The last part of Ted Dekker's Martyr's Song trilogy is entitled, The Thunder of Heaven. While there are a few character ties from this story to those in Heaven's Wager and When Heaven Weeps, "Thunder" really is a stand-alone story about love and redemption, about God's plan and His timing, and about our individual roles in the Kingdom. It also provides some important insight into being obedient to God, even when things don't make sense to us or when there is a cost to us that might even amount to our earthly lives.The story begins in Venezuela in an area carved out of the Amazonian jungle that includes a small coffee plantation and a mission house to serve the local indians. The teenage children of the two families, Shannon and Tanya, are deeply in love, and it seems as if they were destined to be together. Out of nowhere, their compounds are suddenly overrun by a terrorist group who slaughter their parents. Shannon and Tanya each live through their own hell during the attack that sets their paths moving forward. Tanya prays out to God, making a vow to do anything if He will save her. Shannon, who must fight his way through the militants, embraces the ways of killing and death for survival and revenge. Ultimately they escape, thinking they alone are the sole survivors of the carnage.
Seven years later, the separate worlds of Shannon and Tanya are brought back together. Each fights their own battle of survival and uncertainty, in a struggle with the same terrorists who overran their homes and slaughtered their parents. Nuclear weapons, a well-financed drug ring, dirty players and secrets within the CIA. In a world spinning on the edge, with millions of lives in the balance, we watch God's plan unfold on both a global scale and on an intimate, personal level. A wonderful story and a trilogy that was top notch from start to finish.
