Kings Crossroads by Michael Phillips

One of the reasons I like reading books by Michael Phillips is that he causes me to examine my walk with the Lord. They cause me to stand outside my personal box of beliefs and determine whether they are indeed valid.

Even though all of what I have read of Michael Phillips books are fiction, he has this way of weaving into the lives of his characters faith issues that must be addressed by them.

This is true of this book. This is a story of a small town in America where many of it’s residents find themselves at the crossroads of decision. It starts with one woman who for unknown reasons is unable to communicate through speech. She is a woman who has a love for her Lord and for the people of her town with a subsequent desire for them to know her Lord.

Though she pleads with the Lord to give her the ability to speak for how else can she relay the message of faith to them? He replies that He only needs her to obey His promptings and she complies. Reminding us that God’s ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts.

As she prays, her first act of visible obedience is that of placing a cross, an olive tree and a crown of thorns plant on a hill outside of town. No one knows she has done this. They might wonder how she was able to accomplish it if they did know.

Many of the town’s residents and some of it’s visitors are intertwined in their relationships but few know this woman by name.

Over the years, her continued act of obedience involves her simply walking through town and praying outside each of many places of business and worship. Then she waits for God to do His work in each life.

She prays not for the business or worship aspect of each structure but for the people involved in each endeavor that structure represents. As she prays for each individual, we see many of them come to a crossroad of decision, which ultimately leads them to the foot of the cross on the hill.

To be sure there were many who felt the cross not relevant to their decision but this is a story of the obedience of one woman that brings the possibility of redemption into the lives of many.

The Last Jihad by Joel Rosenberg

It’s been a long time since I’ve been back to write on my blog.  Life happened but now I’m making a more concerted effort to be back here.

Since the last time I reviewed a book, I’ve read a lot of them.   However, here I’m just getting my feet wet again so I’ll start on the most recent of my reads.  Hopefully, I can find my bearings once again.

I had heard other friends talk about this author but I hadn’t really looked for him.  I’m one of those old-fashioned readers.  I like the feel of a physical book in my hands.  One that I can turn the pages to, smell the ink-on-the-pages type. book.

My husband and I are thrift store junkies.   When we get into a store, if he can’t find me, he always knows to look for me in the book section!

In one of our forays into a thrift store some time ago, I came across several books by this author and thought, what the heck.   I’ll buy a couple and because it was a thrift store I didn’t have to pay retail for it.

This book starts out with a lot of political intrigue, hooks you and keeps going all the way to the end. I never thought of myself as one to go for this kind of a plot in a book but once I started I found I had a hard time putting it down.

Jon Bennett, a wheeler dealer on Wall Street finds himself suddenly in the midst of American politics.   Through a number of twists and turns he finds himself smack dab in the middle of well… the middle eastern political hotbed.  Without giving too much of the book away, I found this a riveting read.

I recommend this book to anyone who likes political suspense.  For me (and I admit I’m not much of a thriller reader) this was definitely a great read.