5in1: Sons of Encouragement

A great series of stories for anyone wanting dig a little deeper into the right hand men of some of the bibles greatest heroes. Francine Rivers brings the biblical tales to life with both context and cultural depth and although fictional i enjoyed the idea that the concepts and conversations could have taken place. A great read!

Sons of Encouragement is a compilation of five novellas, each complete in themselves. They are about men who stood in the shadow of a leader of Israel, or a leader of the early church. Reading their story brings their part of the scriptures to life for me. Did you ever wonder who Silas was, besides being a companion of Paul? Francine Rivers (with much wonderful enlightenment and assistance from Holy Spirit, I am sure) describes life in Jerusalem in the decades after Jesus' death and resurrection through the eyes of a scribe, Silas. We get to know and love Aaron, the High Priest who loyally loved and served his younger brother, Moses. Caleb - I will never read the book of Joshua again without looking for Caleb who was, to my surprise, an outsider, being of Hittite blood. """"The Prince"""" is Jonathan, the blood-brother by covenant to David and son of his arch-enemy Saul the king. Francine delves into the years when David was hunted and hounded by King Saul, all from Jonathan's perspective. The """"Prophet"""" is Amos. With each new character, I found myself deciding 'he is my favourite'. By the end of this book, I loved them all.

After reading A Lineage of Grace, I had to read this book. I did enjoy A Lineage of Grace more but that could be because I'm female and felt I could relate to the stories more. \\r\\nIt retells the biblical stories of Caleb, Silas, Jonathon, Aaron and Peter. It gave me so much more insight into the history and significance of the the time they lived in. These characters I knew little about. Francine Rivers has written theses retellings well and has kept it quite close to scripture. There is added information for Silas as there is not as much details in the Bible about him. I love that at the end of each story there is a bible study and a reference to where the story is located in the bible. It meant I could go read the story for myself and see where certain details came from.

Though the stories are fictional, they are based on real charaters and their stories in the bible. \\r\\nEach story follows the service of a man of God serving in the shadow of a greater figure from the bible. \\r\\nReveals how one's passion and dedication to God, can encourage and lead others, bringing glory to God,\\r\\n\\r\\nExploring the charaters' passion for God in the stories, exposes in the reader a deeper desire to trust in God and live out a stronger bolder faith. \\r\\n\\r\\nEasy to read, hard to put down, and very encouraging. \\r\\nMakes you want to be a better man livng with a closer relationship with God. \\r\\n\\r\\n