Meet the Character on the Book Cover

 

The Way of the King releases in 11 DAYS, and today I get to introduce you to the character on the cover--a man who's a warrior who doesn't know he can fight, a musician who lost his music, and a once-boy who forgot he has permission to dream and that laying his life down for the King's dreams can change the course of the Kingdom.

Meet Othniel.

As I reread The Torch Keepers after so many years, I got to be introduced again to little Othniel.

In a barren desert with arid heat and blasts from sandstorms, a little city rises up, and in the very center is what Oth's heart loves best: the dancehall.

Marbled floors and ceilings with skylights adorn the hall, and tapestries of woven colors tell stories of the Kingdom. But he always finds himself running with eager legs to the elevated dais where instruments wait. Even with child fingers, the upcoming protégé tunes woodwinds, polishes their glossy sides, and makes the laude-chorda fill the room with music that stirs hearts. In hours, the city will rejoice in the new year celebration with feasting and dancing, and Oth gets to make music as they worship the King.

The celebration never happens.

Enemies besiege the city. Death ensues. 

And as The Torch Keepers ends, we never hear from Othniel again. This story seems lost.

But it's only the beginning.

As The Way of the King opens more than a decade later, you get to meet the man on the cover.

Oth's broken--a one-armed man with a broken past who gave up music forever and rejected the King.

After years of pain and suffering, he banded together with wanderers who established their own fortress deep in the western mountains, carving out an intricate network of cave tunnels to be their place of safety.

He's a leader. He's strong. He has an army beneath him but gets to enjoy life with fellow citizens as they build an owlery in the caves and celebrate their freedom.

But his half-arm reminds him of the past. Any hint of music makes his body freeze in fear, and he becomes a runner, pacing through a western world edged with smoking volcanoes, because he lost his purpose for the King who seemingly took so much from him.

That's the man you get to meet in The Way of the King.

"His stories are beautiful, even if they're hard." (Kadira) laughed, then looked at me, quiet. "Would you tell me your story, Oth?" ...

I pulled away... "Not all stories," I whispered. "They're not all beautiful."

The memories. Fire. Explosion. Someone screaming, thrusting away, and burning pain in my arm. Darkness.

Kadira grabbed my hand, and her eyes were fiery. "Oth," she said, "only without the King they're not. But he can change that."

Writing Oth's part of the story was a lovely part of the book-writing process... but it was hard.

I sat with fingers itching to write, to be faithful in this calling God gave me... but I didn't know his story.

The book follows three characters, and Kadira's was easy. Her tale has been growing and begging to be written for years. But Oth and Rekem's came slowly, from hours of pressing forward and leaning into God.

In Oth's, I got to experience cave life, weave loose ends of The Torch Keepers from his past (it makes reading the first book even more fun!!), and write about someone with an amputation and how much value and purpose his life had, how the King could bring so much good out of what he'd lost, and that even with part of his body missing, Oth was completely loved and utterly desired for the King's grand purposes. He was a warrior.

Sometimes writing looked like me stumbling to remember which arm was his full arm (left or right?) and being shocked at the amazingness and ingenuity of people who live with that every day.

And I believe more than ever:

every person is called to be a warrior for our King.

every person is beckoned to surrender themselves to a purpose He has that's grander than what they could ever envision.

And He gives us everything we need.

Our decision:

will we trust?

I rejoice because God promises a Day when He will return and bring restoration to broken bodies... from food allergies to sicknesses and even restoring missing limbs and opening the eyes of the blind!

And today, we're called to keep the loyalty. He is worth it, and the battle will be won.

Othniel had to decide for himself if the King was worth it, and his story is a heart-felt one of suffering, humility, and heroism (and it's amazing, and you should totally read it XD).

The Way of the King will be released August 1, but preorder on Kindle just opened! Click here!

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
And the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
Then the lame shall leap like a deer,
And the tongue of the dumb sing.
For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness,
And streams in the desert.

Isaiah 35:5-6

~♥~