This short 90-page novel is a literary delight. Within its few pages Steinbeck’s excellent mastery of words is evident as he expertly paints beautiful and compelling scenes in our mind’s eye.

The imprisonment of the Apostle Paul was a big blow to the early church. Many may have thought it was game over. The great evangelist, the beloved Apostle to the Gentiles, the lynch pin of the early Gentile Church is now in a Roman dungeon awaiting trial. All is lost!

Is it bad, when a home is no longer a home?
When the place you called Safe your whole Life
becomes a chamber for your near and necessary death-
your Lonely and Small, execution.

If you listen to Imagine Dragons lyrics, especially “Night Visions,” they are very honest about the nature of human existence. As we listen, it rings true with our own experience. But as we’ll see, the hope clung to is more sentimental and not so grounded in reality. The Bible shows us our problematic reality as well but also reveals God’s way of salvation from it.