“Once Upon a Time…” That’s a pretty bold way to start a story. Stories that start with “once upon a time” carry great weight within their “pages” be they physical pages in a book or verbal words within a spoken tale. These words begin stories that feature daring adventures, the conquering of abhorrent evils, and the pursuit of irrevocable love. The single greatest stories in the world begin with these four words. But, there’s one final caveat, one final promise that comes along with beginning a story this way.
A “Once Upon a Time” is always met with a “Happily Ever After.”
As an artist and follower of Jesus Christ, I am drawn to stories like this. I’m drawn to a story that from the beginning holds the promise of adventure, love, the overcoming of evil and a “happily ever after.” I’m willing to begin stories that start this way because that’s the story I’m promised in Christ. No matter how terrifying the dragon or cursed the witch, I have found my “Happily Ever After” in Christ because I chose HIS “Once Upon a Time.”
For Into the Woods, we’ve chosen to focus on the marvelous array of characters within a “Once Upon a Time” and the way in which those characters must lean on one another to realize their happy endings. The way in which these characters rely on one another as they climb skyward towards their wishes, or "happy endings", is beautifully similar to our experience as Spotlight- McHenry County. We’ve had the immense pleasure, as a team, to intersect in this season. It has been an honor to grow alongside Trevor, Alissa, Jess, River and Shari as we lead some of the best kids and parents in the world through this journey through the woods. I consider it one of the many great adventures in my story and I can only hope it blesses you in the audience today as it has blessed us. May your story begin as our young narrator’s, with a thrilling and expectant “Once upon a time…”
