I've recently read another fantastic book called The Midwife's Song. I have grown up in church and am guilty of not really "hearing" the Bible stories anymore. I've heard them so often that their significance doesn't really settle anymore. This book, however, sucks you in and is one huge emotional ride from start to finish. You understand what it was like to be Puah, a midwife, under Pharoah's rule. You understand the fear of being under his thumb after being told to kill all hebrew male babies at birth. You fear with her, and watch as she resolves not to let the fear cause her to do the opposite of what her heart tells her to do. You take a stand with her, for right, as she realizes it may well cost her life. And ultimately, she goes on to deliver Moses, the one who delivered her and millions of others, from the hand of Pharoah. The telling of the story is timeless. Of course some details are fictional, but only to fill in some gaps, and who knows exactly how those gaps were filled originally? If you're like me, you've stopped relating to Biblical stories on an emotional level and see them only as a sign of God. That's not necessarily the sole purpose. Real people like you and I made an impact in history. If we embrace that idea, we realize that we could impact history as well.
