BRIAN SUMMERALL was on Young Life staff for over 35 years serving in various leadership and training roles. He is a frequent speaker at banquets and Young Life camps across the country. Brian loves his Baylor Bears and Texas Rangers and also spends his free time worrying his forehead is getting big enough one day to sell advertising space on. Brian lives in Dallas with his wife, Michele, his two sons, David and Daniel, and his Chihuahua, Annie.
Story. It’s the most powerful way to communicate. Jesus understood this. That’s why He so often chose to communicate truth through parables
This is a book of stories that are telling in what they reveal about God, all told by a master storyteller. Brian Summerall’s tales of late-night dorm raids, college probation, high school awkwardness, and backstage passes will find you laughing. Others will bring you to tears. Whether they are stories of family, fame, adventure, pain, loss, miracles, or relationships, all of these stories reveal a God who is extravagant in His love for us.
Read this short excerpt:
Michele and I have have two kids, David and Daniel.
Before Daniel and Daniel started walking, they spent a lot of time in our living room on a small, soft blue-and-white-checked baby blanket. Each would hang out in his diapers, roll around, play with toys (i.e., put them in their mouth), laugh, and smile at the world going on around them.
When I would come home from work in the late afternoon, that’s usually where they would be found.
Now imagine this scenario. Imagine me as Daniel’ and David’s father, standing above the blanket, looking down at them and asking the following questions:
“Hey, Daniel, what can you tell me about the president’s new economic policy?”
“David, what do you think about global warming?”
“Can you explain to me the internet and its effect on commerce in the global marketplace?”
Comical as it may seem, if I had done that, my sweet boys would have just lifted their arms in the air to reach out to me.
Tears would soon follow. I could never do that to my boys. It would break my heart. As
a loving father, I would not be content to stand above them at a distance, communicating in ways they could not understand.
Instead, when I would come home and find Daniel or David on the blanket, standing above them or even kneeling down was not enough. I would get down on the blanket and lay down with my boys. I’d tickle them under the chin and whisper in their ear that they are mine. I’d make sure they knew there’s nothing they could ever do to make me stop loving them.
Daniel and David would giggle and laugh when I got down on the blanket with them. We would roll around on the floor and play.
Of course, as a loving father who adores my children, I would do that. I’d come down on the blanket to be with my sons.
But, here is even better news. Even if you didn’t have an earthly father who would come down on the blanket for you, you have a God who is crazy about you. He was not content to stay above us and communicate in a way that we just could never understand or fully comprehend. The Creator of the universe, your heavenly Father, came “down on the blanket” to be with you.
“[God] became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood.” (John 1:14, MSG)
“Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she shall call His name Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14; Immanuel means “God with us” in Hebrew.)
His name is not “God at a Distance,” “God on a TV Screen,” or “God on a Podcast.”
Jesus went to weddings, parties, and dinners; He went fishing with friends and walked along the road with people. He “hung out” (or, as some of my hipper friends would put it, He was a “good hang”).
Yes, there are important things in this world for God to be doing, but none of them is more important to Him than His presence in our life. God with us.
“God on the blanket.” There’s no better place for Him to be.