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This is the gripping story of a young minister who loses his entire family in a tragic auto accident. Falling into a deep depression, he takes a leave of absence which rehabilitates him immeasurably.
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Reflections
Cobblestones is set in a village near the Mexican border. The young minister has recently lost his family. Unable to cope with it, he falls into a deep depression. His congregation gives him a leave of absence which leads him to the forsaken village. There he encounters a rundown cemetery and an abandoned church.
As he kicks a few cobblestones into place he attracts attention from the villagers. Unplanned, he tackles the unkept cemetery and gets involved in the lives of the villagers. This includes grappling with typical parish situations: marital difficulties, desertion, inter-faith perplexities, leadership entanglements, civic matters, tyrants, AIDS, alcoholism, sexual orientation, schooling dilemmas, racism along with other traditional and unconventional pastoral duties.
Here he is restored and finds it difficult to leave his villagers. Cobblestones not only invites clerical leaders but lay persons to enter the inner sanctum of the contemporary church with its mysteries, challenges and opportunities.
Excerpt
Daddy . . .Daddy . . .Richard threw back the covers and bounded out of bed heading for Alicia's room. When he got there, Alcia wasn't there. But he distinctly heard her voice. It was loud enough to awaken him and familiar enough so he knew who was calling him. It was the same voice that spoke to him in the emergency ward at the hospital three months earlier. "Daddy, I knew you'd come." Sadly, he returned to bed but sleep would not come. He wondered if he were going mad, not crazy, but mad. Was he dreaming or hallucinating? Was it a powerful case of wishful thinking?
These ninety days were miserable. His concentration was gone. He was forced into writing his srmons, word for word, or he'd ramble or forget what he was preaching about. On occasion he mis appointments, nothing serious but aggravating, not only to himself but to hsi parishioners. Most were so kind. Perhaps too compassionate. He wondered if his people could be too sympathetic because he knew people could be too kind.
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