Forgotten Road by Randall Arthur

Nashville music star and family man, Cole Michaels, is persuaded to embrace an 'American Dream' theology that promises comfort, happiness, and success. But when the unimaginable happens, Cole blames God and abandons his faith. More vulnerable than ever, he is clueless that an evil character with an unspeakable secret is using every available resource to find him. 

Can two old sages, a beautiful blonde, a violin called the Mysterious Lady, and a Triumph motorcycle help prepare Cole for his ultimate trial? 

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Down every forgotten road is a new discovery. Sometimes pleasant. Sometimes frightening. 

There's no 'fairy tale' Christianity here. But there is a true-to-life drama that will captivate your heart and mind. And resonate with your soul.


As you may or may not know, I am the Media Director for my church library, the HeavenBound Media Center.  I started the library almost 15 years ago with about 600 titles and today we have over 7000.  I can remember, in those early days, that the selection of Christian Fiction wasn't anything like it is today.  One day, though, I had someone suggest that I purchase the books that Randall Arthur had written.  I bought them, read them, and enjoyed them immensely.  I was sad when, after "Brotherhood of Betrayal", it didn't seem as if there would ever be another Randall Arthur book.  It may have been 15 years in the making, but "Forgotten Road" is definitely worth the wait.


Cole Michaels appears to have it all.  As his pastor had said, "It is never God's will that any of His children should suffer financially......" So his rising music career, his beautiful family and everything going his way had to be given to him by God.  In an instant, though, all of that changed.  Why would God forsake him?  Isn't he a child of the King?  Who wants a God that can put people through so much pain?  As Cole know adjusts to life without his career, his family and all things perfect, there's a new focus and direction to his life.  When the opportunity comes to reignite his career, he jumps at the chance, but ends it all abruptly.  He takes out on the road to spend time conversing with God and to draw nearer to Him.  To take all of the noise out of his life to zero in on what the Lord's desire is for his life.  What does he find during his travels?  Can he get his career back on track?  What kind of life does God really want for us?  GO BUY THIS BOOK!


I can't say enough about this book.  The hard part is putting all of my thoughts down in this review without giving the story away.  This books touched me in a way that no other book has ever done.  The way that Cole gave of himself to others, the personal discovery that he made out on the road by himself, and after he teamed up with the group of men from Jason Faircloth's church.  This book was filled with such personal insight into how we need to approach our relationship with Him; "We all need to be under the preaching of God's Holy Word, None of us can afford to slack off on being in God's house on God's day", "Tell those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money.  Tell them to use their money to do good.  They should be rich in good works and should give generously to those in need.  By doing this they will be storing up their treasure as a good foundation for the future".  On and on, I could keep typing these little snippets from the book that really made an influence on me, but I won't.  I'll just remind you to GO BUY THIS BOOK!


Is this a guy's book?  You better believe it.  This book hits at the heart of a man.  It shows us how to humble ourselves before man and before God so that His light is the one that shines through all of the time.  This story has a great "man's club" feel when the motorcycle club takes off on their adventure, especially because of the different adventures they get into while on the road.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Randall and his wife have been career missionaries since 1975. They have planted churches in Oslo, Norway; Munich, Germany; and Berlin, Germany.

Randall is an Atlanta native. He became a believer at the age of 12, and surrendered his life to be a preacher and missionary at the age of 15. 

Randall’s first novel Wisdom Hunter was penned in the late 1980’s. The volume was born, not out of a long held ambition to write a novel, but rather out of a therapeutic need to put into writing the painful lessons he learned as a young legalistic missionary in Norway.

The purpose of the book was to illustrate in a real-life drama the destructiveness of legalism in the body of Christ. The novel proved to be too controversial for Randall’s legalistic camp. The president of the mission agency with which Randall served demanded Randall’s resignation the very day he read the book.

Randall later wrote Jordan’s Crossing and Brotherhood of Betrayal. These books were also born out of personal struggles.

Randall’s goal as a part-time writer is to rip the smiling mask off American Christianity and tell stories that portray true-to-life struggles, true-to-life thoughts, true-to-life reactions, and true-to-life journeys.


I was supplied with a copy of this book by the author through the bookfun.org website in exchange for my honest opinion.


PURCHASE THE BOOK HERE:

Amazon
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Randall's Webpage