{"id":98879,"date":"2026-11-02T12:49:05","date_gmt":"2026-11-02T18:49:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=98879"},"modified":"2026-11-02T12:49:05","modified_gmt":"2026-11-02T18:49:05","slug":"the-story-is-not-over","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-story-is-not-over\/","title":{"rendered":"The Story Is Not Over"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t<p>by David Gibson<\/p>\n<p>Don&#8217;t you love hearing about those who were far from where they needed to be, but made an unexpected, dramatic turnaround?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Jacob deceived his blind father and took advantage of his brother, yet God shaped him into someone He could use. He grew-so much so that he is included among those heroes of faith in Hebrews 11.<\/li>\n<li>Moses was an 80-year-old has-been when God called him to lead Israel out of Egyptian bondage. At first, he tried to excuse himself from doing what God wanted him to do. But now we know the rest of the story (Deuteronomy 34:10-12).<\/li>\n<li>Jesus&#8217; own brothers did not believe in Him (John 7:5), but when they finally got on board, they were all in! James, one of those brothers, became a primary leader of the Jerusalem church and wrote the letter that bears his name.<\/li>\n<li>Anyone who knew the history of the woman at the well (John 4) could not expect much from her-unless they could see her through the eyes of Jesus.<\/li>\n<li>Blundering Peter, who even denied knowing his Master, was entrusted by Jesus with the keys of the kingdom, opening the door of salvation to the Jews (Acts 2) and the Gentiles (Acts 10).<\/li>\n<li>Who would have ever imagined that the man who arrested, beat, and jailed Jesus&#8217; disciples would someday evangelize much of the Mediterranean world and write a significant portion of the New Testament?<\/li>\n<li>John Mark was a huge disappointment to Paul (Acts 13:5, 13; 15:36-40), but evidently Barnabas and Peter mentored him well enough so that Paul could write to Timothy, &#8220;<em>Pick up Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for service<\/em>&#8221; (II Timothy 4:11). And the Gospel he wrote has blessed the church for 20 centuries!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Don&#8217;t you love the way God works?<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by David Gibson Don&#8217;t you love hearing about those who were far from where they needed to be, but made an unexpected, dramatic turnaround? Jacob deceived his blind father and took advantage of his brother, yet God shaped him into someone He could use. He grew-so much so that he is included among those heroes&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[390,50],"class_list":["post-98879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-conversion","tag-repentance"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":14901,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-teach-a-young-woman-who-harbors-anger-over-the-past\/","url_meta":{"origin":98879,"position":0},"title":"How do I teach a young woman who harbors anger over the past?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 4, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Would you recommend specific passages that I can use for a girl who still harbors pain, anger, resentment, but who is looking for acceptance and love? I have tried to express love and acceptance to her. I think she believes me but doesn't believe that God loves her. What\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":39583,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/could-you-explain-jothams-parable-of-the-trees\/","url_meta":{"origin":98879,"position":1},"title":"Could you explain Jotham&#8217;s parable of the trees?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 2, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Would you please give your understanding of the\u00a0story of the trees in Judges 9:7-15? Thank you. Answer: \"Now when they told Jotham, he went and stood on top of Mount Gerizim, and lifted his voice and cried out. And he said to them: \"Listen to me, you men of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2930,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/where-did-you-find-the-old-childrens-bible-story-books\/","url_meta":{"origin":98879,"position":2},"title":"Where did you find the old children&#8217;s Bible story books?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 6, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I came across your website while looking for Bible story pictures from my childhood. As a small child, I dearly loved the pictures in the \"Standard Bible Story Readers.\" I remember memorizing some of the stories. The story of Blind Bartimaeus was my favorite. Several years ago, I saw\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":29451,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/thank-you-for-posting-the-bible-story-pictures\/","url_meta":{"origin":98879,"position":3},"title":"Thank you for posting the Bible story pictures","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 7, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I wanted to thank you again for posting\u00a0the Bible story pictures. Your stuff often pops up as I am building my PowerPoints\u00a0for my sermons. Thank you for your contributions to the Kingdom. Answer: You're welcome.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":30913,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-enjoyed-the-story-of-the-early-church-in-europe\/","url_meta":{"origin":98879,"position":4},"title":"I enjoyed the story of the early church in Europe","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 12, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Thank you for putting\u00a0Bro. Grimm's story on the Internet! It took a long time for me to read it, but it was worth it. My husband's ancestors came from Alsatia. He had no roots in the churches of Christ but this story has brought real meaning to me. Just\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":26895,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-loved-reading-the-short-story-about-not-playing-the-lottery\/","url_meta":{"origin":98879,"position":5},"title":"I loved reading the short story about not playing the lottery","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 25, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I found your site by chance, playing on the computer at work. I loved reading the short story about not playing the lottery. That it's about me is even better. A very good surprise. Answer: These days, you never know where your name will pop up. I loved the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98879"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98879\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98882,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98879\/revisions\/98882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}