In When Christ Comes, bestselling Christian author Max Lucado uses common stories, often drawn from his own life, to explore the challenging question of the Second Coming of Christ. Lucado's primary concern is not theological but practical: how should we respond? And what should we do in the meantime? His answer is clear, if paradoxical: "wait forwardly," he writes. Be "patiently vigilant." Live in expectation even as you live fully in the present. Lucado's strength lies in his ability to stay close to his own story, which includes a life-changing realization of God's mercy, and in his ability to stay connected to his Church of Christ congregation and his readers. He keeps these parishioners clearly in mind as he preaches and as he converts his sermons into bestselling books. Designed to be read in about 10 minutes, each chapter emphasizes mercy and pardon rather than judgment and suggests, as the book's subtitle affirms, that Christ's return is "the beginning of all good things." Those looking for theological explorations or complex eschatology are advised to look elsewhere. For thousands of the evangelical faithful, however, Lucado is the Billy Graham of the '90s. --Doug Thorpe