Yesterday I listened to thirty or so pastors and church starters across the country tell their stories using a six-sketch storyboard. Hearing them tell their tales sounded a lot like biblical characters. Their hopes, plans, and dreams were refined, reshaped, and renewed through one challenge after another. 

After listening to one another’s stories, one participant aptly summarized the day: “No one’s story was what they thought it was halfway through.” 

Stop Joseph’s story as a precocious favored son and you have a description of most young American men today. 

Stop Joseph’s story when he was thrown in the cistern and you have the story of many who are trafficked as slaves. There are more people living as slaves today than at any time in history.

Stop Joseph’s story in Potiphar’s house and you have something resembling Downton Abbey if you tell it just right.

Stop Joseph’s story in the prison and you have a hopeless ellipsis (…). 

Stop Joseph’s story as he waited on the cupbearer to remember him and you have the reality of many who are waiting on someone to notice them and to deliver them. 

Stop Joseph’s story after he is elevated, married, and has children and you have the Egyptian Dream. The Egyptian Dream and the American Dream both fall short of God’s Dream. 

Stop Joseph’s story after his brothers show up the first time, or even the second time before he revealed his identity, and you have the story of many family relationships. Conflict and estrangement rule the day. 

Don’t stop Joseph’s story until the final period hundreds of years later when his body is returned to the Promised Land. 

Most of us have an A to B orientation in our thinking about life. We start at point A and move toward point B in a more or less straight line. Joseph may have dreamed of a straight line as a teenager, but the fulfillment of those dreams was more like a seismograph during an earthquake. 

Again, listen to the wise reflection of one pastor yesterday: “No one’s story was what they thought it was halfway through.”

Where are you in your story today? Dreaming dreams? Discarded? Sold? Captive? Misused? Imprisoned? Estranged? Wherever you may be and however you may describe it, do not stop in the middle of the story. Persevere to the end. Listen to King David in Psalm 27:10: “Even if my father and mother abandon me, the LORD cares for me.”

A little later at the end of this song he sings, “Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart be courageous. Wait for the LORD,” (verse 14). 

Some things are worth waiting for. God’s plan is always worth the wait. Don’t stop believin’, the song says. Joseph would agree with that. David would agree with that. One of these days, sooner than you think but not as soon as you may like, you will say that, too. 

Don’t close your book after a difficult chapter. Wait for God to redeem all he allows. Wait for God to show you what he has been working on all along.