Something that Lasts
A novel by James Jordan
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The main characters in this book are Reverend David Parst, his wife Sarah and their son Jack. This story takes us into the life changing events of the Parst family. We are given a window into their secrets, sins, dreams, disappointments, accomplishments, sorrows and victories. The book is written in three parts spanning a period of 25 years. It starts in the early years of David’s ministry, takes us to Jack’s years in college and then into Jack’s life as a family man and his relationship with his Dad in the last years of his life.
David is a successful, dynamic pastor of the community church. He is proud of the accomplishments and growth of the church. He enjoys the respect of the community but is beginning to fill that perhaps he “sold” himself out in the choices he made in life. He loves his wife but finds himself attracted too a business woman in the church. He convinces himself that he can handle his attraction. Sarah begins to sense that David is drawing away from her. He is spending less time with her and their son. One Sunday morning, the service is interrupted by a man who exposes the sin that Pastor David has become involved in. Jack and Sarah find their world crashing in about them. The day ends with the man committing suicide and dying at Jack’s feet.
As his world crumbles around him David realizes that his sin has cost him everything. He has lost his family and his church. As David sits alone in his car, he comes to the realization that God has not left him, that he left God. He becomes aware of the power of God’s love and forgiveness. Sarah and Jack start their lives without David. In the midst of devastating health problems, Sarah’s relationship with God grows and she forgives David, although she can’t bring herself to live with him any longer. Jack blames his father for his mother’s illness and refuses to forgive him. Although David tries to talk with him, Jack refuses to have anything to do with his dad. As far as he is concerned, his dad is dead to him.
The story takes us to Jack’s college years where he meets his wife and finds his dreams of being a pro baseball player fade. David tries to reconnect with his son but finds it impossible. Jack and his wife have two beautiful children, a successful career and everything that Jack could ever want only to have the greatest tragedy of all strike their family. Jack is driven with a sense of loss, angry and striking out at those he loves, he drives them away. Jack’s inability to develop a relationship with God and give forgiveness almost destroys his relationship with his family. His wife leaves him and moves in with his mother. At his wife and mother’s request, David re-enters Jack’s life to try to bring healing, not only for Jack but for his family as well.
Jack, a bitter and angry man, tries to deal with the separation from his wife and on the verge of ending his life, finds his father standing at his door. Not the father he knew, but an old, crippled man – a man he doesn’t even recognize at first. Through David’s love for his son, the forgiveness he himself has received from God, Jack finds himself on a journey back to God and his family.
This story makes clear the need for forgiveness in our hearts, not only from God but for one another. It is dramatic at times, leaving us with a sense of loneliness and despair only to bring us to a true understanding of the unconditional love of the one true God. The story time line spans a long period of time. Although the reader may feel they have missed important years in the characters lives, as the story unfolds you see the importance of the events that have shaped not only this story but the lives of the characters as well. As you look into the preacher’s life, there is a sense of another story about a “fallen” preacher only to find compassion and understanding as the sincerity of David’s heart is shown as he cries out to God for forgiveness and changes the path he was taking. You desire for David’s son to take him back only to be drawn into the pain of Jack’s life and yearn for him to return to the God of his youth. Sarah’s heartbreak and experience’s and the reality of how life changes and affects us become a reality to the reader. The story has twists and turns that surprise the reader throughout and finally with its conclusion, leaves you feeling glad that you read this book. The author holds your interest from the beginning to the end and leaves you wanting to read more of his stories.
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