Coming Home is a book that fictionally completes the stories of two men in the Bible. The first gives insight into Jesus' parable of what we know as the Prodigal (or Lost) Son, explaining the thoughts of the son, his brother, and his father in Luke 15:11-32. Jesus begins this parable with the words, "A certain man had two sons." The main character is Jakobi, and I have added information into the lives of his entire family. This parable could have been about someone's family in the crowd of listeners in Jericho. Jesus wanted the listeners to finish the parable in their own way, so this story was left unfinished. I developed an ending regarding the two sons, the feelings of the parents, an explanation as to why the younger son left home and later returned, and the feelings of the elder son.

The second story, "Bartimaeus," concerns the healing of a blind man in Mark 10:46-52. The Bible does not give this man's age, but allows us to understand that he once had sight. Many of the healed biblical figures were not always named, yet we read he is the son of Timaeus. When Jesus asked what he wanted from Him, he responded that he wanted to regain his sight. How did he become blind in the first place, and what happened after Jesus healed him?

I pray you'll enjoy Coming Home, as I tried to finish their stories and future lives following their return home. "The author uses her creative imagination to fill in the missing information of several Bible stories, without violating the integrity of the stories. As a pastor, I recommend this book to all." -Reverend James A. and Maryann Roma Wintergreen Ledges Church of God, Akron, Ohio

I have always wondered why the Bible does not give names to certain of its characters. Scripture would stress "a certain man" instead of naming the man, or not give names to the people the Lord Jesus healed. It is noted that some names were of importance to the stories, while others only needed to be acknowledged as those who were healed.

For instance, Naaman the Syrian leper had an unnamed wife. The nameless leper who was healed (along with nine other men) returned to say thanks to Jesus for his miraculous healing. We know that nothing is said about him after his healing. There is also the man healed beside the pool at Bethesda by Jesus and, again, what happened to him after the priests and scribes questioned his healing on the Sabbath?

Hence, in the first story, Naaman's wife and her little maid now have names and a history. In the second story, I continued the leper's story as he relates it years later to his daughter-in-law. The third story gives a bit more insight to the character of the man who was healed by Jesus at the Pool of Bethzatha.

LSW