Amazing stories are being told in many buildings across every town and city across the world on stages big and small this week. I’ll call it the local church, it’s my source of great stories and they really are great stories, but really, it’s just your life, adapt as necessary.

I’ve heard so many great stories since Lyn told me to go to church 7 years ago. Really inspiring stories, that leave you in a sense of wonder and awe. About people who have had a dream or a vision, about their journey to overcome so much to accomplish even more.

Then I hear other people tell me their stories about hearing great stories. Often you’ll even hear the storytellers tell stories about storytellers who told stories to the storytellers at a storyteller’s conference.

And all of a sudden you realise … this is just a film festival … where all the best stories are told, then some more come in, and after many frozen Cokes and boxes of proverbial popcorn you find yourself still sitting in the cinema of life watching all these great stories yet your bum is slowly grooving itself into the seat like a crazy cat.

The film festival has its merits. The films are good, entertaining and very well made, usually inspired by actual events that were great in their own right. It’s also really good to get them in the one place; it’s rather convenient and doesn’t put you out too much.

It’s also nice to see the films with those you love and care for, friends, family, neighbours. You can talk about the films afterward in the café, even hold a little movie review club where you talk about all the good films and what they mean to you, you’d meet in someone’s house and have cake.

But somewhere along the way we strolled down the path of least resistance. Paying our way through the film festival, laughing at the right moments and then quoting the all right parts when with our friends so we can all laugh and cry together. It’s best that way.

After all … who would consider actually living a life worth telling a story about. That’s crazy talk, especially when you’re fully engaged in the film festival and the cinema tickets are going cheap.

It’s more than probable that no one else would be really supportive of the idea … after all they have really good movies for us to watch, with really entertaining stories. Maybe there’s no more room for good stories anymore?

I started out hoping to encourage you, or I, one of us at least, to go out and live a life of great risk, high adventure, great cost and extreme danger. A life that they would write about in the weekend newspaper magazine. The kind of life that a filmmaker might pick up one day and make a film about. But maybe that’s too much to hope for, considering there’s another film starting soon …