Outskirts Press, INC.

What if Jesus had come to this world in our time?

Imagine striking up a conversation today with an ordinary-looking stranger, and He turned out to be Jesus Christ in the flesh! What would it be like to see Him, talk to Him, and spend time with Him? How would He react to this world, and how would it react to Him? Seeker of Hearts envisions such a scenario, setting the gospel story in our contemporary world and following His life as if you were alongside Him, listening to His teachings and seeing His miracles.

Seeker of Hearts strips away the ‘Bible movie’ veneer of the gospel story, removing it from the Shakespearean stage and bringing Jesus directly before the reader in a personal way, at street level - where we live and where it all happened. It challenges the reader to consider Jesus in a new way, unhampered by our personal preconceived ideas that tend to keep Him at arm’s length. People who have read the book, even long-time Christians, say it has brought them closer to the Lord.

Come walk with Him and share his incomparable life. Witness the events taken straight from scripture, transported into our time and culture as if they were happening today. No one who meets the Seeker of Hearts walks away unchanged!

In the van, Jesus rode silently, with a strange expression on his face: an odd mixture of grief, determination, and joy. When they reached the cemetery, Martha directed Pete as he drove through the maze of asphalt lanes, while Jesus sat solemnly gazing out the window at the rows of headstones. Eventually they stopped, and as everyone exited the van, the other vehicles pulled up and parked. The people got out and hurried to catch up. Lastly, the black Mercedes arrived, and three men in clerical collars calmly disembarked, but stayed with their car.

As the crowd made their way across the lawn, a voice wafted over and reached Jesus’ ears, “He made blind men see—why couldn’t he keep his friend from dying?” Someone shushed the question.

Everyone spoke in quiet tones as they gathered around Lazarus’ fresh grave, which was garlanded with wilting flowers from the funeral. Jesus touched Pete’s shoulder and pointed to a backhoe parked a stone’s throw away, near a newly dug, open grave. “Can you operate that?” he asked.

“Nat can. Why? What’re you going to do?” Pete asked apprehensively.

“Nathan.”

“Yessir?”

“Bring that back-hoe over here and open up this grave for me, please,” he instructed matter-of-factly. Nathaniel hesitated a moment, eyeing Jesus to make sure he’d heard right, and then turned and walked through the crowd toward the machine.

Pete gawked at Jesus incredulously, as did many others who had heard the macabre request. Mary slipped her hand around his forearm and quietly said, “He’s been dead for days—his body will smell awful!”

“Remember my telling you that if you believed, you’d see the glory of God?” he asked her.

Murmuring, the crowd parted as Nat backed the tractor up to the grave. After positioning the machine and locking down the outriggers, he swiveled the seat around and looked at Jesus. Jesus nodded and Nat put his hands on the levers. “Stand back!” he yelled over the rumble of the engine, waving the crowd away from the machine. They shuffled backward, and Nat began scooping dirt out of the grave and dumping it on one side. After a few minutes of excavation, he raised the bucket to its upright position and shut off the motor. Grabbing a spade that was wedged into the frame of the backhoe, he climbed across the hydraulic arm and jumped down into the hole. He started shoveling out dirt, and those nearby soon heard the hollow sound of metal scraping across wood as the tool found Lazarus’ coffin.

Nat was on his knees scooping out the last of the dirt with his hands when Jesus called down to him, “That’s good, Nat. Thanks.” Pete reached down and helped him climb out of the hole. Jesus then prayed out loud, “Thank you for hearing me, Father. I know you always hear me, but I’m praying now for the sake of these people here, so they’ll believe you sent me and that I’ve come to do your will. Show them now that your will is for everyone to have life. Amen.” He then put his hands on his knees and leaned over the open grave. He shouted loudly, “Lazarus! Come out of there!”

A strong thump immediately emanated from the coffin, making loose soil dance on the lid. Those close to the hole gasped in unison, astonished. Many onlookers cried out as a second thump resounded, and then with the third, the lid burst open, held by the outstretched arm of the casket’s occupant! With his other hand he rubbed his eyes, which had been glued shut by the mortician to keep them closed during the viewing.

People wept, and a few screamed in terror and ran like frightened cats to their vehicles, slamming the doors and squealing their tires as they fled.

“Now help him out of that thing!” Jesus ordered.

Andy and Nat hopped into the grave and pulled Laz out of the coffin. Other hands then reached down and lifted him out of the hole and up onto the grass next to Jesus, who took hold of his head and wiped the rest of the glue away from his eyes.

Laz looked at him incredulously, more amazed than anyone. He gawked down at the open grave and at his name engraved on the headstone, trying to grasp where he was and what had just happened. Mary and Martha hesitated as if unsure of their sanity, but soon took hold of their bewildered brother, laughing and crying at once as they embraced him.

Laz glanced down at his bare feet. Then looking at Jesus, he commented in a befuddled tone, “I seem to have lost my shoes.”

“Let’s get you home, Laz. You must be starving,” Jesus said, putting an arm around him and guiding him toward the vans.

“Yeah,” he realized. “I am.”