Brad is from the same ilk as MacGyver. I don’t know how good he is at espionage, but he can certainly spin a tale, using the ordinary things of life in order to take his readers deep into the extraordinary things of life. He is a master storyteller. Like his Master before him, he is a “parable caster.” That Greek word, “parable” comes from two root words ― one meaning ‘to be similar’ and the other meaning ‘alongside.’ Brad’s Master has gifted him with the ability to cast alongside us some stories that help us gain a better glimpse of who we are, who Jesus is, and who we can be as we follow him in this journey of life. In other words, Brad helps our souls avoid the snares of the enemy and helps us avoid all the side roads that our flesh wants to veer onto. Brad takes us into the swamp in order to lead us to the Savior. It doesn’t make sense, but neither does a Jewish carpenter ruling the world. Read along and enjoy the ride!

Reverend David Kizziah
International Mission Board

Table of Contents

Review-Side Roads, Snares, and Souls - Patricia Day, January 25, 2017

https://patriciaeday.com/2017/01/25/review-side-roads-snares-and-souls/#comments

Side Roads, Snares, and Souls: Deliverance in the Swamp, written by Bradley W. Antill, is an engaging collection of devotionals intermingled within short stories that capture the highs and lows of a forester working in the swamps and timberlands of the Atlantic Coastal Plains.

He shares the snares and blessings of his work as a woodsman, and incorporates relevant Bible passages to each tale. I found it a most acceptable method of sharing God’s words and wisdom. Bradley gives his perspective on the very tangible presence of God through all our circumstances; the good and the not so good as he humbly shares his passionate reliance upon God’s strength and guidance to help him through each day.

I am certain that his easy writing style and ready humor will draw you in and hold you, as it did me. He has a definite gift, used eloquently within the pages of this publication. I personally find it easier to relate to some Bible passages if there is a precursor in the form of a story or there is a narrative presenting a visual. In other words, a story picture. Side Roads, Snares, and Souls seems to have been blessed with all these helping the reader, no matter what their persuasion to obtain a clear understanding of the power of the Bible’s content.

I loved this collection and would readily recommend it, as well as gift the book.

Excerpt from: On a Hill Far Away

If you have ever been in a swamp, you long for the hill. Defined as any bump in the terrain that will get you out of the water; the hill is dry ground, someplace where your feet will be on solid ground. Life is no different. We need something solid under our feet, we need a hill…

On a hill far away…sat some shepherds. It was their calling in life, their occupation: to sit, sometimes stand, sometimes run, sometimes walk, and sometimes fight off lions, tigers and bears. Not real glamorous, but it paid the bills; and you got to work outside. Oh, and you had to be able to count. Their entire business strategy was summed up in the shepherd’s oath, “At the end of the day, have what you started with, or more.”

Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. - Luke 2:8

And so there they were, in the night, in the dark. Perhaps they had a fire, maybe a torch; or maybe they had just learned to watch the white blotches moving against the black of a country night. Their country was in the midst of political and social turmoil, and covered in spiritual darkness. People, who had once been citizens of a remarkable nation, were now oppressed. People, who sought to worship the Lord God, had to endure the exaltation of Jupiter and Apollo. Commerce and customs from around the world now marched through the land, replacing their traditions and disrupting their way of life. Life was dark; hope flickered like a distant star, likely to go out at any moment. Whispers of a Messiah, a Savior, would float through the communities, but like the wind, never moved from whisper to embodiment. They longed for deliverance from the darkness; they waited for the word, for the message, that the darkness would be ending.