Ted Dekker - "The Martyr's Song"



The Martyr's Song (The Martyr's Song Series, Book 1)

      There may only be 144 pages between the two covers of this book, but they are a powerful 144 pages!  This novella is the first book in "The Martyr's Song" series, and is a beautiful melding of two stories in one.  One story is set in modern day (Atlanta, 1960's), and involves an elderly lady who works as a florist and takes an interest in a young "outcast" girl named Marci.  Eve, the older lady, notices Marci and the troubles she's having at school and invites her to her house and offers to change her life.  To say the least, Marci is skeptical, but shows up on Eve's doorstep anyway. 

     Eve proceeds to tell Marci that the story she is about to hear will change her life and make her beautiful.  Marci is instructed to listen and to figure out which of the characters in the story she relates to most, in essence, which character she is and what part she plays in the story.  The worn red book that Eve begins to read from transports both the reader and the listener to a small Bosnian village back in WWII.

     The villagers, composed only of women, children, and an old priest are celebrating a birthday for one of the little girls in town when five soldiers arrive on the scene.  The commander of the small group is incenced that this small village church is still standing and that the town seems to have been unaffected by the war.  Karadzic, the leader, proceeds to wreak havoc upon the villagers and their beloved priest.

     Although the things that the soldiers did were atrocious, to say the least, there was a silver lining to it.  Throughout the terrible and torturous things the priest had to endure, he kept finding himself awakening in a beautiful field of white flowers that is filled with laughter and singing.  He finds that as he endures extreme physical pain for the sake of his Lord, he sees that the world in which his body occupies is not the true reality, and he longs to relinquish his hold on his life in order to enter into the world that he knows he was destined for. 

     Marci finds herself not only enraptured by the story she is told, but finds that she can be made beautiful by it, as are all who hear it, and seek out their place in the story. 

     As in some of the other books that I've read by Mr. Dekker, I found myself completely immersed in the story.  He is an amazing storyteller with a way of pulling his readers into the pages in a very vivid way.  Just like Marci, I wondered where I fit in.  I found myself longing to have the kind of strength of faith that the priest and his flock of women and children exhibited.  I want to know that should I find myself in the situation where I am to deny Christ and live or to stand by Him and die, that I would have the fortitude to make my stand.  Like I said, it's a powerful story...