God Gives Us Classic Plot

MOOD STATUS: "Drained". A viewing last night and a funeral to go to today.

It's not often my pastor will talk about plot lines in his sermon.

Thus when he did this past Sunday I did sit up a little taller in my seat. :) He talked about a story--God's story--as told from Genesis to Revelation and how most regular stories follow this classic plot line of Creation-Fall-Redemption-and Restoration.

Of course the more I thought about it...the more I thought he's right! A concept so simple that I never explored it. Until now.
Anyhew, here is my loose (and I mean LOOSE) interpretation of it:

Creation: Biblically, we talk about God's creation of the world, where we come from and the nature of why we were created.

In the stories we create, this is all about our characters, where they came from and why they're there on the page in the first place. At this point the stage is set.

Fall: Biblically, this is the big what went wrong. Sin entered the world and created an obstacle or separation from God.

In the stories we create, this is the problem our character or characters suddenly have or create for themselves. Their obstacle in the way of their goal. Suddenly, our story has conflict.

Redemption: Biblically, our hero (Christ) comes in to save us from from this separation from God. There is hope in our life story.

In the stories we create, this is where things start to look up for our character or characters. Conflict is resolved. Also, this is where our character arc peaks or at least begins to rise and show itself to the reader.
Our character should be different now because of the journey of their story. Put in a similar circumstance from the beginning of the story, your character will not quite have the same reaction to it now. Your character has discovered something about him or herself and is different because of it.

Restoration: The end of our life story--but it does not end in death, due to Christ's sacrifice. Therefore, God provides us a happily ever after. :)

In the stories we create, this is where we tie everything up in a nice neat bow (but not too neat otherwise your readers will get angry) and create a happily ever after for your characters. Your character or characters are not the same as they were in the beginning. Maybe their goal is different now. Maybe they realized their goal was the wrong goal. But it doesn't matter because they've worked through their problem or obstacle, know how to continue to do so, and as a result can live their life happily.

I told you it was a really loose interpretation. :)

But such a classic plot line and one I found interesting when thinking about it.
If anyone has anything else to add or comment on, feel free.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Anyhew, I will be out of town today (funeral).


Try not to miss me. :)