Nothing is impossible with God

Book 12: First Light (A.D. Chronicles #1) by Brock and Bodie Thoene

My rating: ****

So. Another series. This one's 12 books long. Ai yi yi. But I have to say, I'm pretty excited about this one. It's my first Thoene experience, and I've heard they're good authors - which I can now confirm.

(I apologize in advance for the scatterbrained-ness of my thoughts - I'm really tired, but I wanted to blog about this one still. It's been a long 3 weeks...)

At any rate, this particular series is a fictional retelling of the life and ministry of Jesus. First Light begins at the start of Yeshua's ministry. Jerusalem is in turmoil. People are rioting. Herod Antipas is trying to keep the peace and quiet the Jews. Caiaphas wants to silence this Jesus who people are claiming is the Messiah. The really cool thing about this book so far is that it gives flesh and blood to familiar Bible characters/stories. I know for myself that I often forget that the people in the Bible were real people with real lives. The unfortunate thing is that the Bible doesn't really give us much detail about people's lives (which is fine because that's not the point of it), and the Thoene's are great historians who can also tell a story.

My favorite character in the book was Peni-El. If you remember the man Jesus healed who was blind from birth in John 9, this is him. Although he's actually a boy in the books. At any rate, Peniel's parents have basically disowned him, blaming him for his older brother's death. They hate that he's blind and often call him a "cracked pot" and consider him not worth anything. Every day he sits outside of the temple and begs, which also provides him with opportunities to hear the "gossip" from people talking who pay no attention to the blind beggar boy. Peniel has been waiting for the Messiah for his entire life, and he hears wind that a man named Yeshua is going around teaching and healing. Could He be the Messiah? Peniel wonders. At the end of the book, Peniel finally meets Yeshua, and He heals him. Just the thought of what it would be like to have your physical eyes be opened for the first time like that...and how Jesus repeated over and over that it was so God could receive glory. Pretty awesome.

So now - ready for book 2. Hopefully I can make it. It was a rush to get this one done this week. :-)