A MAN CALLED BLESSED By Ted Dekker & Bill Bright

A Man Called Blessed is the sequel to Blessed Child. These stories were created by Bill Bright and written by Ted Dekker. (Bill Bright was the founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, and passed away in 2003. These books were published in 2002/2003.)

The main character in both these books is "Caleb". In Blessed Child, we first meet him as a child with special God-given "powers". Having grown up very innocently in a monastery in Ethiopia, he was brought to the US, and then exploited for these powers.

In A Man Called Blessed, we find Caleb, now a grown man, living and working in the very monastery in which he grew up. He is still a believer of God's powers, but seems to have lost the simple faith of his youth. As he puts it, he's "misplaced" his first love.

Rebbecca Solomon is a decorated Israeli soldier, who leads a team into Ethiopia to find the Ark of the Covenant. Specific information has led them to believe that Caleb holds the key to finding the Ark. The catch is that Caleb is totally unaware that he has the key to finding the Ark.

Meanwhile, Palestine has gotten word of Rebbecca's mission, and since they know that the discovery of the Ark is a threat to the Muslim world, they want to stop it from happening. Ismael, a Muslim soldier has a personal vendetta against Rebbecca, and therefore volunteers to head up this job.

So we have a Christian man, a Jewish young lady and a Muslim assassin. Caleb and Rebecca are trying to get the Ark to Jerusalem. Rebecca wants it there so that Temple can be rebuilt. Caleb wants to help Rebbecca get it there, but is trying to convince her that God's presence dwells in us, not in an Ark. Ismael is trying to prevent the Ark from getting to Jerusalem at all. And he's trying to kill Rebbecca because he hates her for killing his brother. All of them are willing to die for their cause. And any one of their actions can plunge the Middle East into war.

As usual, Dekker's book is full of action. He really has a knack for making his characters come to life. I think the ending leaves the story open to a possible sequel in which Caleb is one of the end time "witnesses" in Israel. I can't be sure if that's just my take, or if that was Bright's original intention for the story. Since Caleb is compared to Elijah a couple of times in the story, it seems a probable conclusion. But, as I mentioned above, Bill Bright passed away in 2003, so Caleb's story probably ends at this point.

I always recommend any book by Ted Dekker, and this one is no exception. This isn't as great as his later works, but nonetheless, its got his "signature" on it.