Let Me Tell You a Story

African people come from an oral tradition.

Life lessons are not shared in concise, rational, bulleted lists which appeal to logic and busy schedules. Stories are a main means of conveying important truths. As stories are experienced through the telling, so are the truths they communicate.

Which makes a lot of sense when you think about it.

Stories allow people to share information from memory rather than depending on written words to be read from the page. In a country where many do not possess access to formal education, stories are a convenient means of packaging life principles for memory. Anyone can tell a story. This makes the message available to anyone who is willing to listen. Once received, it can easily be shared with others.

This fact was communicated to me during the planning stages of our trip and promptly filed in some obscure portion of my brain’s memory bank. Once the seminar commenced it found its way into my heart.

When Chuck decided not to have an interpreter read the passages of scripture he planned to use in an afternoon presentation, it was a stroke of genius. Instead, he asked for volunteers to come before the group and tell the familiar Bible stories.

Tables were turned as the people became involved in the teaching process. The interpreter ceased translating our words to them and began translating their words to us. We became the listeners and they became the instructors. That had a wonderful way of placing all of us on level ground. I was reminded how stories enable people from diverse backgrounds to celebrate things they hold in common.


The story of Zacchaeus is about a tax collector who desired to see Jesus. Because of his short stature and the press of the crowds he was unable to do so. The resourceful little man climbed up a tree in order to accomplish his desired goal.

To his surprise when Jesus passed under the tree he addressed Zacchaeus by name, told him to come down and declared his intention to spend the day with him. That encounter forever altered Zaccheaus’ life. The reformed tax collector made amends to those he had defrauded by refunding ill gotten gains at four times the rate taken.

Chuck asked for someone to come and share the story with the group. One of the first hands to go up in the air belonged to a young man named Christopher.

Christopher climbed the steps to the platform and began to tell the story with great enthusiasm. His presentation held me spell bound. It was and continues to be one of the most moving things I have ever experienced. He knew every nuance of the story by heart.

As he spoke, the reason for that became clear.

Christopher is what we in the States would call a little person. He’s not much more than 4 feet tall. I don’t know if his stature is the result of genetics passed down through his parents or due to the effects of malnutrition. Because of poor diets and the relative isolation of communities it’s common to find towns were a good number of the population tends to be short of stature.

The story being told could very well have been his own. He found someone with whom he could clearly identify in this vertically challenged tax collector. It was as if he had read through the Bible and coming to this story had claimed it for his own.

That in large measure is my goal when teaching or preaching. I hope to present the text in a way that causes someone to clearly identify with some aspect of the story.

If people can say to themselves, “That could have been me,” then making the move from the story to practical application in contemporary daily life is greatly simplified. Once we find ourselves in the unfolding drama and acknowledge that we know what the characters are experiencing, then we are ready to consider the story’s implications for our lives.

Several times during our week together Christopher led the congregation in worship. He may be short of stature but he stands tall among his people. Their respect and love for him is clearly discernable (that's Christopher and his wife below).


This young believer in Karagwe taught me the meaning of the story through a visual demonstration. Whenever Zacchaeus’ name is spoken my mind will be traveling half a world away. I’ll remember a young man named Christopher who tells it as if it were his own personal testimony.

Because in many ways, it is.

Thanks to Larry Cole for providing the pictures for this post.