If we are to be faithful to the author, our reliance on the Holy Spirit has to be complete, and our wills completely pliable to her leading. It seems that the Father was the primary director during the first and third acts, our prideful human nature directed the second act, and Jesus was the prime protagonist of the fourth act.

I am a fan of children’s literature, and in particular of E. Nesbit, a British writer and close friend of George Bernard Shaw. In “The Railway Children,” a novel essentially about courage in the face of calamity, the children’s mother ekes out a living by writing stories. When asked by her daughter how their particular life story will end, the mother replies that they don’t know how the story will end, but it’s ok because God is the writer.

As the church, we do know how the story will end, because the writer has graciously let us in on it, but we must let our director, the Holy Spirit, define our roles and cue our lines and actions.

This is a challenging and thrilling post.