God is writing the biggest book that will ever be written. Can anyone imagine being the author of a book that contains every kind of character and plot? The number of chapters would be inexhaustible, for He is writing the past, present and future. God has this huge novel to work on with an incredible amount of diverse characters. He is watching each one of them and gives each of them their own chapter. The life of each character is an adventure in itself.

Just like the author of a book, God transcends time. He exists outside of time. In contrast, however, God does not control the movement of His characters. They have free will which makes them different from the characters created by a human author. Free will allows us “characters” to choose for ourselves how to act and how not to act. We do not depend on our author to make decisions yet we do depend on God for our being.

God shows us His love by giving us this freedom to grow by our choices, good or bad. Being a character in God’s book makes one grow much more significantly than a character in a human story. Our growth as characters is affected so much more when we can make our own choices. But God allows us to grow on our own while giving us His help. He is always there to help those who struggle with their purpose in life.

He places His characters in many different situations — some that are difficult — but only because He knows that they will benefit from it. Similarly, the author of a book places his characters in these situations to expand on the character or to give the reader a better idea of what this character is like. Their personalities are more clearly revealed when they have to face certain situations.

Characters are placed in a story for a purpose. But they should be used for a good purpose. They should reflect something good about their author. Many stories have immoral characters who act as if God does not exist. What do these stories say about their authors? How do many of these stories affect the world and the characters of God’s story?

For good story ideas, authors should look to the Author of Life for inspiration. Because of our freedom to choose our own adventures, with guidance, our Author is able to write the most riveting stories, the most passionate stories, the most glorious stories that one will ever find. Notice how the most interesting movies are those that are based upon true stories written by the Author of Life. I would suggest that as a reason why He is the master story writer.

(Sawchuk, 21, is studying literature at Redeemer University College in Ancaster, Ont.)