Eliza Fricker gets it. Describing her perfectly imperfect experience of raising a PDA child, with societal judgements and internal pressures, it is easy to feel overwhelmed, resentful and alone. This book's comedic illustrations explain these challenging situations and feelings in a way that words simply cannot, will bring some much-needed levity back into PDA parenting. Humorous anecdotes with a compassionate tone remind parents that they are not alone, and they're doing a great job. If children are safe, happy, and you leave the house on time, who cares about some smelly socks? A light-hearted and digestible guide to being a PDA parent covering everything from tolerance levels, relationships and meltdowns to collaboration, flexibility, and self care to dip in and out as your schedule allows to help get to grips with this complex condition. This book is an essential read for any parent with a PDA child, to help better understand your child, build support systems and carve out some essential self care time guilt free.
When Riley Spartz sees a want ad reading 'Wedding Dress for Sale: Never Worn', her news instincts tell her that the backstory might make an intriguing television sweeps piece. The groom, Mark, last seen at the rehearsal dinner, never showed up for the wedding. His own mother, eager to spare him further embarrassment, waited weeks before filing a missing-person report. But when her missing-person's case leads to a murder investigation, Riley discovers a startling motive for Mark's disappearance - and a TV exclusive guaranteed to win the ratings - if she lives to report it...
A lucid and engaging study of the biblical theology of sin, taking into account views in theology, philosophy, and the social sciences, and offering insights for contemporary culture and ministry. "The haunting question of Karl Menninger, ''Whatever Happened to Sin?'', is given full, thick answer here. Sin has been flattened, trivialized, reduced to ''crime,'' and completely misconstrued among us. With shrewdness and finesse, Biddle shows the ''thickness'' of sin in the Bible, and the way in which sin, without reductionism, pertains to the deepest human reality. Biddle is one ''Mark'' that impressively does not miss! Walter Brueggemann Columbia Theological Seminary Biddle addresses the essential nature of sin. He examines the dominant Christian understanding of sin, carefully rereads key biblical texts, and reveals the lexical depth of meaning in the biblical tradition. Missing the Mark examines the following aspects of the subject of sin: key passages and terms in the Old and New Testaments that deal with sin, its consequences, its effect on the community; reflection on the nature of sin, including original sin, in classical Christian theology; the relationship of the biblical theology of sin to Western juridical practice as well as philosophy, psychology, and the social sciences; the implications of the biblical theology of sin for the life of the church and Christian ministry. The "sin as crime" metaphor, with its emphases on the juridical, the individual, and willful rebellion, and its interests in assignment of guilt and exaction of punishment, addresses certain aspects of the problem of human existence. Yet, although dominant in the Western popular mind, it does not fully reflect the biblical witness, nor provide a sufficient basis for the church''s ministry in addressing human wrongdoing and its consequences, nor take account of the insights of contemporary theological movements, philosophies, and social sciences that do not confirm its validity as a thorough description of the problem of being human. Consequently, the conventional understanding of sin offers the church meager tools for ministry. In response, Mark Biddle reveals the biblical insights often overlooked in the dominant theological tradition, tests these insights against those of contemporary theology, philosophy, and the social sciences to confirm their accuracy and currency as descriptions of significant aspects of the human condition, and shows the value of these insights into sin for ministry to the wide range of human pain and sorrow. Central, of course, to the difficulty in framing a "biblical" doctrine of sin is the incongruity between the semantic fields of terms for "sin" in the biblical languages and in Western languages. In common English usage, "sin" refers to "transgression of divine law" or to "the human propensity for such transgression," definitions that emphasize the act apart from its consequences or the tendency as a trait of human nature and that imply willful violation of a known standard. Biblical terms and usage involve a much broader spectrum of ideas--the act as a wrong regardless of intention, the real effects of the act loosed on the world as an abiding condition unless and until remedied, shortcomings resulting from ignorance or incapacity, a communal phenomenon with communal consequences, etc. The dominant Christian understanding of sin sees it primarily as a soteriological problem; that is, it pertains chiefly to what are the conditions that make salvation necessary. The Bible, and common experience, suggest, however, that sin is more than a blot on one''s record, that, as an organic continuum, it influences the world including and surrounding the sinner in real and lasting ways. Biddle explores the dynamics of sin as act, condition, and cause. Its effects cannot be remedied merely by a transaction analogous to forgiving a debt. Sin does damage that must, as far as possible, be repaired. A biblical view of sin understands that sin''s impact on the world reverberates throughout the sinner''s environment, across space and time. In this sense, sin becomes a cause, and it creates a distorted environment that is the pre-condition for other sin. Careful comparison of the Bible''s understanding of the complex phenomenon of human sin with reflection on common experience reveals that the Bible offers a corrective to Western Christian hyper-individualism, moral relativism, and inadequate theological tools and rationale for ministry to the full range of wrong and wrongdoing. Specifically, the Bible speaks to a number of aspects of sin often largely ignored in Christian theology and ministerial praxis.
The earliest of the four Gospels, the book portrays Jesus as an enigmatic figure, struggling with enemies, his inner and external demons, and with his devoted but disconcerted disciples. Unlike other gospels, his parables are obscure, to be explained secretly to his followers. With an introduction by Nick Cave
Our faith in Jesus is a daily walk with Him. Each day we look to Jesus for everything we need as we walk through life. Strengthen your daily walk with these 365 daily devotions to encourage and challenge you.
None of us like to hear the word No - especially as an answer to our prayers. So how does a father reconcile a lifelong faith in God when confronted with the word no regarding something as critical as the healing of his youngest child? This book is a two year journey through that wilderness of no. It contains few answers and many questions, but ultimately a faith that there is a loving God who chose a path we will never understand on this side of heaven. When Kylie was diagnosed with cancer in April of 2014, her father believed that she would be completely healed and become a living testimony to God's faithfulness and goodness. That is not the story that God wrote. A writer and blogger, Mark began posting about his struggles of heart and faith with a unique ability to mix humor and heartache. His genuine and often raw style seemed to resonate with many hurting people and his words were shared on many platforms. Upon Kylie's death in February 2015, he began a journey to find purpose among the ruins heaped on him, his family, and his faith - documenting both progress and set-backs. With several never-before published writings including an especially poignant letter written by Kylie just days before her death, this book is a compilation of blog posts and journal entries that allows you to walk alongside him for this season. It will bring both smiles and tears. You will feel his hope and faith while he faces the struggle, endures the pain of devastating loss, then embarks on a desperate search for meaning, while always: Missing Kylie. **Proceeds from the sale of this book will be used to fight childhood cancer in memory of Kylie.
The Bible speaks of a time unparallel to any other-The Time of Jacob's Trouble or The Great Tribulation. Mainstream Christianity teaches the restrainer that is ascribed to holding back the powers of darkness is the Holy Spirit and since the Holy Spirit resides in them, they believe that they will be removed from the earth in rapture. Only then will Anti-Messiah appear. Missing the Mark: How and Why Mainstream Christianity Will Be Deceived in the Last Days, the first book in a series, uses biblical references to prove that not only is it scripturally inaccurate to believe a select few will be removed from the Earth in a rapture, it is unnecessary. Author Susan Mahoney reveals the true restrainer and explains why the Church is under heavy spiritual darkness. Using a strong Scriptural foundation and hard facts of recent history,Mahoney reasons under this cover of this darkness, Satan has already constructed the outline of the one-world system and prepared the citizens of the earth for the unveiling of his man.
Luke Brighton, the Earl of Edentown, surveyed the land. The sun shone in the sky but there was an unmistakable oppression covering everything. The earth was hard, barley yielding any nutrients for the crops the people of Olddenburg needed. And still, even with these paltry harvests, King Matar continually demanded more. More taxes, more laws, more judgment ...something needed to change. The earl had come many years ago with the intent of making a difference, but the townspeople shut him off. Even those on his own property could not understand what he meant when he spoke of freedom. He knew the time was coming when he would need to make his move. The people of Olddenburg and his young wards deserved more than this meager lifestyle. He was the one who could bring it to pass, but would they recognize it? Would those of his household have the courage to walk in true freedom or had they grown too accepting of their fate with King Matar? Come, find out, as you enter a world where one family can change the fate of the entire realm.
This book is a companion to The New Man by the same author. Nicoll discusses, by way of the Gospels, the idea that real religion is about realizing the potential for spiritual change, latent but unborn, that exists in everyone. "The Mark" is the realization of this transformation. The author explains that in the Gospels the word translated as "sin" means in the literal Greek "missing the mark", as of a spear thrown at some object and failing to hit it. And from meaning to miss the mark it came to mean failing in one's purpose, and so erring or wrongdoing. It is Dr. Nicoll's contention that when a man is overpowered by outer life and influenced only by outside agency that person is machine-driven by his senses, but internally on the wrong road. Such a person is dominated by external life and has no spiritual life. That part of them which is truly real, and from which their own individual existence and growth can begin, is lost. It is in the wrong place. And this is sin. That is, in this sense, everyone has missed the mark, missed the idea of their own true existence. Chapters discuss our spiritual existence, the nature of truth, the meaning of life, human will, and individual growth.
