This site features inspirational, thought provoking and emotional Christian books about learning the unknowable, seeing the unbelievable and living the impossible. Within their pages, you will find stories that awaken, challenge and inspire the Christian spirit.
Actually, it’s only one book right now with a second hopefully on its way. To those of you who’ve read or purchased Pastures of Wonder–thank you very much. I hope the book touched your life and moved you in your walk with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Pastures of Wonder: Inspirational & Thought Provoking Stories for the Christian Spiritis a collection of tales about learning the unknowable, seeing the unbelievable and living the impossible. Within its pages, you will find six stories that awaken, challenge and inspire the Christian spirit.
Rediscovery A disheartened teenage girl rediscovers her spiritual gifts, which she uses to fulfill her God-ordained destiny.
Into the Darkness
A pastor and his wife deal with the devastating murder of their eight-year old daughter, while the girl’s murderer grapples with guilt and Hell.
Old Woman A man takes a journey with a woman in the twilight of her years, and witnesses the grandeur of her life through the eyes of God.
Coloring Book The only hope for a dying girl, a distraught mother and a desperate grandfather is a five-year old child who has just completed her first lesson from Jesus.
Suffering’s Riddles A man and a woman search for clues to unravel the Biblical mysteries surrounding a victim’s haunted past.
Spirits of Iwo Jima As the Battle of Iwo Jima draws near, a marine and his comrade race against time in their quest for absolution and eternal life.
From the Author… I have been a believer in Jesus Christ since 1985. Before publishing this book, I submitted it for review to about forty kind souls. These included professional reviewers, pastors, Christians, non-Christians and readers from all walks of life. Most have had a strong reaction to the stories, coming away in tears, inspired and transformed.
This collection is different from Chicken Soup for the Soul. It is a raw, inspirational, relentless, philosophical and emotional journey into the core of the Christian spirit. The shorter nature of the stories intensifies their emotional impact while allowing the reader to reflect on the many theological issues presented in each passage. This book focuses less on character development, and more on matters of the heart. The fictional characters in these stories are from the real world. The characters are you and I.
Rediscovery (18 Pages)
The first chapter is a favorite of most reviewers. It has been described as a “heartwarming Christian Cinderella story” in which we have all participated. Readers have been moved to tears after each “endearing plot twist” but theological undercurrents flow throughout. The power of humility conquers storms of disappointment. Spiritual gifts are hidden until appointed times. A dreamer’s dusty old diary reveals poignant revelations. The ending is “wonderful and reminds us of the first time Sophia stood alone on stage”. Readers have been compelled to “read the story more than once”. Hold the hand of an aspiring young saint on her voyage into rediscovery.
Into the Darkness (31 Pages)
The second chapter was very difficult for reviewers due to its painful subject matter. Readers wept during Into the Darkness but for different reasons than for Rediscovery. The passage tells of the aftermath of the senseless murder of an innocent child. It does not pull punches in its raw depiction of loss, grief, revenge, repentance and forgiveness. This story has been described as “gripping”, “intense” and “incredibly emotional” especially by parents so I edited beginning segments to distance readers from eight-year old Katie. As a result, Into the Darkness takes on a quality of universal tragedy.
I finished this story before the release of William Paul Young’s great Christian novel The Shack, and each story follows much different paths. The Shack focuses on relationships and the Trinity while Into the Darkness takes a painfully raw look into the shattered heart of a grieving mother, the vengeful soul of a bitter pastor, the wretched mind of a drug-addicted murderer, and the resurrected spirit of an ageless princess. Reviewers came away with “powerful insight into spiritual matters”. This reading is “gut wrenching” but the light of our Lord shines brightest in the darkest of times in a sinful world.
Old Woman (9 Pages)
The third chapter continues the theme of the majesty of what Jesus Christ has promised in the yet to come shining through unlikely hues into a sin-cursed existence. It begins with a dying woman giving her last penny to her Lord but soon blossoms into a celebration of the Christian life. At the end of this brief journey, readers’ eyes were again filled with tears. The fate of the old woman, or “young” woman who has yet to begin her Real Life, is left open for the imagination. Life is a long, sometimes painful, expedition but Old Woman revisits the grandeur of the last days of a saint’s enduring life as seen through the eyes of eternity.
Coloring Book (14 Pages)
The fourth chapter is about the people who touch our lives each and every workday. We must toil in the fallen world, but the relationships we form remind us of that part of eternity that was lost—but can still be found. This story features a five-year old child with the heart of a warrior princess. Our hero spends her off time singing in the land of make-believe and immersed in her coloring books. This passage informs us that spiritual decisions should be made with the heart of a child, and not with the worldliness of an adult. Coloring Book is an “enchanting story” of a little girl with great faith. Things begin innocently but build towards an “unusual and touching ending”. The “conclusion is amazing” and readers “could not help but wonder if this was a true story”.
Suffering’s Riddles (19 Pages)
As a layman, I attempt to address the conundrum of pain in a world controlled by God. A pair of church friends search for clues to unravel the Biblical mysteries surrounding a victim’s haunted past. The reader is “never given a clear picture of the kind of suffering Trent has gone through” as this story is about the nature of suffering and how our Lord helps us through. Readers found Suffering’s Riddles “very insightful”. Suffering in the fallen world will continue till the end of time, but we can face our pain, be humbled by it, and use it to know a God of unimaginable love.
Spirits of Iwo Jima (75 Pages)
The storm landing upon the beaches of Iwo Jima was weeks, then days and now hours away. Thousands of American and Japanese soldiers will sacrifice their lives for their families and empires upon a lifeless volcanic isle in the middle of an endless ocean. Two marines will spend their last days of friendship in deep conversation on the mysteries of Jesus Christ and the possibilities of an afterlife. The Holy Spirit will visit them in the midst of their discourse before their meeting with the Angel of Death upon fateful shores. Their pasts, present and futures will collide where time meets the timeless, but God will protect their hopes in a place hidden within the human spirit. Before the smoke of our greed, and rage, and sin escalates past the apex of Mount Suribachi, one marine will use his dying words to reach out to a Prince of Peace who allows war, famine and disease to occur on His planet.
Under a dim light in the crew’s quarters, within the somber atmosphere of the ship’s mess hall, and between bouts of mortal combat, two marines anguish over the significance of war and how the suffering of millions ties in with Scriptural doctrines of death, Hell, Divine love and salvation. Intermixed with heavy theological and philosophical debate is the main character’s war-induced investigation of his tormented soul. There, he finds the demons of the unseen world fighting to take control before the arrival of the ‘mighty hurricane’ in this last hour of choice. Spirits of Iwo Jima is the most “thought provoking” of the stories, and I believe, the most inspirational. Believers and non-believers have been “enlightened” by its theology and “transformed” by its message. This story spans lifetimes and is “epic in scope from the standpoint of the human heart”.
While the general theme of each story is that of Christian inspiration, I touch upon deeper theological issues throughout the book from my layman’s point of view. Some of these theologies are not routinely covered in your Christian church, and as such, should be weighed against what is taught by your pastor or in Bible study. With Pastures of Wonder, I attempt to challenge the reader on an emotional, spiritual and philosophical level, yet the unerring Word of God contained within the Holy Bible should be used as a guiding light on each emotional journey.
I am a sinner who wrote this book in darkness yet I see each page through the light of Jesus Christ. I now know I could not lift the pen used to write the first word without my Creator. I am humbled by this opportunity to contribute to God’s Kingdom. I hope these stories inspire you, my friend, and if I do not know you now, we shall certainly meet in Eternity.
much. I hope the book touched your life and moved you in your walk with the Lord Jesus Christ.