Do you know how some TV shows begin with a scene that is full of peril and you don’t even know how you got there? The hero is covered with blood, he’s holding a knife, and a woman lies dead at his feet. The police have him surrounded, are pointing weapons at him, and shouting, “Put down the knife!”

Then the scene cuts to a beautiful beach where the hero walks hand in hand with the dead woman we just saw, and a caption states: “36 Hours Earlier.” What the writer did was skip Act I with all its prefatory material and jump right into Act II. She wants to hook you from the very first scene.

That feels gimmicky to me – an end run on careful writing.  However, I am about to do the same thing to you, only instead of flashing “36 Hours Earlier” I am going to flash “29 Verses Earlier,” and I’m going to cast you in the lead role.