Here is a timely word for the Church of
Jesus Christ, for those who have a true desire to know and to be
pleasing to God. The parable of the talents, while not necessarily an
easy word to hear, is a much-needed word for the Church today. Brother
Luke has perfectly captured the word of Jesus in his exposition on the
parable of our Lord.
WATCH LUKE TALK ABOUT HIS BOOK
In 2012,Luke Uebelher
began serving and supporting the needs of sex-trafficking and domestic
violence survivors by working in partnership with ministries that are
led by trafficking and abuse survivors. Under the guidance and
leadership of his pastors, his ministry expanded to also serving and
supporting the needs of homeless Military Veterans, and ministries in
the Philippines. Luke and his wife Maggie were married in 2018 and have a
home in the Philippines. Luke travels between the United States and the
Philippines for business and ministry services.
For centuries there had been an
ongoing war between Asalandia, the proud monarchy of the east and
Kastanair the progressive democracy of the west. However, the years of
war would end with the most unlikely turn of events.
Outis Everrett, the disappointment of
his family, a measly poet, is suddenly thrusted into an epic adventure
across the sea, with the King’s blessing. His poem, the poem that
somehow won the first annual Asalandian poetry competition, was meant to
be taken across the seas, to the enemy island of Kastanair, there, it
would be read by the President of Kastanair, the newly elected and very
progressive, Penelope Chinwa and she was supposed stop the war after
reading those so special words.
So Outis set sail aboard the Golden
ship, guided and protected by the Knights of Sunrise and their
adventures began. The Knights are led by Bartholemew Aries, the most
famous soldier in Asalandia, though when their ship drifts off course to
the mysterious island of Aquos Atalantious, the Princess of the island
soon lures him to stay. So, the Knights of Sunrise become distracted by
the beauties of this foreign island. After failing to find the prince,
who had been taken by a monstrous octopus, the Golden ship sails onto
Kastanair, without its leader, who had fallen in love with the Princess.
They then sail to Syanthia, where the worlds’ meat was produced. There
they meet, the young Kastanairian, Gwenia Xiachung, an enthusiastic
vegan on a mission to stop everyone eating meat. Outis is thrown into a
pig saving mission with Gwenia and is intrigued by the young girl. After
saving the pigs and convincing the head of meat production to change
his ways with a beautiful poem about animal empathy, Gwenia falls in
love with Outis. She joins him and the Knights of Sunrise on the voyage
to back to her country, Kastanair. Once they finally reach the shores of
Kastanair, they are attacked on the shores by a small army, led by
Caslian Jesper, the tough captain who worked his soldiers to exhaustion.
The Knights, Outis and Gwenia are rescued by Nastab and his band of
terrorists who take them on horseback through Kastanair to Mount Xian.
Nastab and his men come from a rebel group who had been dwelling on the
plateau of Mount Xian, plotting to overthrow the government of
Kastanair. However, their leader, who had driven their group to crimes
and violence, was hoarding their food and treasure.
Caslian Jesper follows the terrorists
to Mount Xian, in pursuit of two of his enemies at once, the terrorists
and the Asalandians. Outis and Gwenia are suddenly taken off their
horses by huge hawks, who fly them up Mount Xian, to a cave opening.
There Gwenia and Outis meet The Tall Man, a strange man with huge black
eyes who has no name. He takes them into the cave, and they fall more
tall people. There they learn that the tall people had been in the caves
for hundreds of years and they care not for treasures of war. The tall
man collects water from an underground stream and fruits from the cave
roofs and they take Outis and Gwenia up to the top of the mountain.
There they find Caslian’s army had managed to climb to the top of the
mountain in attempt to attack but they were too drained to fight so the
tall man shared his fruit with them. Both sides rested as Outis read a
poem to the leader of the terrorists.
Outis and Gwenia are then taken to the
capital, by an eclectic group including Nastab, The Tall Man and the
Knights of Sunrise, they journey through the planes of Kastanair where
they are attacked by wolves. The Knights and Nastab fight the wolves off
valiantly and they continue. When they finally reach the capital Outis
reads his poem to the President, but it is not the words of his poem
alone that convince her to stop the war, it is the group he brings with
him, a group of once enemies, who had come together with the same goal.
Lee J Mavin
is the author of 11 books. He is also a teacher and father. He has a
Masters in Creative Writing and am solely focused on writing fiction
(fantasy and horror) and poetry. He is now in collaboration the
illustrator Karolina Piotrowski, a Polish artist who has brought many
stories to life. He has worked and studied in China and Japan and
studied with Dr Xiaohuan Zhao (a master of Chinese poetry) to complete
his book Li Bai’s Shadow, at the University of Sydney. He has two
children who are both avid readers, so he is always in the loop with
trends in children’s fiction. He is married and lives in Sydney, where
he teaches English.
His latest book is the YA fantasy, The Wars Between.
