Joshua: The Homecoming
Joshua: The Homecomingis Joseph F. Girzone's sequel to the immensely popularJoshua. 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 (includingNever AloneandA 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.