Quotes from the book I'm reading...

I'm almost finished reading The Last Jihad, it's been a good read. Can't wait to start the sequel.

While reading in the middle of last night, I came upon a couple of quotes that I really liked and wanted to share with my readers. One is written as the words from Agent Erin McCoy, as a response to a question from the main character, Jon Bennett. Faced with the very real threat of nuclear war, Bennett notices that McCoy is not as fearful as he. He asks her why, and she explains how she was raised as a child, by a faith-filled mother. Later, as an adult, McCoy's mother was stricken with terminal cancer and Erin helped her to plan her own funeral. The mother told her that she wanted to be laid "out in an open casket with a fork in her hand."

"A fork? Why a fork? And she says, 'When I was a little girl, I used to love church suppers. And when the meal was done, and people were clearing the dishes, one of the older women in the church would always come over and lean down and whisper to me, save your fork. And I loved that. Because I knew it meant something better was coming--apple pie or chocolate cake or blueberry cobbler, or something. And pastor,' she said, 'when I die, I want people to come by and see me and then ask you, Why's she got a fork in her hand? And I want you to tell them my little story, and then tell them the good news--that when you know Christ, you know there's something better coming. There's something better coming.' "

The next quote was attributed to Vaclav Havel, first president of the Czech Republic, and reads: "The real test of a man is not when he plays the role that he wants for himself, but when he plays the role destiny has for him."