Come with me on a journey of words and concepts, containers, as it were, which attempt to describe realities in which we are immersed, but that we struggle to grasp. So we must tread softly as we review The Story.

It is with caution, quietness, inquiry, and growing carefulness, that we venture on the path, to open the books, and ponder their content at its deepest level. In another time and another place, people would cover their heads, and remove their shoes. For there is One who will meet with us here, if we so desire, in a sacred encounter. Without Him, the journey has no meaning, for all of the words and concepts that we desire to consider center in a Person. We dare not become enamored merely with ideas. Perhaps we can still learn of Him, and live in humility and reverence with Him. We will then see that The Story, as with all stories rightly understood, is His Story.

Because of the wonders of technology, you may take the journey in two different ways.

First is the path of The Story with extensive endnotes. On this trip, you will find pointers along the way to references in the Sacred Writings. From these places I have drawn the elements of The Story.

Second is the journey of The Story with the available side paths to related studies. These diversions explore in more detail the topics being considered. In some localities you will find a cluster of trails, for I have spent much time in these areas, exploring and attempting to make the “rough places plain.”