Peter's Lament

Twelve-year-old Peter believes with all his heart that God keeps His promises.

When his older brother Jonah returns home from Vietnam, he is barely recognizable. Once a devoted Christian, the twenty-one-year-old Marine has been hollowed by the horrors of war. After surviving a devastating landmine explosion during the Tet Offensive that killed nearly everyone in his squad, Jonah comes home carrying invisible wounds that no one can see, and no one seems able to heal. Haunted by grief, survivor's guilt, and despair, he spirals into alcoholism until one tragic night ends with a leap from Mercy Creek Bridge, leaving him unconscious and fighting for his life.

Refusing to surrender hope, Peter makes a solemn covenant with God: if the Lord will spare Jonah's life, Peter will devote himself to bringing his brother back to Christ. Day after day, he sits beside Jonah's hospital bed, reading the Gospels, sharing stories of God's faithfulness, and believing that every whispered Scripture is one step closer to a miracle.

But after nearly three weeks of unwavering faith, Jonah dies.

Peter's world shatters. Convinced that God has broken His promise, the young boy flees into the mountains, pouring out his grief and fury beneath a gathering thunderstorm. As his lament echoes through the wilderness, another cry pierces the storm, two young sisters are trapped in a raging flash flood, clinging desperately to a tree as the current threatens to sweep them away.

With nothing but faith, a length of vine, and a prayer for strength, Peter plunges into the torrent.

What follows becomes known as the Miracle of Mt. Lookout. A breathtaking act of courage that forever changes a grieving community and forces Peter to confront the question that has haunted him from the beginning: What if God's greatest miracles are not always the ones we expect, but the ones that transform us?

A moving novel of faith, loss, sacrifice, and redemption, Peter's Lament: The Miracle of Mt. Lookout explores the painful mystery of unanswered prayers while revealing how God can bring hope from the deepest sorrow and purpose from unimaginable tragedy