Jeez and the Gentile E-Book

Stephen W. Hiemstra

• Herausgeber: T2Pneuma Publishers LLC
• Kategorie: Für Kinder und Jugendliche
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025

Beschreibung

JEEZ AND THE GENTILE
What do you do when life overwhelms? Tom learns to lean on God and trust his own instincts.
Tom is a bitter twelve-year old whose father is killed in a police drug raid gone bad. During speeches at his father’s funeral, he fails asleep and wakes up in the first century on the road to Sepphoris where he meets a young Jesus who introduces himself as Jeez. Together they witness four soldiers escaping the city on horseback. When they reach the city, they learn that Jeez’s father, Joseph, has been murdered and a young, Mary Magdalene, has been kidnapped.
As witnesses, Tom and Jeez are both drafted by local authorities to pursue the four horsemen and bring them to justice. The pursuit takes them to different villages and towns in Israel (Sepphoris, Nazareth, Megiddo, Jezreel, Sebastian, Shechem, Bethel, Jericho, and Jerusalem). In the process, they brave lions, hyenas, and scorpions, and cope with grief, human trafficking, murder, spiritual warfare, first-century politics, and travel in the ancient world.
In spite of his fish-out-of-water status, Tom learns to lean on God and rely on himself. Jeez learns the boundaries of being fully human within the context of relationship. Tom returns to our time a changed person with an appreciation for forgiveness and a growing faith.
Premise: Gospel of Luke meets the Wizard of Oz
Description: Split-time, young adult (12+) novella (19k words)

Leseprobe

Contents

Endorsements

Other Works by the Author

Map of Ancient Israel

Title Page

Copyright

ACT ONE

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

ACT TWO

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter EIght

ACT THREE

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

ACT FOUR

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

About

Notes

ENDORSEMENTS

STEPHEN HIEMSTRA DELIVERS a compelling blend of adventure, faith, and personal growth in Jeez and the Gentile. This beautifully crafted narrative follows 12-year-old Tom as he navigates profound grief and embarks on a transformative journey. Transported to the first century, Tom's partnership with a young Jeez reveals a world of danger, spiritual discovery, and human resilience.

Hiemstra skillfully combines historical richness with emotional depth, painting vivid scenes that immerse readers in ancient Israel while tackling timeless themes of loss, forgiveness, and faith. Tom's journey resonates with both young and adult audiences, reminding us all of the power of leaning on God and finding His strength within ourselves.

Eric Teitelman

House of David Ministries

With 14 grandchildren between the ages of 13 and 23, I have a real place in my heart for young adult readers. For young adults readers and those young at heart, I recommend this book, Jeez and the Gentile.

Percy M. Burns

Author of Glorious Freedom

This book tells the story of a character named Tom who meets Jeez and goes through a process of changing his perspective. Everyone has problems, though they may appear different, such as illness, social injustice, poverty, etc. When faced with personal struggles, even though they may seem overwhelming to the point of wanting to give up. We need faith that God is always there for us. Through our relationship with God, we can find a way to sort out our problems. The book Jeez and the Gentile presents God's unseen presence in tangibles through events Tom faced enjoyably.

Eunyeon Kwon

Jesus follower, Korea

Jeez and the Gentile allows a fresh perspective on the lost years (ages 12-30) of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke through a fictional road trip through first century Israel. In this sense, it is like the Gospel of Luke meets the Wizard of Oz. During this trip, main characters Jeez and Tom travel assisting the authorities in tracking down murderers. Their challenges along the way allow the reader a personal connection in dealing with tests to our own faith, such as fear, grief, and personal danger. In such situations, we have no choice but to rely on God and lean on him to help us out.

Sofia Martinez

Video Blogger (link1)

In Jeez and the Gentile, Tom, a twelve-year-old boy, grieving the loss of his father, cries out for a tangible God. He meets the twelve-year-old Jeez in Judea. In this split-time adventure novel, Stephen Hiemstra transports the reader into Biblical times in such a vivid way, that one can almost hear the roar of the lions and the laugh of the hyenas, as Tom meets the tangible God.

Sharron Giambanco

Business Owner, Author

Jeez and the Gentile transports 12-year-old Tom, who has just lost his policeman father to a drug-peddler killer, to the time and place of Jesus, who immediately takes Tom as his friend. The story starts with the criminal murder of Joseph, Jesus’s father, and proceeds through the tangled pursuit of the murderer, ending with a compelling exchange between Tom and Jesus about forgiving their fathers’ murderers. This is YA fiction at its best.

Brien Benson

Fairfax Collegiate

During the lengthy eulogy at the funeral for Tom’s father, the grieving Tom falls asleep against his mother’s shoulder. In his sleep he is launched back in time where he meets teenagers, Jeez and Mary Magdalene. Together they travel throughout Roman occupied Palestine on a journey of adventure, friendship, and justice. If you are a student of the Scriptures, you will recognize many of the sites and stories told by the young Jeez. Jeez and the Gentile is a story worth reading.

Claudette Renalds

Author, Rescuing Grace

Other Books by the Author

Image of God Series

Image of God in the Parables2

Image of the Holy Spirit and the Church

Image of God in the Person of Jesus

Christian Spirituality Series

A Christian Guide to Spirituality1

Life in Tension2

Called Along the Way

Simple Faith

Living in Christ

Image and Illumination

Masquerade Series3

Masquerade

The Detour

Christmas in Havana

Jeez and the Gentile3

Prayerbooks

Everyday Prayers for Everyday People

Prayers2

Prayers of a Life in Tension

1 Also available in Spanish and German.

2 Also available in Spanish.

3 These books have been adapted as screenplays.

MAP OF ANCIENT ISRAEL

JEEZ AND THE GENTILE

Stephen W. Hiemstra

JEEZ AND THE GENTILE

Copyright ©2025 Stephen W. Hiemstra

ISNI: 0000-0000-2902-8171

All rights reserved.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead is coincidental.

With the except of short excerpts used in articles and critical reviews, no part of this work may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in any form whatsoever, printed or electronic, without prior written permission of the publisher.

Names: Hiemstra, Stephen W., 1953-, author.

Title: Jeez and the gentile / Stephen W. Hiemstra.

Description: Centreville, VA: T2Pneuma Publishers LLC, 2025.

Identifiers: LCCN: | ISBN: 978-1-942199-51-9 (paperback) | 978-1-942199-67-0 (KDP) | 978-1-942199-93-9 (ePUB)

Subjects: LCSH Jesus Christ--Fiction. | Time travel--Fiction. | Grief--Fiction. | Palestine--Social life and customs--To 70 A.D. | Coming of age--Fiction. | Christian fiction. | BISAC YOUNG ADULT FICTION / Religious / Christian / Action & Adventure | YOUNG ADULT FICTION / Social Themes / Religion & Faith | YOUNG ADULT FICTION / Historical / Middle East

Classification: LCC PS3608 .I46 J44 2025 | DDC 813.6--dc23

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, Copyright © 2000; 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Many thanks to my editors Jean Arnold, Sarah Hamaker, Rebecca Norris Resnick, Harim Sanchez, and Nathan Snow.

The cover art is called Soldier’s Flight by C. Hiemstra. Used with permission.

CHAPTER ONE

ON A THURSDAY evening in mid-September at his home in McLean, Virginia, a dour twelve-year old Thomas Timmerman played a noisy shoot-em-up game on his laptop in his room when he received a text from perky girlfriend, Maddie.

Maddie: How’s it going?

Tom: The usual. I’m bored.

Maddie: Join us for prayer at the flagpole on Wednesday?

Tom: How did prayer help my dad? I need a tangible God or I'll burst.

Maddie: How about a tangible person who believes in God? … I'll be there.

Tom: Good for you.

Maddie: Later.

With tears in his eyes, Tom glanced up at the photo on his desk of him and Maddie standing in front of the lion compound at the zoo. The photo recorded the hot day, him in a tie shirt with baseball cap in hand displaying his recent crew cut and her with shoulder length hair over a bright, floral print summer dress.

Feeling sorry for himself, he went on to play on the computer past midnight. Remembering stories his father told when they went shooting together, he thought, that’s not how a police raid would be set up and run. Slamming his laptop shut, he went to bed.

∞

A Roman centurion contracted Joseph, the carpenter, in mid-September to install a ritual bath in his home in the Galilean city of Sepphoris in AD 9. Standing in front of the household Friday afternoon, Joseph sent his son home to Nazareth for Shabbat the week before Yom Kippur. A welcome breeze relieved the heat but kicked up dust.

“Take my wages, these seven denarii, and this goat to you mother.” Joseph hands the goat’s leash to his attentive son, Jeez.

“Yes, father. What do I tell mother about the goat?” Jeez asked.

“Augustine feels guilty for making me work on Shabbat to keep that young Tribune happy.” Joseph responded.

“Claudius Lysias, the young Tribune who recently arrived from Rome?” Jeez asked.

Joseph paused to look at Jeez. “The goat is a peace offering for your mother, Mary, who Augustine knows from synagogue.” Joseph said.

“Between the bath and respecting Shabbat, Augustine is a changed man since he became a god fearer,” Jeez commented.

“We should all take God so seriously,” Joseph concluded.