Here is a passage from my biblical novel, “Face to Face.” The main character, Joakima, is musing about her father. I’m sharing this on Father’s Day because I’m sure I had my own father in mind when I wrote this:

… My father was often called a devout [man]. He would sit at night at his cobbler’s bench while the smell of burning lamp oil permeated the room and the flame cast grotesque dancing shadows on the stone walls, and he would pore over his treasured copy of a portion of the prophet Isaiah. Early mornings he prayed alone on the housetop. He talked quietly with the people who came into his shop during the day. They came as often to see him as to buy his products. Often the men who came troubled and frowning, left looking resolute and calm. It just seemed the natural thing for my father: listening, nodding, speaking a soft word here and there.

And how he prayed! As a little girl, I would tiptoe up the steps to the roof and see him there on his knees, hands raised toward far-away Jerusalem. He fervently repeated the prayers of his fathers. Sometimes I knelt beside him and closed my eyes and tried to say the words with him. He didn’t seem to notice me, so enrapt was he….

(from Chapter Four, Face to Face : A Novel)

~ Catherine Lawton