Joshua: The Homecoming

Description

The countdown to the year 2000 affected people in different ways -- some were curious, others anxious, and still others panicked. Amid this atmosphere of uncertainty, a quiet solitary man comes again to the tiny town of Auburn. This carpenter, known as Joshua, first arrived nearly two decades earlier and transformed everyone with his words of peace and actions of love. However, in the years since he left, many of his friends have died and a generation has grown up not knowing him. Now, with the new millenium on the horizon, Joshua reassures everyone by reminding them of the lessons he left them with years before. He explains that God is love, not some monster waiting for people to make one false move and then punish them. But when an immense earthquake strikes just before the new year, and other "signs of the apocalypse" seem to abound, Joshua realizes that his wisdom much reach beyond this small town in order to help people throughout the rest of the world.Joshua: The Homecoming is Joseph F. Girzone s sequel to the immensely popular Joshua. The title character, a kind and solitary carpenter, returns to the small town of Auburn after a 20-year absence. Joshua finds that many of his old friends have died, and he sees in the new generation a pervasive fear and spiritual insecurity. Many of the anxieties that plague the citizens of Auburn stem from millennial hysteria; and when signs of the Apocalypse begin to appear (such as a great earthquake just before the turn of the new year), Joshua soothes their fears by reminding them that God is love. "My father does not follow people s calendar," Joshua says. "If he decides to bring the world to an end, it will be when the work of His creation is perfected." Eventually, it becomes clear to Joshua that he must leave Auburn to preach his powerful message to the rest of the world. Like all of Girzone s books (including Never Alone and A Portrait of Jesus), this novel exudes empathy for its characters loneliness and fears, and gives readers a strong sense of what it means to live in an intimate relationship with God.