Kingdom Harbor

This Sunday evening at 5pm I will be reading aloud my latest short story in a series of imaginative retellings of favorite Bible stories. This new book tells the story of Paul’s stormy voyage ending in shipwreck on the island of Malta from Acts 27. While Luke’s account is one of the most detailed shipwreck accounts from antiquity, it’s still very sparing in details.

My story imagines Paul, a lone Jew on a ship of superstitious pagans, each telling stories from their sacred texts. Poseidon and Odysseus and Castor and Pollux on the one hand, and Noah and Jonah, Leviathan and Jesus the Water-walker on the other. As the storm outside grows more perilous, and the shipmates begin to panic, Paul remains calm and brings reassurance and spiritual leadership to these doomed “souls in chains.”

An added joy was using AI technology to generate illustrations throughout the book. Very cool!

The story is called “The Wood and the Viper” and you’ll have to come hear it Sunday or read it for yourself to know why. This is my 4th short story in this series, and I hope to make them all available for purchase this spring. Here’s a description of the others:

Mystery on the Sea of Galilee (2021) 

There’s something fishy going on around the Sea of Galilee. It’s the fishing opener and the fish have been training hard in their schools to out smart the eager anglers above. Strangely, there were no reported catches this opener,  and boats and nets were lay abandoned along the shore . The fishermen seem to have vanished. Join Sammie the sardine, Bart the Biny fish, Deborah the Dove, and others at Rock Pile Point as they try to solve this Mystery on the Sea of Galilee.  

The Tale of the Cursed Fig Tree (2021) 

Why did Jesus curse a fig tree for not bearing fruit — especially when it wasn’t the season for figs? What if the fig tree that Jesus cursed could tell his side of the story? In this imaginative  retelling of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem to shouts of “Hosanna,” we see how Jesus’ fate was strangely intertwined with the fate of an old fig tree standing watch over the Temple all these years. 

The Lucky Tale of Eutychus (2021) 

In a seaside village on the Aegean Sea, a local physician announces that the great miracle-working apostle is coming to visit. Eutychus, an inquisitive teenager, is skeptical of the wild stories circulating about Paul and his message about a crucified Jew. Curious, he goes to hear Paul speak, but ends up dozing off and falling out of the window to his death. This is an imaginative firsthand account of a boy named ‘Lucky’ who was lucky enough to live (again) to tell his tale.