The Brightness Around Him

Book excerpt: During the 1950s, a seven-year-old boy from a church-going family in a Texas suburb has a night-time vision of Jesus. In the morning he tells his parents about it. They immediately call the minister, who visits that very day. Best keep it quiet, the grown-ups all agree. So Jim Strahan nurtured his experience, grew in his faith, and Christian character, but always wondered Why me? What was he supposed to do? Jim didn't go to seminary or start a TV ministry. He began a study of Scripture and church history focused on the ultimate destinies of humankind--concluding that the predominant beliefs of the day were wrong. What he saw in the pages of Scripture, and in the writings of many church fathers, convinced Jim that Jesus will at long last save every person who ever lived on earth. Part autobiography, part advocacy, The Brightness Around Him is a compelling tale of walking by faith, processing a transformative spiritual experience, and fitting in at churches that don't want to hear about your deepest-held biblical belief. In the end it's about how God's love will one day win it all.