The traces of God can be found in the most unexpected places--an Atlanta slum, a pod of whales off the coast of Alaska, the prisons of Peru and Chile, the plays of Shakespeare, a health club in Chicago--yet many Christians have not only missed seeing God, they’ve overlooked opportunities to make him visible to those most in need of hope. In this enlightening book author Philip Yancey serves as an insightful tour guide for those willing to look beyond the obvious, pointing out glimpses of the eternal where few might think to look. Whether finding God among the newspaper headlines, within the church, or on the job, Yancey delves deeply into the commonplace and surfaces with rich spiritual insight. Finding God in Unexpected Places takes readers from Ground Zero to the Horn of Africa, and each stop along the way reveals footprints of God, touches of his truth and grace that prompt readers to search deeper within their own lives for glimpses of transcendence.
The God of Abraham The God of Isaac The God of Jacob The God of Sarah The God of Rebecca The God of Rachel The God of Leah ... the God of Me There is no easy prescription for how to know God, yet everyone can pursue a personal relationship with God, just as our patriarchs and matriarchs did in their lives. How we come to know God, however, is unique to each of us, influenced by our study of Torah, the insights of the Rabbis of antiquity, as well as our own experiences throughout our lifetime. To open the way for you to find God's presence in your life, Rabbi David Lyon uses the central prayer in Jewish worship, the Amidah, as a starting point, and guides you compellingly through classic Torah texts and midrash. He helps you clear away preconceived images of God from your childhood or dogmas that restrict your experience of God in personal and meaningful ways today. Combining profound teachings from Jewish sources with insights and experiences from real life, he shows how you can enjoy a unique relationship with God—the God of you, your God of me.
Engaging narrative and provocative content come together in this mind-stretching and heart-challenging journey. Come with Kelly Monroe Kullberg on an intellectual road trip as The Veritas Forum explores the deepest questions of the university world and the culture at large. Discover that Veritas transcends philosophy or religion and instead brings us to true life.
In God's Debris, best-selling author and creator of Dilbert Scott Adams fashioned a thought-provoking exploration of life's great mysteries (everything from quantum physics and God to psychic phenomena and dating) that quickly captured the attention and imaginations of readers everywhere. The intriguing story of a deliveryman who meets the world's smartest person and learns the secret of reality is threaded with a variety of hypnosis techniques that Adams, a certified hypnotist, used to induce a feeling of euphoric enlightenment in readers to mirror the main character's feelings as he discovers the true nature of the universe.Launched to coincide with the hardcover publication of its sequel, The Religion War (see opposite page), this first paperback edition of God's Debris will soon make the leap to a broader audience. As Adams designed it, the book will "make your brain spin around inside your skull" and drive readers toward The Religion War as they seek to confirm or deny the dizzying impressions and chaotic memories of reading God's Debris.The book provides one of the most compelling visions of reality ever experienced on the printed page. Along the way, readers will enjoy the Thought Experiment: Trying to discover what's wrong with the sage's explanation of reality. This is a book, as Adams says, to be shared and savored with smart friends.
As people, we all struggle with stress, moments of panic, times of confusion, and other times that we feel overwhelmed and we can't sleep. And if it was up to the devil, he would be more than happy to medicate all of us with his fake remedies of alcohol and drugs. He is an opportunist, experienced in using our problems, our vulnerability, our wounding, our pain, our traumatic past experiences to get us where he wants. He is good at offering temporary relief for deeper crises of the soul. This is my true story of God stepping into my messy, shattered, and broken family life and rescuing me. You see, freedom, according to Satan, is being away from God. I don't think my son had any idea of who the devil was or how cunning he could be. He befriends to destroy, he gives to take away. As a mother of an adult struggling with addiction, my life was paralyzed. Every breath increased my pain of hopelessness and despair. I felt afraid, alone, and abandoned by God. God seemed distant, absent, silent, and unconcerned. I felt like running, but there was no place to hide. Was God punishing me? Where and how did I go wrong? Sharing my painful journey was not an easy step. I tried at all costs to hide this painful part of my life. It took years in my classroom of pain for my mind to be unshackled by the Teacher, the Holy Spirit. I no longer need to hide nor be ashamed of my challenges with my prodigal son. Nevertheless, breaking free from shame, stigma, and judgment is a process that took years. When we only let others see the beautiful parts of our stories, avoiding our broken painful chapters, we mislead people, and perhaps they envy us for what they falsely think are perfect lives. Worse, we misrepresent the power of the good news that reaches down into our broken souls, hearts, and lives to provide peace from our broken pieces. Dear waiting, praying, and expecting parents of struggling children, I believe God wants to usher you to your own breakthrough, healing, and freedom. You can learn to relinquish your child(ren) to God. Do not lose hope. Have faith. In his time, he will make all things beautiful for us! God wastes nothing, even our pain.
Since rising out of the New York City streets over 25 years ago, Russell Simmons has helped create such groundbreaking ventures as Def Jam Records, Phat Farm and Def Comedy Jam, becoming known the world over as "The CEO of Hip Hop." He credits his success to his belief in a set of 12 laws, which he shares in this book. His path towards success can be followed by anyone struggling to realize their dreams. Indeed, those solely looking to build up their bank accounts at the expense of personal integrity should look elsewhere. Blending business insight and spiritual inspiration, Russell believes that all success, professional or personal, comes from a connection with your higher self, and that it's impossible to receive any sort of lasting success from the world without giving something of lasting value to the world first: being a mentor and philanthropist is fundamental to success.--From publisher description.
When He came to earth, Jesus Christ was rejected in every quarter in which He stepped. The Creator was rejected by His own creation. “He came to His own and His own received Him not,” said John. For this reason, Jesus Christ had “no where to lay His head.” There was one exception, however. A little village just outside of Jerusalem named Bethany. Bethany was the only place on earth where Jesus was completely received. God’s Favorite Place on Earth is a retelling of Jesus’ many visits to Bethany and a relaying of the message it holds for us today. Frank Viola presents a beautifully crafted narrative from the viewpoint of Lazarus, one of the people who lived in Bethany with his two sisters. This incomparable story not only brings the Gospel narratives to life, but it addresses the struggle against doubt, discouragement, fear, guilt, rejection, and spiritual apathy that challenges countless Christians today. In profoundly moving prose, God’s Favorite Place on Earth will captivate your heart with its beauty, charm, and depth. In this book you will discover how to live as a “Bethany” in our world today, being set free to love and follow Jesus like never before.
The so-called New Atheists receive much publicity, but their demand to be provided with incontrovertible evidence for the existence of God, and that such evidence must come from a scientific examination of the physical world, is the wrong approach. As many theologians and philosophers have claimed, the search for God begins by looking inwards into oneself. But what does that mean? Surely looking inwards we find nothing but the contents of one’s own mind. Where does God come in? It is by the examination of the contents of the mind and trying to understand how they got there that one seeks clues about God’s influence on the mind. Our consciousness bears a resemblance to that Consciousness from which it is directly derived. It bears his imprint. It is from the characteristics of that imprint we get to know what kind of God we are dealing with. Only then can we be open to realizing how that other creation of his, the physical world, also bears his imprint.
In the worlds of Steve Rasnic Tem a father takes his son “fishing” in the deepest part of downtown, flayed rabbits visit a suburban back yard, a man is haunted by a surrealistic nightmare of crutches, a father is unable to rescue his son from a nightmare of trees, a bereaved man transforms memories of his wife into performance art, great moving cliffs of detritus randomly prowl the world, a seemingly pointless life finds final expression in bits of folded paper, a nuclear holocaust brings about a new mythology, an isolated man discovers he’s part of a terrifying community, a photographer discovers the unexpected in the faces of dead children, and a couple’s aging dismantles reality. Winner of the World Fantasy, British Fantasy and Bram Stoker Awards, Tem has earned a reputation as one of the finest and most original short fiction writers of our time, blending elements of horror, dark fantasy, science fiction and surreal nightmare into a genre uniquely his own. This new volume collects for the first time thirty-five of Tem’s best tales, selected by the author, and includes an introduction by Simon Strantzas.
