The Chair - His Chair

His first assessment was wrong. As he studied it longer, he realized its minimalism masked a complex beauty.

Interesting.

And its finish was...he didn't know. He'd never seen one like it before. Almost a translucent gold.

He stepped forward and rubbed his finger along its back. Again a tingling sensation ran through his fingers, lighter this time as if he'd stuck his fingers in an electrical socket with a minimal current flowing through it. But the feeling wasn't painful. It was almost warm and tinged with energy. An instant later he felt...refreshed. As if he'd just taken a twenty minute power nap.

He pulled his hand back and rubbed his thumb and fingers together, "Strange."

~~~

On Tuesday afternoon at five thirty, an elderly lady strode into Corin's antiques store as if she owned it and said, "The next two months of your life will be either heaven or hell."

...She looked at Corm as if observing a small child, "You've misunderstood. I am not asking you to buy the chair. I am giving it to you."

"Why would you do that?"

"You are to have it." She motioned again toward the door.

"I am?" Corin slid his hands into his jeans and eased toward the woman. "Who made that decision?"

She stared at him and gave a faint smile but she didn't answer...

"Where did it come from? Who made it?"

She stood. "I told you. A craftsman."

"His name?"

She kept speaking as if she hadn't heard him. "Who lived long ago."

"What was his name?"

~~~

Check out my Review of First Rubart Book Read!

After I had finished reading Rooms, my first book by James L. Rubart, I wrote that it was one of the best books I ever read. Although I can't remember the exact story now, since it was in 2009, I still remember the feelings, the emotions, the impressions from that book. Soon after I finished reading Rooms, I ordered The Chair...
It had sat on my bookshelf until this month, when I pulled it out, unbelievably exactly 8 years after I bought it...
God sends me the right books to read at the right time...Perhaps this is your time to read one or both of these books or others by this outstanding Christian fiction writer!

As I think of this book, I find myself picturing Jesus as he grew older, knowing what was coming in His life, realizing that, with His carpenter skills, He could leave a part of Him to actually live on after the Crucifixion. He would be leaving his Holy Spirit, but something tangible might be actually used to perform miracles in His absence... He built The Chair...

And when the chair was discovered, it was secretly taken into a woman's hands who would guard and protect it and allow it to be used by those in need, as guided by our Lord...The Chair was then handed down from mother to daughter through hundreds and thousands of years until it was brought into an antique store, owned by Corin Roscoe.

Corin...and readers...will wonder why The Chair was given to Corin. He was not a devoted believer nor, even after he'd begun to guess who built the chair, was he anxious to keep it...except, he did have one major issue as well as his own needs that could certainly benefit from healing. It is not my intent to share much about the story; readers need to experience it as it evolves and I don't want to take that away...  I will say that Corin had a unique and unusual story in his life that won't match many of what we may have experienced...

The key issue, for me, was to learn about events in his life and consider how I would have responded to a similar situation... Then, too, there are principles of trust, judging others, and being forced to deal with the actions of others when they do not support our own will or desires, Rubart brilliantly turns a flip-flop on our own emotional responses and forces us to realize facts that are surprisingly different when faced with the reality of what actually happens...

In today's world, The Chair, perhaps is even more important for us to read. We are being tossed and turned, not able to believe or trust was is being said even from our leaders. Certainly it is a time when we must realize that emotional responses from within us can be found to be wrong...and that, we must move away from our emotions, old friendships even, or from whom we may think are men of God (or not) and open our eyes to consider how each may really be... 

As a straight fictional story, it is a wonderful story with several surprise endings that keep you in suspense until the very end... I enjoyed more, for myself, the lessons to be learned--the realization that over and over, what we each may want is not in sync with God's guidance for our life. Rubart forces us to face reality and learn to trust, first, in Jesus... Even in the presence of The Chair...

GABixlerReviews

James L. Rubart is 28 years old, but lives trapped inside an older man's body. He thinks he's still young enough to water ski like a madman and dirt bike with his two grown sons, and loves to send readers on journeys they'll remember months after they finish one of his stories. 

He's the best-selling, Christy, Carol, INSPY, and RT Book Reviews award winning author of eight novels as well as a professional speaker. During the day he runs his marketing company which helps businesses, authors, and publishers make more coin of the realm. He lives with his amazing wife on a small lake in eastern Washington. More at www.jameslrubart.com More at http://jameslrubart.com/ and on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JamesLRubart