We spent all of last week preparing for a hurricane that never came. Relief? Or letdown?

I heard more than a few people say offhandedly that they were actually a little bit excited about the drama that Hurricane Lester was supposed to bring. We’ve been raised on action films and disaster movies, so we kind of want to see … some disaster! We want the story of our lives to have some of the same kind of drama as the stories we see every day.

They’re pretty much all the same. Average people in an average place are going about their day. Then some kind of disaster, tragedy, or crisis comes. The people band together, and they overcome the disaster. And everybody ends up better than they were before. That’s the storyline of all the best stories.

Think about some of the movies you’ve seen. Like Star Wars. Average people living on an average planet. But then some guys in these white plastic bodysuits show up. With blasters. So these average people band together. They go across the galaxy, and fight the guys in white plastic bodysuits. They blow up a spaceship that’s the size of a planet. With one shot! And everyone’s happy.

What about Finding Nemo or Finding Dory? Average fish living on an average reef. But then a fish gets kidnapped! So the fish band together (along with the pelicans, sea lions, and sharks. For some reason, the pelicans, sea lions, and sharks don’t eat the fish.) They go rescue the kidnapped fish, and everyone’s happy.

Know why we’re all drawn to stories like those? Because they’re all echoing The Story. The story of God’s redemptive plan for the world. It’s the story of how the world was made, and how it was destroyed. How the world was rescued, and how it will be completely restored. Even more, the Bible is the story of how we were made, and how we were destroyed by our own sin. How we were rescued by Jesus Christ, and how we will be restored better than we ever were before. This story plays out exactly the same as all your favorite movies, because they all stole their storylines from this story.

What that means is that our lives are small parts in the Grand Drama of God’s plan. He has been working since before the dawn of time to carry out his plan, and we’re all actors in that epic story.

That’s what Paul says in Ephesians 1:

In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

When we have that kind of perspective, we don’t need to see more drama injected into our lives. We can view the events in life — good and bad, big and small — by how consequential they are in God’s plan to redeem creation and humanity.

Many things in life that used to seem earth-shaking start to seem small and insignificant. Some things that used to seem small and insignificant become earth-shattering if they’re pushing God’s plan of redemption forward.

To find your place in God’s story, join us on Sunday mornings for the next 60 days, and follow along with the daily devotionals and weekly family devotionals on our website or the Harbor App [iOS] [Android].