Coming September 1, 2013 – The second book in the Apple Creek Dreams series

A Note From Patrick E. Craig – The Road Home

What connexion can there have been between many people in the innumerable histories of this world, who, from opposite sides of great gulfs, have, nevertheless, been very curiously brought together!

                                                                                    Charles Dickens, Bleak House

When I was a pastor, I once counseled two young people that wanted to get married.  She was a believer, but he was not.  Like the character in this story, his name was Jonathan.  My wife and I spent many days with this precious young couple, doing our best to share the Lord with Jon, but he seemed impervious to the pressing of the Spirit.  One day, Jon and Sherry were telling us about their lives, how they had lived in so many different places, and done many different (often wild and dangerous) things, before finally coming to California and meeting – by ‘coincidence’, they said.  Suddenly something occurred to me.  I drew a rough map of the U.S. on a piece of paper and had Jon and Sherry put a dot on all the places they had lived before they met.  Then I had them connect the dots.  Both of their meandering trails led to one spot – a little town in California.  Then I took the map and I said to Jon, “Do you know how I know God loves you?”  He looked at me strangely and then said that he didn’t.  I traced his journey with a pencil as I said, “I know He loves you because over the years, He led you through all these places in your life, watched over you and kept you safe, so that at this time in your life, He could bring you to California and give you Sherry to love.”

Well, I saw the penny drop.  Jon stared at the map and then at his lovely fiancée’ and then at the map again.  A huge smile broke on his face and then he said, “I guess God really does love me.”

Coincidence?  Some say coincidence is God choosing to remain anonymous; others say coincidence simply means you’re on the right path.  Often in writing, coincidence is regarded as a weak literary device – a quick way to advance a plot or move characters from one place to another without the need for a clever storyline.  But when we look at our own lives — especially those of us who believe God is real and that He has a plan for us — don’t we discover a life-long thread of coincidences that have moved us ever onward toward a specific purpose for our lives?  And if God is the Author and Finisher of our faith, would He use a weak device to write our story?

The Road Home is a story about God’s desire to fulfill His intention in the lives of people–two people in particular; Jenny, who, though surrounded by a loving family and a satisfying life, is still a mystery to herself and to her adoptive parents, and Jonathan, a young man seeking the answers to all the questions that each of us has asked in our own lives. This is a story filled with what some would call coincidence, but the truth is, there is really no such thing as coincidence – at least that’s the way I see it.  For if God is working all things together for good then each moment, each event, each step, is somehow governed by His plan.  And as for Jenny and Jonathan, the story of their lives brings them both to a little town called Apple Creek where they pass through a series of “coincidences” that in the end…

Well, I’ll let you read the story and find out…