As someone who loves history and great stories, I was immediately drawn to SETH'S CROSS by Jeff Randall. The book takes us into individuals we read about in the Bible and give us some great "what if" moments for us to read, enjoy and think about.
Jeff talks about the book, it's inspiration and what it was like for him to share this story with the world.
·
Jeff, congratulations on the response to SETH’S
CROSS. What has it been like for you to see how readers are enjoying the book?
It’s been
amazing to me. You hope that people will want to read your book, but when you
hear the excitement from people who are buying the book and giving it to family
and friends that is what I would have prayed for. For instance, I had a
surprise call from my wife’s 90-year-old uncle who we had not talked to in 16
years. He had discovered it on Facebook, loved it, and was purchasing the book
for his three adult children.
There have been
so many testimonies like this one, “many thanks for sharing this book with me.
It definitely renewed my faith in the power of God’s love, forgiveness, and
grace.” And that encourages me.
·
There are so many layers to the story that I
think readers will think about and enjoy. What was the spark for you that led
to writing it?
From a young
child through my adult years, I was drawn to the two thieves on the cross. We
know so little of them except one said yes to Jesus and one said no. What I saw
as a young boy was you do not have to do anything but accept Jesus sincerely in
your heart to receive eternal life. What always stood out to me was the thief
that recognized Jesus as his Savior didn’t or couldn’t do anything resembling
earning his salvation.
· Seth, like all of us, is faced with choices about the life he wants for himself. What was that like for you to show that push and pull that all of us face when it comes to what’s right and wrong?
For me, I realized some of the struggles over my life was not so much the accepting of God’s grace, but the pull within the church of “Am I doing enough, serving enough, giving enough, praying enough?” And it would take me back to the thief on the cross that there was not enough of anything he could do to justify his salvation. But I will say this, I believe if Seth could have come off that cross, he would have been the first one at church on Sunday, gladly give his tithes and offerings, run to the river to be baptized. He would have wanted to, but he didn’t have to.
·
The world has evolved in many ways since Jesus
walked the earth. What was it like for you to take us back in time while
showcasing the similarities to our lives today?
I wanted to show relationships such
as Jesus and Seth playing, becoming friends, having conversations was no
different from today. I wanted the voices of the characters to reflect the
conversations of today, 2,000 years later. The times have changed, but not the
conversations. A reader shared with me the way I used common words in the
narrative and the dialogue, and it refreshed her memory of the story she had
heard so many times in a current day prospective.
·
The messages of hope and forgiveness are all
throughout the book. What was it like for you to reflect on those as you told
this story and thought about the reader?
Often, my thoughts were on people I knew of
and know, believers who struggle with accepting God’s grace as a free gift and
not a possession to be earned. I guess
part of what was in my mind, this is not stories of hope and forgiveness for
the characters but for us and beyond. Hope and forgiveness are just as real and
obtainable today. For the unbeliever, the story of hope and forgiveness is for
those who think they are too far gone for God’s redemption. God’s mercy is
extended to everyone up until their last breath.
SETH'S CROSS is available on Amazon.
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