stories of more than a few persons of note. Their stories teach things I would never otherwise learn. They inspire, encourage, chasten, humble, and motivate me. Each time I sit down with someone and begin asking questions, I am blessed.

But I shouldn’t be surprised. My favorite book is full of other people’s stories: Moses, David, Solomon, Joseph, Jeremiah, Job, Nehemiah, Ruth, Esther, Samuel, John the Baptist, Mark, Matthew, Luke, John—and my favorite story of all—the story of Jesus. There are, John says, more stories of Jesus than have yet been told—stories which, if they were known and told one by one, we could not begin to count. I’m waiting (breathlessly!) for heaven’s library. Until then, there are more stories to tell. Ask someone to tell you his or hers today.

Jesus also did many other things. If they were all written down, I suppose the whole world could not contain the books that would be written.

John 21:25