A Christmas Dilemma

Book excerpt: Upon learning that a recently discharged Army Ranger, a young man he has known for several years, has disappeared following an altercation at a local bar, the Sheriff of Harlan County, Kentucky persuades the local state police post to allow his office to take over the investigation. With his efforts to find Randall Cravens going nowhere, the sheriff is surprised to learn that the young man has not been discharged from the Army but was actually working undercover to stop a planned Saudi-inspired terrorist attack at a local high school basketball game, which could kill hundreds. Once the FBI, Homeland Security, and even an aged consultant from Britain’s MI5 get involved, the search for Cravens follows a roller coaster ride of emotions, escapes, and prayer—all leading to a thrilling and unexpected ending. At its core, this is the story about self-discovery in two young men, both sons of the Middle East, whose vastly different lives and experiences lead them down show little hope of converging; It is also a story about prayer and the recognition that when everything else is stripped away, prayer may be the only thing left to which people can turn; It is a story about valuing age and experience as much as technology and the sophisticated systems on which so many have come to rely; and, It is a story that speaks to people and nations who are sometimes saved not by those they identify as their saviors but by those that they are intent on keeping away because of fear.