by Stephen Arterburn
Jonathan Rush was abandoned as a child in Alaska and later adopted by a family in Miami. As an adult, he realizes that he is angry at his birth mother and that his anger is ruining his life. His pastor pressures him to return to Fairbanks, Alaska and find out as much about her as he can. With the help of a reporter who befriends him, Jonathan finds more than he had bargained for and has to make difficult choices. There is a section at the end of the book explaining the author's inspiration and reasons for writing the book and also a study guide.
The Encounter is a short but interesting book. The theme of forgiveness, its necessity and difficulty, comes through quite well. The cover says, "sometimes, God has to intervene," but I'm not sure what the intervention was in the story; it didn't seem like anything unexpected happened. And there was a scene where Jonathan was rude to someone and the reporter took him up on it, but it was never resolved or even talked about again. I thought that was rather a loose thread. While this book might be helpful to people struggling with difficult situations, the author seems to expect more results than I would. So all in all, I would consider this a nice story but not really life-changing.
Disclaimer: I received this book free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
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