Why a Hand on the Book Cover

I can’t believe it’s finally October 2015!  I have been waiting for this month for what seems like forever.  This month – in twelve days to be exact – my first book, Get Your Story Straight: A Teen’s Guide To Learning and Living the Gospel, releases. Although, thanks to Amazon, some of have already received their pre-ordered copy!

If you follow me on social media I will be kicking off a 12 Day Countdown. However what I want to most convey – Why this book and What story we all (not just teens) need to get straight – can’t be done  in an Instragram picture or 144 word tweet. 

In my recent post Get Your Story Straight in 30 Days I gave the Why, but it’s an inexhaustable topic we must constantly revisit since our natural human tendency is to not get and keep it straight. As Christians we confess our belief in the gospel, but don’t get how the gospel informs and speaks in to all of life. In other words, there is a gospel disconnect because we don’t know what it looks like to practically apply Jesus’ work and worth for us as the answer to everything!  

According to author Paul Tripp, Christians typically have “a where can I find a verse on (blank) approach to Scripture… that robs the Bible of its vitality…” Viewing the Bible as simply a resource for inspirational nuggets to help us live better is self-driven rather than Christ-focused. When we do this we miss seeing woven throughout every book of the Bible the bigger story of the One it is all about.

Get Your Story Straight is written out of the belief that we must “get” the unfolding story of God and his soveriegn plan of redemption in order to make sense of our own stories.  Seeing how we fit inside this larger story is what gives us identity, purpose, meaning and hope. Thus, the inspiration behind the book cover (though I can take no credit).

The image of the hand on the book is comprised of thin lines (called palmar creases) characteristic of our palms and unique to each of us. Just like our fingerprint is used to identify us, so too can the line patterns on our palms. But there is something more to this hand on the book because of the greater identity and story we bear.

The asterisk in the middle of the palm symbolizes the pierced hand of Jesus as the only place we will ever find our true identity.  When we know who He is for us, we can rest in His story no matter what is going on in our stories. 

Again from the words of Tripp in his book Age of Opportunity,

“Teenagers desperately need to see the larger story… to see their lives as part of something that is bigger and more important than their own happiness. They need a glory to hook into and live for that is bigger than their own glory. They need their story embeded every day in the story of God. This will give them a reason to do what is right. This will give them hope. This will give them strength to endure what God calls them to endure.”

This is the reason for Get Your Story Straight! Apart from an identity firmly rooted in Christ, we flounder looking for life in things that will never fill. As true of us as it is for our teens. This is why we must Get The Story Straight! This book will help us learn what it means to preach the gospel to ourselves so we can better rest in Him.