Lukas' Maiden Voyage

By Gene Price and Jeffrey G. Collins

Lukas Maiden Voyage was written as a fable in which animals speak and act like people. The target audience ranges from nine years old to teenagers, even to moms and dads who may take delight in reading this story to their young children. The story revolves around the Passover celebration and Christs triumphal entry into Jerusalem, as seen through the eyes of the young burro that carried him.

Intended for all Christians who grew up hearing about the life of Christs ministry, this story centers around a small, crippled colt that has been bullied his entire life by two Arabian stallions, who find ways to taunt the burro and make his life miserable. The name of the colt is Lukas, and the antagonistic twin brothers are Nimb and Obus. The colts greatest wish is to have someone come to Jethros stables and choose him for a ride. Since the little donkey was born with a weak back and a crippled leg, no one ever has. The young burros life changes dramatically when Lukas unknowingly meets Christ and is chosen by the Messiah to be ridden on the most important journey the world will ever know. Since hes never been ridden, this becomes Lukass maiden voyage.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Dec 20, 2012
• ISBN: 9781449777517

Gene Price

Gene Price was raised in Lubbock, Texas. After being honorably discharged from the US Army, he enrolled at Texas Tech with high hopes of being offered a football scholarship. God had other plans. He applied at a local radio station for a position as a DJ and thus launched his thirty-eight-year broadcasting career. Gene hosted daily radio shows in Los Angeles and San Francisco. He was an announcer for NBC television and was 1981’s Billboard Magazine’s Air Personality of the Year. Gene hosted a daily show on American Forces Network for 23 years. He and his wife, Janet, have been married for forty-three years and reside in Sherman Oaks, California. They have two daughters and four grandchildren.

Book preview

LUKAS’ MAIDEN

VOYAGE

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GENE PRICE

Illustrated by Jeffrey G. Collins

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Copyright © 2012 Gene Price

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

ISBN: 978-1-4497-7752-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-7753-1 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-7751-7 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012923041

WestBow Press books may be ordered through booksellers or by contacting:

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.westbowpress.com

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

WestBow Press rev. date: 12/17/2012

Contents

DEDICATION

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 7

CHAPTER 8

CHAPTER 9

CHAPTER 10

CHAPTER 11

CHAPTER 12

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

DEDICATION

To the love of my life for 43 years, my wife Jannie, who gave me daily encouragement, not only for the book, but in life itself.

With love to my daughter, Jennifer, in gratitude for her invaluable help and guidance with this project.

For my daughter, Kim Elliott, son-in-law, Josh, and my beloved grandchildren, Hannah, Abby, Ben and Sam, whom I thought about daily while writing this book.

With thanks to the Reverend Jim Lee who was the first to offer me encouragement. Also to Irene Simmons who generously offered her literary skills and knowledge of God’s Word.

In appreciation to Jeff Collins whose beautiful illustrations brought this story to life.

In loving memory of John Kostyo whose faithful friendship made him a brother to me and blessed my life.

Special love to his Sylvia who is my treasured friend and sister.

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CHAPTER 1

LUKAS WAS AWAKENED BY NIMB and Obus showing off, as they frequently did. They raced a furlong to the top of the hill and then back to the stables. The ground shook with the intensity of the entire herd as the two came thundering back to their stalls. Lukas yawned the drowsiness from his eyes and slowly hobbled to his feet. He’d dreamed of the mysterious light again last night, which meant he would dream tomorrow night of the stranger whose face he could never see; it always happened that way. As best he could recall, he’d been having the two dreams since about five weeks ago. The first one was always the same: a beautiful, brilliant light like nothing he’d ever seen.

What is it? What does it mean? he kept asking himself. All he was sure of was that when the beautiful light appeared, it slowly moved toward him as if it was floating. As the light drew closer, his mind slowed down, and his entire body relaxed. He felt peaceful and secure; his fear and anxiety were gone—then he would wake up.

Could this be my father trying to reach me? Each morning, his first thoughts were of his father. What was he like? he wondered. He’d been sad when he heard that his father died shortly after he was born. He’d never gotten the chance to know him.

Am I like him? Did he like to nibble on hyssop, like I do? He often wondered what kind of life his father experienced with his mother. She must have really loved him, because she seemed so sad when Lukas asked about him. She never talked much about him except to say he was very thoughtful and caring and had looked forward to having a family. One day, out of curiosity, Lukas asked her if he’d ever had a brother or sister. She told him that she had only given birth to two foals—both male. The second baby was taken away even before she could nurse it, and he had died. After telling him this, she softly began to sob. Lukas then nestled up to her and said, Don’t cry, Mom. My brother is with Dad. She gave him a gentle kiss. Seeing how painful this was for his mother, he never brought it up again.

The second dream was as confusing to him as the first. During his deep sleep, he saw large crowds of people gathered around a man. They bowed to him and then begged for mercy, pleading for him to take away their infirmities and heal them. The colt could clearly see the faces of those in the crowd, but not that of the man who was being shown so much attention. Just as the man turned so his face would be visible, Lukas woke up.

Why can I see everyone’s face, but not that of the man with such incredible powers? Should I tell Mom about these dreams? No, it would just cause her to worry. As he glanced around the stables and saw the other horses stirring from their sleep, he thought to himself, I’ve got a feeling this might be a difficult day. I’d better go to the stream.

"Hey, Lukas, you’re not goin’ to the stream, are you? shouted Nimb. If so, why don’t cha’ go west of the Seven Palms and see whatcha’ find? You can be our advance scout, and