The suspense-filled/cliff-hanging drama of the story writing of God

The cultivated imagination can help redeem the suspense-filled/cliff-hanging drama of the story writing of God, the type of drama that rightly belongs to the pages of the Bible.

Imagine yourself as an "original Christian" in the city of Antioch in the Apostle Paul's day, where you got to know him pretty well by spending time with him in the same city for a year (Acts 11:25). Then he gets sent off to do dangerous work for God in another city where you don't see him for a while (Acts 13:1-3). Then, you hear that he's in the city of Iconium preaching the Gospel. You hear that it gets so dangerous that his enemies from both Antioch and Iconium stone Paul and drag him outside the city, thinking he's dead since no one can survive a stoning event in that day from a mass of one's furious enemies (Acts 14:19). Word gets around from Pauls' enemies in Antioch and Iconium that Paul's dead. You hear this rapidly spreading news of what happened to your good old loved one. You deeply mourn the loss of your friend.

Then, one day, Paul, unknown to you, returns to Antioch, your city (Acts 14:21). And, to your utter shock and jaw-dropping amazement, you see him again. Alive and well. Doing his thing.

Now, if you were this hypothetical yet realistic friend of Paul, I would imagine that the moment you saw him alive again, it would be a little like the Matrix-freeze-hold-your-breath-pin-drop-silence-shock that Alfred experienced when he saw Bruce Wayne again when all the time he thought he was dead.

The difference though, would be that you knew that your loved one survived a supernatural miracle done by the finger of God himself. And you would know that this is real life. And you would know that God is a better movie director than Christopher Nolan, any day.

And who thought Scripture meditation was boring?