Skyepuppy's Tag

I was tagged a few days ago by fellow blogger Skyepuppy...and now I have a moment to play! Here were the rules of the tag:

Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
Open the book to page 123.
Find the fifth sentence.
Post the next three sentences.
Tag five people.

It just so happened that when I read the tag, the nearest book to me was one I recently finished: In the Footsteps of Jesus. I've blogged about it before. The book is written by Bruce Marchiano, an actor who portrayed Jesus in a four hour film - The Gospel of Matthew. I had the book nearby because I read an excerpt in office devotions this week.

Page 123 happens to be the first page of chapter eight, which is titled "Dirty Feet and Rough but Gentle Hands." Sentences five through eight make up the entire second paragraph, so I'm going to post them all:

"I've never asked, but I can only guess everyone passes by that rock assuming it's nothing more than a tasteless attempt at interior decorating. But truth be told, that rock is no interior decoration at all. That rock, in fact, was specifically selected from a cornfield just off the Ventura Highway in Encino, California. And believe it or not, it played an integral role in our presentation of Jesus in Matthew."

Just as a matter of background, the rock Bruce is referring to is on a shelf in his living room alongside the crown of thorns he wore in the crucifixion scene. His explanation of how he found the rock and how he used it is quite a fascinating story, actually.

The entire book is...I don't know that just one word can capture it. It's thought-provoking, eye-opening, and certainly emotion-stirring. I know it's going to end up on my list of 50 must-read books, so I guess I'll work harder at a synopsis and post that later.

I don't know that I have five reading bloggers on my list who haven't already been tagged - so I'll leave the passing of the tag up to you if you want it!