Another book review: Heather Horrocks

I'm feeling pampered again.  Got another manicure and pedicure at frespa, and made appointments for a massage and microdermabrasion.  I haven't worked frespa into my schedule for a while, and found I had more than two months' worth of points rolled over.  I can really splurge.  And I love it.

I'm continually amazed at how well people treat me.  Not only my friends, but even strangers smile and are sometimes very helpful.  The world is a beautiful place for me.  I feel very, very fortunate, and thankful.

As promised, here's another review of a book I've read this year. I'm a slow reader, so I've only read 32 so far in 2009.  I know people who read that many in a month, but I'm sure not one of them.  Well, I have read a book in a day, but that's about all I did.  Or I've read a book in a night and slept all the next day.  

This didn't take as long to read, but I expect I'll remember it for a much, much longer time.  It increases my appreciation for the New Testament.

MEN WHO KNEW THE MORTAL MESSIAH

            Heather Horrocks  *  *  *  *  *

I was one of the lucky ones who got a limited first edition copy.  However, I moved my bookcases at about that time, and my copy disappeared.  For months I wondered which of my family had borrowed the book without letting me know.  I remember how my father used to immediately claim somebody had stolen the tool he mislaid, so maybe it’s in the genes.  At any rate, my copy of Heather Horrock’s book turned up amidst a bunch of paperback romances.  My goodness, was it four whole years in hiding?  Maybe I ought not to admit to how seldom I dust my books, nor to how haphazardly they are shelved.

            Reading Men Who Knew The Moral Messiah drew me in immediately with the spiritual depth reverently displayed by just one of the wise men.  Yes, Heather went along with the traditional three, names and all.  At Christmas time we usually think of the wise men arriving almost simultaneously with the shepherds, or at least within a week or two after the birth of Christ, and it pleased me that this writer knew it took them about a full year to get to Bethlehem.

            New characters step forward to open eyes and hearts to the fullness of Christ’s mortal growth, spiritual development, compassion, and all-over greatness.  Joseph accepts the role of earthly mentor and guide, teaches Jesus carpentry, and learns from him.  A seller of doves in the temple, a man with palsy, another possessed by unclean spirits, a blind man, a thankful leper, and a thief on a cross all testify of how Jesus loved and blessed them.  Judas Iscariot explains why he felt motivated to pressure Christ into taking over the kingdom and casting out the Romans, and getting thirty pieces of silver was a just payment for the glory of Israel.  Realization of his misunderstanding devastated him.  Peter walked on water, thrice denied knowing Him, and thrice agreed to feed His lambs, ewes and rams.

            My high rating is for the magnitude and depth of reverence that tugged inside me as I read and contemplated what I’ve always been taught but from a slightly different point of view.  

Well researched, well penned.  This is a book I plan to keep handy to re-read often.  I’m so glad I found it.  I need to get a copy of Women Who Knew the Mortal Messiah and I hope she publishes her Women Who Knew the Pre-Mortal Messiah, or whatever she calls it.  Meanwhile there’s the musical that’s coming out.  With her novel, too, Heather Horrocks is not only talented, but she’s a busy woman.

 Actually, I'll have to buy me another copy, because I just gave my treasured one to a granddaughter who left to begin college at BYU Idaho.  Since we've lived in the same house since she was born, the occasion felt worth it.  I hope she likes it as well as I.