Recently, I watched a film in which the protagonist’s life was far from ideal. By a twist of fate, she discovered a special way to travel through time and space, and she returned to her younger days. After traveling through time and space, she had the chance to mend relationships that had left her with regrets and to avoid the traps that had once landed her in difficulties. Although we know time travel is impossible, this idea often appears in literary works, which reflects how many people wish they could rewrite their life stories through time travel.

       Time travel is a fantasy in the works of arts. It is not real. Yet, rewriting one’s life story can truly happen. It is not an illusion – It is what occurs when each Christian brings their story before God. Some chapters of our stories are filled with laughter, while other pages are stained with tears. Through our encounter with Christ, however, a wondrous turning point appears: the gospel gives us the opportunity to rewrite the meaning of life. As Paul says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17). With this verse, Paul proclaims an astonishing truth: In Christ, we need not be forever defined by past failures, wounds, or mistakes. Those dark chapters once written into our lives can be covered by God’s grace. Jesus did not come to add a religious ending to our old story, but to invite us into an entirely new narrative.

        How, then, do we rewrite our life stories in Christ? This is well worth exploring together among brothers and sisters of the NPAC family. The theme of this year’s Winter Camp is “Rewriting My Life Story in Jesus.” Our speaker, Dr. Scott Ying-lam Yip (葉應霖博士), will lead us into the Book of Philippians, re-reading it through the lens of narrative theology, learning from Paul and the believers in Philippi how to recalibrate our life perspective and to experience the Lord’s good purposes with a joyful heart amid difficulties. We encourage brothers and sisters of the NPAC family to sign up for the Winter Camp so that as a whole community we may learn, by God’s grace, to “put off the old self,” and under the Spirit’s guidance, to “write new things.” Whatever the past has been, today God invites you and me to rewrite our life stories in the gospel, to let his grace be the ink of the new chapters of our lives, and to let the Holy Spirit guide us to write each page of faith. For in Christ, the most beautiful chapters are always still ahead of us.

        “And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.” (1 Peter 5:10) This is the guarantee of our new story and our eternal hope.