Why Stories Matter: A Pastor's Welcome to Lift Up Your Day

Welcome to Lift Up Your Day — a 5-minute daily Christian devotional podcast where Pastor Rodney Coe shares true stories of faith to lift your heart.

Welcome to Lift Up Your Day with Pastor Rodney Coe — a 5-minute Christian devotional podcast for the heart that needs lifting.

Why stories? Because Jesus told them. Because the Bible is mostly story. Because when truth comes wrapped in a person — a missionary in the dark, a Senate chaplain who wasn't ready, a farmer with an ox goad, a watchmaker's daughter in Ravensbrück — it lodges in a place that a sermon outline can't reach.

In this short opening episode, Pastor Rodney Coe — author of 5 books, devotional writer, and pastor — explains why we tell true stories of faith. What you can expect from each Take 5 episode. And why every one of them ends the same way: "And that, friend, is how God lifts up your day."

If you've ever needed a five-minute reminder that the God who walked with Carver at 4 a.m., who stood beside Paton when the warriors came, who held Corrie ten Boom in Ravensbrück — that same God is walking through your day with you — this podcast is for you.

Subscribe. Press play. And let the stories lift your day.

Scripture: Psalm 78:4 · Hebrews 11 · 2 Timothy 1:5

Free 7-day devotional When Worry Won't Let Go: rodneycoe.com/worry-devotional

More from Pastor Rodney Coe: rodneycoe.com

Keep Looking Up. — Pastor Rodney Coe

#ChristianStorytelling #TrueStoriesOfFaith #ChristianDevotional #LiftUpYourDay #PastorRodneyCoe #DevotionalPodcast #5MinuteDevotional

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:07

Welcome to Lift Up Your Day. A middle-aged lady sat in the back of a church she hadn't visited in years. Her marriage had just ended, her youngest son had stopped returning her calls, and somewhere between the closing hymn and the parking lot she stopped the pastor and said, I heard you mention Cory Tin Boom today. Could you tell me more about her? That conversation lasted forty five minutes, and before it was over, she said, If Cory could forgive that, maybe I can too. Stories do that. The right story at the right moment can reach a place where nothing else can. Romans 15 4 says it plainly. Everything written was written for us, for hope. That's why I like telling stories. Not just any stories, true stories. Stories of real people who faced real darkness and found that God was real in the middle of it. People who didn't have easy answers but held on to an unshakable God. You know, we live in a noisy world full of bad news and shorter attention spans. People don't need more information. They need encouragement. They need to know someone else has walked through something like this and came out on the other side with their face still standing. The writer of Hebrews called them a great cloud of witnesses. Thousands of years of men and women who have ran their race, finished their course, and left behind a story worth telling. I believe those stories still need to be told, especially now. Take Cory Ten Boone, a Dutch watchmaker's daughter who hid Jewish families in a secret room during the Nazi occupation. She was eventually sent to Ravensbrook concentration camp. She lost her sister Betsy in that place. And yet she emerged, not bitter, but burning with grace. She spent the rest of her life saying, There is no pit so deep that God's love is not deeper still. She needs to be told today, because people are still in pits. Or consider Eric Liddell, the Scottish sprinter who refused to run his best event in the 1924 Olympics because the race fell on a Sunday. He didn't apologize for his convictions, he didn't negotiate. He said, I believe God made me for a purpose, and when I run I feel his presence. So he ran a different event and won gold. Then gave up everything to serve as a missionary in China, where he died in a Japanese internment camp, still serving. He needs to be told today. Because integrity is still costly and still worth it. And then there's Susanna Wesley, mother of nineteen children. Can you imagine? Including John and Charles. Poverty was her companion, hardship was her address, but twice a day she would pull her apron over her head, her only signal to her children that she was in prayer, and she would seek the face of God. She prayed for each child by name every time. Her sons turned the world upside down. She needs to be told today. Because some of you are praying in the quiet, wondering if God sees. God does see, and he keeps every single prayer. Folks, here's what I know after more than thirty years of ministry, the human heart doesn't change much. We still fear, we still grieve, we still wonder if God is paying attention. And the answer every single time is yes, he is. That's why I tell stories. Because your story isn't over. And somewhere in the story of someone who walked before you is a hope that was written just for you. Romans 15 13 tells us, May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him. He is the God of hope. And every story I tell, every single one points straight back to Him. And that, friend, is how God lifts up your day.