Sunday, September 2, 2007

Midnight Clear-Jerry B. Jenkins and Dallas Jenkins

Midnight Clear
Jerry B. Jenkins and Dallas Jenkins
Tyndale, Oct 2007, $9.99
ISBN: 9781414316598

It is the day before Christmas Eve and five people do not feel that tomorrow will be any different than any other day; except maybe worse. Lefty has lost his apartment, his job and visitation rights to his children because of his habitual drinking. Evie is estranged from her children and feels there is nothing to live for; she plans to commit later that night. Mary and her son Jacob feel the loss of her institutionalized husband/his father Rick due to brain damage incurred when a DUI rammed into his car.

Mitch, a youth pastor at the church Mary used to attend before the accident, was in the vehicle when the drunk crashed into then. He is unable to visit Rick because he cannot cope with seeing his best friend with the mind of an infant. Suffering his own crisis of faith, Mitch considers quitting as the youth pastor. Kirk, the owner of a self-service gas station and convenience store, lives in a grey world.. These five people cross paths in a random way, but are changed by accepting the gift of grace.

This is a beautiful Christmas story filed with love, hope, redemption and a chance to turn one’s life around by accepting the gift of grace especially when things seem darkest and it feels as if God abandoned you. Each of the five prime players represents a cross section of the population yet everyone is fully developed so that the audience understands their depression that comes with their tribulations. Jerry B. Jenkins and Dallas Jenkins have created a delightful charmer that empathizing readers will appreciate as life is worth living.

Harriet Klausner

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