Sojourner: A Journey Past the End — Terry L. Craig

Having entered the office of President of the United States with great hopes for becoming a significant force for change, Donald Larson Cole encounters one obstacle after another. America's economy is struggling, and her decaying infra-structure is crumbling. Two suitcase nukes are still missing. Tensions between international personnel on the failing space station have come to blows--mirroring the sentiments of their respective governments on the planet below. The corrupt administration of the previous president allowed a powerful businessman to make behind-the-scene guarantees that the U.S. would abandon its support of Israel . . . and now, her enemies want to collect on those promises. Commitments around the world have drained U.S. troop strength and weaponry to perilously low levels as China threatens to flex its substantial military muscle against Japan and a nuclear conflict between India and Pakistan seems virtually unavoidable.

Ricky and Rosa Ruiz have moved to Oklahoma and are eagerly expecting their second child. Ricky is thrilled to be pursing his life's passion--ministering to troubled youth--but he is stymied by an especially hard case and a co-worker whose jealousy and religious legalism are choking his free spirit. Shortly after the new baby is born and things have come to a head at work, Ricky and Rosa sense God urging them to be prepared to leave home on a moment's notice.

Zac, Michael, and Ben Gordon are each struggling with private torments produced by a painful past. Of the three brothers, Zachary seems the most successful but uses a veneer of humor and a cavalier lifestyle to keep people--and God--at arm's length. He is less than enthusiastic when Michael sets up a lunch appointment to announce that estranged brother Ben has returned and needs their support. Though Zac softens somewhat when he learns that the "miracle" treatment Ben received for A.I.D.S. has now facilitated the return of a new, more lethal strain of the disease, Zac rejects any suggestion of reconciliation. Ben squarely faces death and the consequences of his choices--praying all the while that his brothers will come to know the God whose forgiveness he has recently come to accept.

Just when God has given President Cole assurances that his faithful steps have made a difference and encouraged him to stand in an appointed place, a traumatic event signals the beginning of rapid-fire calamities that will force America to her knees and forever remove the opulent lifestyle and freedom her citizens have too long taken for granted.

As bad news reaches new heights, America's Christians are increasingly convinced that "the rapture" is imminent. Their admonitions to a world in moral free-fall rise to an unprecedented pitch amidst an increasing hatred in the world for any value system that smacks an "absolute." Soon believer and scoffer alike, will have the opportunity to sojourn through a valley that will determine upon what or whom their security rests.

SOJOURNER is Book II in the Fellowship of the Mystery trilogy. While reading GATEKEEPER would enhance SOJOURNER, it can be read and enjoyed as a single book.