Sons Of Encouragement

I read this book as a buddy read with my Sis, Nay.  This book contained five stories of lesser known men in the Bible.

AARON:

Aaron along with his brother Moses were sent to Egypt to give a message to Pharaoh from God. Aaron did not have the strength and faith as Moses, but became High Priest of God's people.  This position did not come easy for Aaron.  He suffered much guilt because of how he allowed the people to pressure him into creating a "golden calf" for the Hebrews to worship while Moses was up on the mount.  Aaron learns to deal with this guilt and look to God for the strength he needs to fulfill his purpose.

This story moved soooo slow.  I almost DNF'd it.  It was very hard to read this story because of the drag.  I kept thinking I can't wait to finish this story and that I hoped the rest of this book was not like this.  

CALEB:

Caleb was the other part of the dynamic duo (Joshua and Caleb) that brought the Hebrews to the promised land.  I truly did not care for this story.  Joshua was insecure and Caleb had to boost him up and be his cheerleader.  It just read so differently than in the Bible.  I guess that's why it's called fiction, but it was a big no for me.  Francine was still stretching out this story way too long.  It left me to believe that she was struggling writing from a man's perspective.

JONATHAN:

Francine has shown great improvement in the story.  I really liked the friendship and brotherhood between Jonathan and David.  She kept her script close to the Bible for this story.  I thoroughly enjoyed it.

AMOS:

I LOVED this story.  Amos reminded me so much of Jonah.  He had a message to deliver to people  that he cared not to be around nor did he care that much for their fate.  I love that Amos started out as a shepherd like David.  For 10 years Amos delivered God's message warning the people of their impending destruction if they did not repent.  The people would listen, wait, and return to their ways because what was being said, had not come to pass.  So much is still true today.  We will receive a message and if the results don't come fast enough we resort back to doing "us."

SILAS:

This was my favorite story of the book.  Silas was a scribe that followed the disciples and wrote their encounters with Christ.  He dealt with much loss after having watched his friends die and he himself beaten for being friends with Christians and a follower of the Way.  In order for Silas to move forward he had to deal with his hurt.  The best way he could do so, is to do what he does best, write.

****

4-star read!

As you can see I did give this a 4 star rating.  It was only because I really enjoyed the last 3 books and that made up for the feelings I had in regards to the first two books.  I remember kept saying to Nay that it had to be her first time writing in man's perspective or these books were her early works.  I am glad that I did not DNF the book and that I got to the gold at the end of the rainbow.