As Ace and John, two friends, are searching for holiday gifts in London, they come across a lion cub for sale in Harrods, the famous department store! Unable to bear the thought of leaving the cub, Ace and John take him home and name him Christian. After a year of fun and mischief Christian has grown up, and Ace and John realize that their pet needs to be among other lions and deserves to live free, in his natural environment. Luckily, friends help introduce Christian to the African wild. Christian the Lion tells the riveting true story of one animal’s ability to adapt to life in the wild, and captures the unexpectedly enduring connection between man and animal.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “A stirring tale of a rare bond formed between humans and an animal.”—Time Two men. One baby lion. What could go wrong? A Lion Called Christian tells the remarkable story of how Anthony “Ace” Bourke and John Rendall, visitors to London from Australia in 1969, bought a boisterous lion cub in the pet department of Harrods. For several months, the three of them shared a flat above a furniture shop on London’s King’s Road, where the charismatic and intelligent Christian quickly became a local celebrity, cruising the streets in the back of a Bentley, popping in for lunch at a local restaurant, even posing for a fashion advertisement. But the lion cub was growing up—fast—and soon even the walled church garden where he went for exercise wasn’t large enough for him. How could Ace and John avoid having to send Christian to a zoo for the rest of his life? A coincidental meeting with English actors Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers, stars of the hit film Born Free, led to Christian being flown to Kenya and placed under the expert care of the “father of lions” George Adamson. Incredibly, when Ace and John returned to Kenya to see Christian a year later, they received a loving welcome from their lion, who was by then fully integrated into Africa and a life with other lions. A video of this reunion has become a YouTube classic. Originally published in 1971, and now fully revised and updated with more than 50 photographs of Christian from cuddly cub in London to magnificent lion in Africa, A Lion Called Christian is a touching and uplifting true story of an indelible human-animal bond. It is destined to become one of the great classics of animal literature.
The heartwarming true story of a lion cub named Christian, known through the YouTube video, the men who cared for him, and the power of love. Full color.
The story that captured the imagination of the world... In 1969 Harrods department store in London sold a three month old lion cub to two young Australians, John Rendall and Anthony (Ace) Bourke. They called him Christian. For a year Christian lived happily and safely with John and Ace and his human 'pride', initially in the World's End on the King's Road in Chelsea, where Derek Cattani first began photographing him. When Christian outgrew his London environment he was entrusted to the care of George Adamson in Kenya, who with his wife Joy, had successfully rehabilitated their lioness Elsa, the subject of Joy's Book Born Free. A year after Christian had been living in the wild John and Ace returned to Kenya to try and find him. The film clip of their emotional reunion has now been viewed by over 100 million people on YouTube. In 1973 Christian disappeared into the wild forever. George Adamson had uniquely rehabilitated a 5th generation zoo-bred lion. John and Ace's first book about Christian was a million seller in the 1970s, and enjoyed a huge resurgence of interest after their YouTube clip went viral in 2006. This brand new book from Bradt, collects Derek Cattani's never-before-seen pictures of Christian and updates the story to the present day, including the story of their YouTube sensation and a chapter on the murder of George Adamson. When John and Ace took Christian to Kenya in 1970 there were an estimated 300,00 lions in Africa. Today there are fewer than 25,000.
Your greatest regret at the end of your life will be the lions you didn't chase. You will look back longingly on risks not taken, opportunities not seized, and dreams not pursued. Stop running away from what scares you most and start chasing the God-ordained opportunities that cross your path. In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day is inspired by one of the most obscure yet courageous acts recorded in Scripture, a blessed and audacious act that left no regrets: “Benaiah chased a lion down into a pit. Then, despite the snow and slippery ground, he caught the lion and killed it” (2 Samuel 23:20 -21). Unleash the lion chaser within! #InAPit “Mark has become one of the most important voices for a new generation. Anything he touches changes lives. Read this book and you’ll see what I mean.” — Craig Groeschel, pastor of Life.Church, author of Chazown and Dare to Drop the Pose “As a leader and teacher, Mark Batterson brings imagination, energy, and insight. I appreciate his willingness to take bold risks and go to extraordinary lengths to reach our culture with a message that is truly relevant.” — Ed Young, senior pastor, Fellowship Church “Don’t settle for a normal life. Conquer your fears, accept His anointing, jump into that pit, chase the lion, and watch God’s Kingdom come in amazing ways.” — Christine Caine, founder of Propel Women, author of Unashamed
This classic series has inspired nearly 2 million readers. Both loyal fans and new readers will want the latest edition of this beloved series. This edition includes a foreword from the publisher, a preface from Francine Rivers and discussion questions suitable for personal and group use. #3 As Sure As the Dawn: Atretes. German warrior. Revered gladiator. He won his freedom through his fierceness . . . But his life is about to change forever.
Former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams offers fascinating insight into The Chronicles of Narnia, the popular series of novels by one of the most influential Christian authors of the modern era, C. S. Lewis. Lewis once referred to certain kinds of book as a "mouthwash for the imagination." This is what he attempted to provide in the Narnia stories, argues Williams: an unfamiliar world in which we could rinse out what is stale in our thinking about Christianity--"which is almost everything," says Williams--and rediscover what it might mean to meet the holy. Indeed, Lewis's great achievement in the Narnia books is just that-he enables readers to encounter the Christian story "as if for the first time." How does Lewis makes fresh and strange the familiar themes of Christian doctrine? Williams points out that, for one, Narnia itself is a strange place: a parallel universe, if you like. There is no "church" in Narnia, no religion even. The interaction between Aslan as a "divine" figure and the inhabitants of this world is something that is worked out in the routines of life itself. Moreover, we are made to see humanity in a fresh perspective, the pride or arrogance of the human spirit is chastened by the revelation that, in Narnia, you may be on precisely the same spiritual level as a badger or a mouse. It is through these imaginative dislocations that Lewis is able to communicate--to a world that thinks it knows what faith is--the character, the feel, of a real experience of surrender in the face of absolute incarnate love. This lucid, learned, humane, and beautifully written book opens a new window onto Lewis's beloved stories, revealing the moral wisdom and passionate faith beneath their perennial appeal.
Professor Markides continues his quest for the nature of reality, mind, self, and ultimate divinity, searching within diverse sources of wisdom on a journey that takes him from Maine to New York to London to Cyprus and on to ancient monasteries on the coast of Greece. His revelation of a vital, living mystical practice, based in ancient Christian thought, is a major step in linking the most esoteric traditions of the East to the largely hidden esoteric traditions of the West.
