The Last Day by James Landis Published by: Steerforth Press (2009) 291 pages Rating: 7/10 Buy it Now:

Warren Harlan Pease is spending the day with Jesus. Things are pleasant, exciting, intriguing and heartbreaking all at the same time. But Warren hasn't completely grasped his situation yet.

There have been many attempts to write stories with Jesus interacting with people of the modern age. Every such attempt is fraught with peril, because who wants to put words in the mouth of God Himself? Well, actually, a lot of authors do, to varying degrees of success. Sometimes, they do so just to espouse their own personal theological system. Sometimes, they do it to try to help people understand things. The Last Day falls into that category.

James Landis deftly avoids almost all controversy in his portrayal of Jesus, sticking mostly to the facts. Sure, there are going to be things that raise eyebrows. One such eyebrow-raiser is when Jesus occasionally comments, "I didn't know that." However, in most of those cases, you get the feeling that He's just saying that to move the conversation along... but does that help the situation any? It's a fine line, fraught with peril, as I said.

At the same time, Landis tackles the difficult issue of war. Warren Pease (and hasn't that pun been done to death already?) is returning from a tour in Iraq when he has his day with Jesus. At first, I was somewhat concerned that this would turn out to be an anti-war, anti-military story. Warren comments early on that "you don't make friends in the military." Excuse me? That's entirely the opposite of what has been said by virtually every other soldier throughout history. But that's the point. It's Warren that has the problem, not the military. It's a key factor in understanding who he is, and where this story is going.

It doesn't take long before the reader can pick up on what's going on with Warren and Jesus. From that point on, the story takes on a more melancholy tone. It's the inevitability of it all that slows things down. I put the book down multiple times to go read something else. In fact, I think I finished three or four books during the process of reading this one. That doesn't mean it's bad - far from it. It just means that I could only handle it in smaller doses.

The story is sweet and encouraging, but also sad and thoughtful. The melancholy becomes almost too much here and there, but overall it becomes well worth the journey. Recommended.