Newly widowed Lisa Thackeray is just finishing her chaplaincy stint at an Army outpost in Iraq when a dead soldier’s iPod comes into her possession. It’s a mind-bending discovery when she realizes the anonymous toy lets her escape to the past by a week and bet on NFL games that have already happened. She can prevent suicide bombings. She can rescue fallen comrades. What’s going on here anyway?

Finally back in the U.S. and about to fall in love again, Lisa begins civilian life as a Wisconsin pastor soon drafted to take the requisite four time-travel trips to the distant past: including more Army action as she jets back to the year 1944 and visits Sword Beach for World War II and D-Day. Also opening up to her is a front-row seat for Martin Luther’s Reformation-launching speech: “Here I stand; I cannot and will not recant. God help me.” The divine detours offer her the ability to understand the gutsy miracles God expects the Body of Christ to perform in a dying world.

David B. Smith is recently retired from teaching mathematics at San Bernardino Valley College and is the son of Pastor Ken Smith, who played the role of Waldo in the Our Gang comedy troupe, along with Alfalfa, Darla, Spanky, and Buckwheat. He’s also the author of the ten-book Rachel Marie Stone series of inspirational love stories set in his childhood home of Bangkok. When you finish with The Time Portal Part II, be sure to check out the third story in the trilogy. Aaron Mathews is a Baltimore cop who ends up with the same mind-bending iPod, and his trips to the past are a pulse-pounding fun ride for sure. Details on all three books in this time-travel trilogy are available at www.davidbsmithbooks.com.