Amazon Free To Soar Category:  Mainstream Publisher: Free To Soar ISBN-10:  0967300320 Type: Fiction Pages: 260 Copyright: Dec 1 2001 Set in Atlanta, Georgia and Birmingham, Alabama (with an incident in Winston-Salem), this spiritual, heart-tugging, suspense-woven tale of family, love, friendship, commitment, sacrifice, ministry, promises, and scars (seen and unseen) is said to "read like a movie." It's the kind of book that almost refuses to let you put it down. "Have you ever loved someone that you never had?" No doubt, this is possible. Loving someone you've never had. If not you, then maybe someone you know. In PROMISES BEYOND JORDAN, George Landris speaks these words to Theresa Jordan, his wife to be, as he rushes off in search of Johnnie Mae Taylor (a woman he onced loved) after learning she and her family were in a serious car accident. Being that it's nine days before he and Theresa are set to wed, a natural uneasiness begins to loom. But then Theresa has a few problems of her own brewing. One that stems from a promises her father (Richard, now Bishop Jordan) made thirty years ago to Lena Patterson. Secrets begin to surface that may prove Theresa's (as well as some others') undoing. Add to this, a scandal threatening to split (if not destroy) Wings of Grace Faith Ministry Church along with its unconventional, dreadlocks-wearing, Word-teaching pastor and you have all the ingredients necessary for a spirited, drama-filled, smorgasbord of a story. Help yourself to the buffet! Excerpt Inside the spacious foyer, a large crystal chandelier sets the tone for the rest of the house. George really wanted to get out of the clothes he'd worn since last night but Theresa started in on him before they got past his study. No, she didn't understand why he had to be gone for three days. No, she didn't see why he had to go in the first place. No, she wasn't planning on acting this way every time he has to go check on or see about someone. Yes, she understood what life would be like married to a preacher--she'd seen it played out most of her life. Yes, she realized she was probably overreacting. Yes, she held a right to the way she felt--at least she was owning her feelings. Yes, he owed her a better explanation. No, she was not being insecure. Yes, this was the time to be discussing this. No, she didn't care that he was tired. "And what kind of a relationship did you two have that would cause you to just leave like you did and go see about her?" Theresa said.

Library Journal
"Have you ever loved someone that you never had?" George Landris asks his fiancee Theresa Jordan barely two weeks before their wedding. George, a hip, dreadlock-wearing young pastor at Wings of Grace Faith Ministry Church in Birmingham, AL has just learned that his first love, Johnnie Mae Taylor, barely survived a car accident in Atlanta. Her husband and toddler daughter are still in critical condition and he feels compelled to lend his support. George's departure is the signal for Theresa's prenuptial doubts to emerge. As the wedding draws closer, George and Theresa grow further apart, and Theresa's discovery of a dark secret in her father's past seems to close the door on the couple's future together. Then, a scandal erupts in the church with George and Theresa at the center. George clings to his faith to sustain him in his trials, but Theresa's selfishness may mean the destruction of his ministry. Fans of Victoria Christopher Murray's "Temptation" and Angela Benson's "Awakening Mercy" will relish Grigg's outstanding sequel to "The Rose of Jericho." For all collections. Copyright Cahner's 2002