Simon of Cyrene

About the Book

My name is Simon, and I am a Jew. I was born in the small village of Nazareth, seventy miles north of Jerusalem in lower Galilee, thirty-three years ago. My father, Lucius, is a wine merchant; and we moved to Cyrene, the capital of the Roman province of Cyrenaica, when I was twelve. Cyrenaica has a Jewish population of one hundred thousand. My wife, Serah, and I live in a Jewish community of Cyrene, with our sons, Rufus and Alexander. When my friend Nathan and I graduated from the Academy of Philosophy in Cyrene, we went into the importing and exporting wine business with my father. Nathan and I are going to Jerusalem on business and plan on celebrating Passover while we are there. It has been over twenty years since we moved to Cyrene, and returning to Jerusalem has been a dream of mine for years. My thoughts are also focused on going to Nazareth and visiting with relatives and old friends, especially my childhood friend Jesus. Our families lived next door to each other, and Jesus and I attended school together at the synagogue. As children, I helped my father in the vineyards and winery, and Jesus helped his father in the carpentry shop. We enjoyed watching my father make wine and his father make furniture. After school, we would play games on the village square; and in the evenings, we would play in Jesus’s father’s workshop. I have fond memories of those days. This is my story.

About the Author

Robert E. Wardlow is a graduate of the University of Arkansas and is an experienced marketing executive with significant achievements in marketing, public relations, advertising, and creative writing. During his twenty-two years with Sears, he served on the Walt Disney executive group for the Winnie the Pooh collection, earned the coveted Distinguished Merit Citation, and awarded the American Advertising Federation’s Man of the Year, and Kansas City’s Outstanding Young Executive of the Year. Following his retirement from Sears, Bob spent eighteen years with the University of Arkansas as director of corporate relations and public relations. He is a former member of Rotary International, Public Relations Society of America, and the American Advertising Federation.