One thing I always found interesting when reading ancient histories is the records of nature’s response to someone important. We all know the stories surrounding Jesus–the Christmas star, the earthquake at his death. Accounts like that are actually pretty normal for ancient men of import.


When writing A Stray Drop of Blood, I had fun incorporating some of the phenomena that happened at the crucifixion. The sky turning dark, the earth quaking, the graves opening. (Don’t recall ever reading about that one in any other history!) And since writing it, I’ve done some Christmas research that piqued my interest in the star that led the wise men and the unique fulfillment of prophecy. It fit in rather perfectly with histories by ancient historians like Herodotus and Thucididies. They, too, tell about phenomena in the heavens and earth that herald the arrival of someone important.

As Christians, I think sometimes we jump up and down in excitement over the accounts in the Bible and then snarl at the other histories that say the same things happened for other people. But not me–I love seeing how God has his hand in ALL history. And since we firmly believe our heavenly Father has ordained every single event–since we firmly believe our heavenly Father put the earth on its axis and set the heavens in their orbits–why wouldn’t we believe that He, in His divine foresight set it up so that those two coincided, to shout the glory of His plans?

I especially love reading how His nature responded to His Son’s death. And so I had tons of fun finding ways to incorporate those events into my story. I hope everyone enjoys reading my take on it, too!