cover image IN THE HOLLOW OF HIS HAND: Amazing Stories of God's Care

IN THE HOLLOW OF HIS HAND: Amazing Stories of God's Care

Gorman Woodfin, . . Multnomah, $10.99 (160pp) ISBN 978-1-57673-991-4

Woodfin warns readers that his compilation of true, dramatic stories does not lend itself to cozy bedtime reading. Rather, each account deals with the sordid details of crime, drug abuse, sexual offenses, natural disastersor violence. Woodfin, a regular on The 700 Club and a television personality who spent six years as a national reporter for the Christian Broadcasting Network, frames this book (his first) around an Old Testament custom. Each time God delivered the Israelites from danger, they erected stone markers to commemorate God's miraculous intervention. Woodfin believes that all 17 of these accounts serve as such memorials. Writing in a brisk, journalistic style, he captures the emotion of the moment in a hit-or-miss fashion. His first chapter describes a 10-year-old's disastrous encounter with a bolt of lightning that burned the boy from the inside out, disfiguring over 70% of his body. Miraculously, he lived and is today a healthy public high school student. Another account rehearses the terror of a family who was lifted into the eye of a tornado and then dropped unharmed. Undoubtedly, all of the survivors featured are to be commended for their staunch bravery and unswerving faith; yet many of the stories don't evoke the passionate and faithful response the author is aiming toward. Rather, the collection may leave readers feeling like they've encountered tabloid sensationalism, since it tries too hard to dazzle and even shock. (Oct.)