The Substance Hoped For
A Journey of Faith
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
Sam was rather pleased with Tom outside of his driving, but that sport car and Tom’s preoccupation with, well, whatever preoccupied him when he drove, could wreak havoc with The Law of Averages. Any human being would have gone screaming into the night in frustration with trying to look after him, but Sam wasn‘t human. Guardian angels don’t get impatient or frustrated. They just look after their charges without complaining.
That was going to be a particularly important trait for Sam this time around. Of all his human assignments, none of them had required that he become one of them. That would be an extremely rare event, and it was going to happen this time. For the first time since he was created, Sam would become human for awhile. Well, not totally. He would still maintain all of his formidable powers, but he would need to be very judicious in using them. The rules were very clear on the limits of Nature Manipulation and Event Recognition. Even though Tom would be told up front who Sam is, Sam had to maintain that human front. Despite the extraordinary events that Tom would experience, Sam needed to allow enough room for doubt to allow Human Choice. A True Faith Event required Human Choice to recognize the Doubt Opportunity and consciously deny it. In other words, the human in question had to consciously do something that a) God wanted, b) looked stupid, all the while c) trusting God not to let him or her splatter. That’s what the manual said, anyway. As one might imagine, it takes a little doing.
Formats
Book Details
About the Book
The Substance Hoped For is based on Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the essence of things not seen.” It is the journey of one man, Tom Snyder, from agnosticism to faith in God.
That journey comes in the form of traveling back in time to the night Christ is born and eventually living with Joseph, Mary, and Jesus for almost two years. Struggling at first to simply accept that he is indeed back in time, he eventually comes to terms with that situation. Beyond that, believing in God and Jesus’ true nature takes a bit more doing.
Through Tom’s 21st Century eyes, we see the Christmas story and the people of the New Testament as more than mere Sunday School characters. Taking his cues from the bible, human nature, and his years on the stage, Jeff King breathes the details of life into the three Wise Men, King Herod, Simeon at the temple, the soldiers who slaughter the Innocents, and even a few angels. Not to mention Joseph, Mary, and Jesus.
Take the journey of faith with Tom and find for yourself The Substance Hoped For.
About the Author
This is Jeff King’s first novel, but he is not new to writing or publishing. He is the author of a series of church skits called Tonesetters, published from 1998 to 2000. These five-minute vignettes brought a fresh perspective to each Sunday’s lesson. He is also the author of two screenplays, one of which, The Whirligig, was read by Dolly Parton’s Sandollar Productions.
His roots are in the theatre, with degrees in speech, theatre, and acting. Apprenticed at the Cleveland Shakespeare Festival and the Meadowbrook Theatre in Auburn Hills and a two-year member of the Hillberry Repertory Company in Detroit, he has worked with Tom Hanks, Tom Sizemore, and a number of other television and movie actors.
A member of