Usually, my weekly posts are digging into the core of the earth about the things God has ripped my eyes open. I talk about my desires and how the longings draw me nearer to Him, and how difficult waiting can be. Last week I wrote about how He drank the bitter cup and had to die to remarry His bride, fulfilling EVERYTHING.

I interrupt my weekly soul purging to regretfully write that I had no idea who John Grisham was until this year. Brent’s mom loaned me ‘The Testament’ over the summer, and I decided it was one of the best books I’d ever read. I loved every single thing about the story, and it will always be a favorite.

The novel is about an incredibly wealthy man who writes his final ‘will and testament’ before he dies, excluding his six biological children and leaving everything to an “illegitimate” daughter. The catch is she is a missionary, living worlds away, who wants nothing to do with this world’s treasures. The story includes the journey of a ‘broken’ lawyer making the worldwide trek to find the girl who lives for God and tell her about her inheritance.

It was a beautiful and captivating story.

During quarantine, I watched a lot of movies, including ‘The Pelican Brief’ for the first time. I LOVED THAT MOVIE and wouldn’t find out it is a novel written by John Grisham until months later.

Brent’s mom was purging and suggested I bring some books to my other job where we have a little “library” people can get and take books from a shelf we have in the lobby. Included in the box she gave were John Grisham books, and I took all of them. We are so slow at work right now that I get to read a lot. To make a long story short, you meet many people by the books you read, and currently seem to attract middle aged men. It’s so hilarious. It was there I found out he wrote ‘The Pelican Brief’ which blew my mind and made so much sense. I then printed a list of his books, went to the thrift store, scanned the shelves, laser focusing on JOHN GRISHAM, stocked up on all I could, and highlighted my list as I go. I feel like I’ve missed out on so much by reading “hallmark” stories my whole life. I say that, but P.S. I love you is how I ended up in Ireland, so it’s not all counted as loss… 😛 . I enjoy suspense, thriller type books, and this guy knows how to write a story.

I’m also extremely annoying because I’m a chronic texter while reading. I get stressed and talk it out.

What I’ve read so far:
The Testament
The Rainmaker
The Reckoning
The King of Torts
The Firm
The Client
A Time to Kill

After I finish the books, I watch movies. Like anything else, the books will always be better, but so far, ‘The Firm’ is as opposite as they come. I thought it was a great movie, but it was NOT the book at all. They changed the end! There was no reason to touch anything in that story, but they changed so much.

All of this was really to say ‘A Time to Kill’ may be my favorite book of all time. I never saw the movie, but I know it is very popular, and I had no idea it was based on a book. The story is tragic and hard to read because it is such a devastating story, but when I finished said, “What do I do with my life now?”. I didn’t plan on watching the movie. After all, I didn’t think I could handle it because I had enough trouble finishing the book itself. But, I finished it yesterday and watched the movie last night.

If you are unaware of what it is about, the story takes place in Southern Mississippi during segregation, where two white rednecks rape and attempt to murder a little black girl. The girl’s father takes justice into his own hands and kills the two white guys before they have a chance to go to trial, and the whole story is to find out if they should convict him of murder or not. It is a real tragedy, never-ending, and when you think it can’t get worse, The KKK shows up. It doesn’t get better until the last few pages of the book. It is a true rollercoaster and keeps you on the edge of your seat, demanding justice for this grieving father. The book opens with the rape of the little girl, so you never have a real chance to come up for air, and the author does an excellent job of making sure the reader wants the two white guys dead.

While reading this book, I had a moral issue (of course). As a Christian, what are we supposed to do?

From the beginning of this book, I knew enough about the story to know the dad kills the rapists, and I COULD NOT WAIT for them to die. I couldn’t read fast enough, waiting for the justice giving these two disgusting, low lives, undeserving of being called human beings, what they deserve.

Do feelings prevail in this situation, and is it morally ok that this dad killed these two animals who ruined his little girl’s life? The problem was he waited and planned to murder them instead of during the actual crime.

Or are we supposed to know “vengeance is Mine, saith the Lord” and let Him deal with them whether in this life or the next?

I think of Elizabeth Smart. If you do not know it is the true story of a teenager kidnapped from her bed, in front of her sister, in the middle of the night by someone who was working for her dad who held her captive as his “wife” for months. He claimed he was a prophet, and God told him to do it, which if you are familiar with the scriptures and the God of the bible AT ALL, know all of that is evil. The grace her family had dealing with the whole thing was truly miraculous to me. I have no idea how anyone could go through something like that and come out the other side. I follow her on Instagram and think she’s just an incredible person and is married with her own children. As she has said, if she didn’t move on that’s allowing the man to win.

In closing, this may be the only window of time I have to read and am taking full advantage.

Onto the next story…