In her book about her struggles with stage IV colon cancer, Everything Happens for a Reason and Other Lies I’ve Loved, Kate Bowler wrote about the pig–headed responses she got from people who insisted God gave her cancer either because she didn’t pray enough, didn’t have enough faith or wasn’t ready to accept that God had a good reason for leaving her infant son motherless and her young husband a widower.

She also said that the best advice she received, from a fellow religion professor at Duke University, was “Don’t skip to the ending” — that is, stay in the present. As we pray and live faithfully, as we argue with as well as serve the King of Kings, there’s no need to skip to the ending. Let’s live in this moment, love in this moment, pray in this moment and hope in this moment. We are, after all, in the most magnificent tale of all, one in which we can approach the King of Kings and change things through prayer and action!