Back in the day, during my nights as a waitress at a local popular restaurant known then as The Red Shield, I learned about a book from a fellow waitress. So enchanted was she by the book, she spoke of it constantly and there was no mistaking the excitement in her voice. The book, Dear and Glorious Physician by Taylor Caldwell, tells the fictional account of the life of St. Luke.
In the many spirited conversations between myself and other book loving waitresses, one also mentioned that Taylor Caldwell's books were based on her own past lives. Having just finished reading Ruth Mongomery's own account of reincarnation, titled Here and Hereafter, my interest piqued. This all took place shortly after one of Taylor Caldwell's other books, Captains and the Kings, aired as a mini-series on television. I can hardly believe this was almost 50 years ago.
And at that time, I made a mental note to add Dear and Glorious Physician to my books to read list. I started reading it in 1978 but abandoned it when life took several devastating turns.
Many times during the last fifty years I have thought about that book, but the title got pushed further down the list as my interests expanded and evolved. It's been said everything happens in its own time and place, and oh, how true those words are. Earlier this month I picked up Dear and Glorious Physician and every now and then I want to admonish myself for not reading it sooner. I fully understand why LaRae spoke so highly of it when I recall the tingle in the air and how her face lit up when she did.
But the one thing that strikes me is how people--human nature--haven't changed thousands of years later. The parallels between then (biblical times) and today astound me! I can honestly visualize the characters in this book as living, breathing citizens, politicians, and world leaders today. So much of what Taylor wrote in these pages is mirrored every day in the here and now.
I am barely half-way through the novel, but I can't deny each time I come to a passage about the state of Rome, in the back of my mind I remember hearing about the great 'fall of Rome.' And I begin to wonder if the same will soon be true of the country I love. My America.
