Early Praise

"It offers a bold and beautiful vision of a world in which heaven does not ask us to become less human, but more loving . . . Highly and wholeheartedly recommended!"

Jeffrey Long, M.D., author of the New York Times bestselling Evidence of the Afterlife: The Science of Near-Death Experiences

What's It About?

Rev. John Randolph is better known to the nation as Rev. Scrooge. He thunders judgment from his Baltimore pulpit while ignoring the needy outside his church doors. But his online following is soaring and he’s a regular talk-show firebrand.

Everything changes when a near-death experience triggers a reckoning. Guided by angelic spirits from his past—the wife he neglected and the gay activist he despised—Randolph confronts the wreckage of his fear-driven ministry. Most painful is how he shattered the life of his young organist after discovering his love for a man in the choir.

With a second chance and a surging heart, he returns to Baltimore desperate to repair what he broke. Some of the city’s bruised, generous, and eccentric souls rally to help, including a Muslim Uber driver, gay bar owners, and a feminist priest. But many of those he hurt aren’t ready to forgive, and many of his former followers would rather see him ruined.

Randolph keeps taking wild leaps to make love real before his time runs out. As a wrecking ball looms over his church on New Year’s Eve, Baltimore is singing and police lights are flashing in a finale that will steal coverage from Times Square.

Why This Story Now?

Set in rowdy, big-hearted Baltimore, the novel offers a compassionate and provocative look at faith, the culture-wars, and hearts scarred by judgment. Don Luckett's novel asks a timeless question for a deeply divided America: What if we stopped judging one another—and took the wild leap of faith required to love?