HKuss

Two little girls stand with their heads bowed in my living room. I’m told they’re my granddaughters. Daisy is nine, and Alice seven. Daisy is the spitting image of her mother. This is the first time I’ve met them since my daughter and I fell out after she married that waste of space, Vince. They’ve come to live with me because their mother — my daughter — was murdered. In her own home while they slept close by. I think Vince killed her. But the police can’t prove it. I’ve always known he was no good. He treated my daughter like dirt. I said he’d cheat on her — but she wouldn’t listen.

We are constantly being formed by the world around us. To be formed by Jesus will require us to become his apprentice. To live by what the first Christian disciples called a Rule of Life—a set of practices and relational rhythms that slow us down and open up space in our daily lives for God to do what only God can do—transforms the deepest parts of us to become like him.

Critically acclaimed novelist John Shors’ travels in Asia add texture to this affecting tale of two Americans in Vietnam. A tale of sacrifice, rebirth, and above all inspiration, Dragon House connects with readers on the most human of all levels. When Iris’ father, a Vietnam vet, makes a dying wish that she take over the operation of a shelter for street children in Ho Chi Minh City, she agrees—and takes with her her long-time friend Noah, an Iraq War veteran.