[Seaport Suspense 04] • Not by Chance

**In Search of Significance**

Thirty-year-old Brandon Jones arrives at his parents’ doorstep burned out, jobless, and now fiancée-less. Ellen and Guy can provide a place for him to stay only until he figures out what to do with his life. When he takes a temporary job at a summer camp for disadvantaged kids, Brandon begins a turbulent relationship with a biracial adolescent named Caedmon. Somewhere in the midst of the chaos—caused by Caedmon’s disappearance just before a hurricane is predicted to hit Seaport, and by a group of racists who will not stop at arson or murder—Brandon begins to see that the pieces of his life are *not by chance*. If he has discovered his life’s purpose, can he live it?

***“Life is pointless. And if there’s a God, He’s asleep on the job.”** *

Brandon Jones didn’t know what he expected from the homeless man he met on the way out of town. Certainly not the angry words that haunted him.

But then, *nothing* happened the way he expected. Not his promising career, not his engagement to the “perfect” woman. All his certainty that God had plans for him, that he was meant to do something important—something *significant*—had amounted to a big fat *zero*. And now, here he was, thirty years old, no job, no fiancée. Living with his parents.

Maybe the homeless guy was right.

Then again…maybe not. Maybe Brandon has returned to Seaport for a reason. To face down a brewing disaster, steeped in hate crimes and danger. To survive against all odds. To learn, once and for all, that “many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.”

**Story Behind the Book**

“I am continually blessed by how many readers express their appreciation for the God-given talent that enables me to write novels, but I’m more amazed that so many of them feel as though they haven’t been gifted with anything. My goal in writing *Not By Chance* was to show that God’s purpose for every life is in place before we are born. Based on Proverbs 19:21 , ‘Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the L ord’s purpose that prevails,’ I sought to create unforgettable characters who challenge each reader’s understanding of their purpose in life. Ultimately, I want to point them to the Creator with the Master plan.” —Kathy Herman

*From the Trade Paperback edition.*