A Six-Word Short Story

From the Desk of Dr. Stan Ward, Director of Campus Life & Ministry:

I love a good story. I like to read stories, hear stories, and tell stories. I like stories so much I’ve even done research on how they can be used as a leadership tool (for an introduction to the idea, see this short blog post).

Powerful stories can be amazingly short. For example, Jesus’ parable of the pearl of great price is only a sentence long in its English translations. Another famous short story that packs a big punch is by Ernest Hemingway: “For sale: baby shoes, never used.”

Wow.

Six-word short stories have become so popular that an internet site is running a contest for six-word stories for the second year in a row. Inspired by the focus required to write such a short story, I periodically reflect on my life and try to write six-word stories to help me better understand who I am and where I am going. I recently wrote this about my work in Christian education:

Pursued calling. Loved teaching. Brook Hill.

(Admittedly my punctuation is a bit odd, but with only six words to work with, you get some creative licence.)

How about you? What’s your six word story? In particular, I’d love to know your six word story for your time at Brook Hill. Please take a few minutes to reflect on your life or your time at Brook Hill and tell us your story.