While there is no story without a plot, there certainly is little to no story without characters. The people who reside within the pages are the focus, their lives are the context, their interactions move the action. Where do they come from? In Searching for Home, releasing on October 29, 2024, the characters walked out of homeless camps and into the book. They are not real per se, but are a compilation of many from whom I learned so much.
Selah is a nurse practitioner who gives medical care in the camps with her friend, Pastor Will. A traveler, fresh off a freight train, is a young man who calls himself Torque. The names are important.
Selah, a Biblical word appearing in Psalms, has an uncertain meaning but is considered to be a direction to pause. Selah in this story has a huge pause in her already chaotic life. The question is whether or not she can pause and learn…or pause and fail.
Will, well-meaning as he fights the sins of his past, has what we all have been given: free will. But rather than a license to do whatever we want, free will is a two-edged sword that can lead to disaster or to Godly dependence.
Torque is a word that refers to a force that causes an object to rotate or twist. As a character, Torque, complete with a tattoo of a wrench on his arm, is more than he seems to be under the filthy Carhartt jacket and unkempt exterior.
And of course they inhabit a realistic world of drug dealers, Devil Dog who is evil incarnate; a deceased husband returned from the dead, Rico, who doesn’t seem like the ‘brave ruler’ of his name; a young women abused by street life, Rose, who blossoms and fades–and many more. Each one has a pivotal role in twists and turns, battles, and in the answer to the question that hovers over the entire saga: Is there redemption at the intersection of brutal reality and saving grace?
It isn’t always comfortable to inhabit someone else’s skin. Prepare for uncomfortable moments, grief, and pain. But as you read, hold onto faith in something greater than what these characters hold individually inside.
Because while evil is certainly real…so is hope.
Selah is a nurse practitioner who gives medical care in the camps with her friend, Pastor Will. A traveler, fresh off a freight train, is a young man who calls himself Torque. The names are important.
Selah, a Biblical word appearing in Psalms, has an uncertain meaning but is considered to be a direction to pause. Selah in this story has a huge pause in her already chaotic life. The question is whether or not she can pause and learn…or pause and fail.
Will, well-meaning as he fights the sins of his past, has what we all have been given: free will. But rather than a license to do whatever we want, free will is a two-edged sword that can lead to disaster or to Godly dependence.
Torque is a word that refers to a force that causes an object to rotate or twist. As a character, Torque, complete with a tattoo of a wrench on his arm, is more than he seems to be under the filthy Carhartt jacket and unkempt exterior.
And of course they inhabit a realistic world of drug dealers, Devil Dog who is evil incarnate; a deceased husband returned from the dead, Rico, who doesn’t seem like the ‘brave ruler’ of his name; a young women abused by street life, Rose, who blossoms and fades–and many more. Each one has a pivotal role in twists and turns, battles, and in the answer to the question that hovers over the entire saga: Is there redemption at the intersection of brutal reality and saving grace?
It isn’t always comfortable to inhabit someone else’s skin. Prepare for uncomfortable moments, grief, and pain. But as you read, hold onto faith in something greater than what these characters hold individually inside.
Because while evil is certainly real…so is hope.
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