Seeing Jesus by Jeffrey McClain Jones

He dreads nothing more than being alone. And being even more alone seems inevitable now. Still, he’s not the kind of guy who invents an invisible friend. So what’s happening to him? Will he ever get his old life back? Philly Thompson lives with his cat, Irving, in a one-bedroom apartment in Chicago. He worries about his weight, frets about his job, is tempted to get back with his ex-girlfriend, and wishes his ma would stop nagging him. When he meets a strangely dressed man on the bus, he stops worrying about his grandmother, who’s in the hospital, and starts questioning his own mental health. Apparently no one else can see the strange guy. Which must mean he’s not really there. Except there he is always hanging around, all day long. And for days in a row. When Philly stumbles into this extraordinary experience, he has little faith of his own. Religion is okay for his grandma. But not for him. And this visit from the guy claiming to be Jesus seems to go beyond what his grandma has told him about her faith. Who will believe him if he tells what he is seeing and hearing? If he tells, will Philly be rejected yet again? Will his family and friends just decide he’s crazier than they imagined? Or will the people around him let Philly’s experience lift them out of their suffering and light their lives with hope? This is the first book in the Seeing Jesus series, originally written as a stand-alone novel. Reader responses inspired turning this story into an ongoing series.