Book Review by Contributor Lorilyn Roberts
When I finished reading Remembering Christmas,
so many tears filled my eyes it was hard to see. From sweet stories to special
moments, funny anecdotes to heart-wrenching tales, soft poetic lyrics
to bold eschatology, there is a story for everyone in this book.
I tried to decide which one was my favorite, but couldn’t.
They were all beautifully written. Still, one memoir unexpectedly touched my heart.
In “The Return of the King” by Bob Blundell, he shares a trip he took to Israel, where he stood at the edge of the Valley of
Armageddon. This incident was particularly memorable to him because when he was
in college, he had read Hal Lindsey’s best-selling book, The Late Great
Planet Earth.
Forty-five years earlier, I attended an event at which Hal
Lindsey spoke when I was a student at the University of Georgia. What an
impact hearing him speak had on my life. Many years earlier, I had also read The Late
Great Planet Earth and seen the movie by the same name.
By coincidence, I had listened to a Hal Lindsey YouTube
video in my car only a few hours earlier. I was returning home with an old
treasured lamp someone had fixed for me for free as a Christmas gift.
“I can tell how much that lamp means to you,” the man said. “Merry
Christmas.”
I felt so blessed by
the store owner because it took him a while to fix the lamp, and the store rate
for repairs was $90 per hour.
Wonderful books tug at your heartstrings. They stir your
emotions and cause you to ponder, to remember, to hope, to laugh, to weep. They
take you down roads less traveled and quench a longing you might not even know
you have.
Remembering Christmas is one of those books. In this season
of giving, I’ve enjoyed a quiet moment to read and reflect on the profound
meaning of Christmas, not only historically and spiritually, but personally. I
will put this poignant book on my bookshelf and look forward to reading it
again next Christmas and beyond.
