Wayne Jacobsen combines the imagery of his years growing up on a vineyard in central California with the insight of his study on spiritual intimacy. In brief, meditative chapters, he illuminates various aspects of tending a vineyard and relates these insights to the lessons Christians can learn from biblical blessings of "bearing fruit", the privilege of "remaining on the vine", and the "seasons" of God's work in a believer's life.
PART MEMOIR AND PART ELEGY, READING MY FATHER IS THE STORY OF A DAUGHTER COMING TO KNOW HER FATHER AT LAST— A GIANT AMONG TWENTIETH-CENTURY AMERICAN NOVELISTS AND A MAN WHOSE DEVASTATING DEPRESSION DARKENED THE FAMILY LANDSCAPE. In Reading My Father, William Styron’s youngest child explores the life of a fascinating and difficult man whose own memoir, Darkness Visible, so searingly chronicled his battle with major depression. Alexandra Styron’s parents—the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Sophie’s Choice and his political activist wife, Rose—were, for half a century, leading players on the world’s cultural stage. Alexandra was raised under both the halo of her father’s brilliance and the long shadow of his troubled mind. A drinker, a carouser, and above all “a high priest at the altar of fiction,” Styron helped define the concept of The Big Male Writer that gave so much of twentieth-century American fiction a muscular, glamorous aura. In constant pursuit of The Great Novel, he and his work were the dominant force in his family’s life, his turbulent moods the weather in their ecosystem. From Styron’s Tidewater, Virginia, youth and precocious literary debut to the triumphs of his best-known books and on through his spiral into depression, Reading My Father portrays the epic sweep of an American artist’s life, offering a ringside seat on a great literary generation’s friendships and their dramas. It is also a tale of filial love, beautifully written, with humor, compassion, and grace.
When the body of a radical environmentalist is discovered in a golf course sandtrap, J. W. Jackson finds himself named a prime suspect and sets about identifying the killer from among a horde of developers, golfers, and other potential culprits.
Godly thriving leaders are precious and valuable, but developing those leaders is not easy. Many leaders feel stuck, tired and frustrated in their growth and calling. This can change. In Mining for Gold, pastor and master-coach, Tom Camacho, offers a fresh perspective on how to draw out the best in ourselves and in those around us. Cutting through the complexity and challenges of leadership development, he gives us practical and effective tools to help leaders grow personally and develop those around them. Coaching, through the power of the Holy Spirit, provides the clarity and momentum we need to grow. When we get clarity, everything changes. Coaching helps us better understand our identity in Christ, our God-given wiring, and how we naturally bear the most fruit. There is gold in God’s people, waiting to be discovered. Let’s learn to draw out that treasure and help others flourish in their life and leadership.
Imagine walking across the land with Jesus, hearing Him proclaim Himself in the synagogues made of rocks and on the rocky hillside, in the cities built from rocks and on the rocky shores of the lakes.... Drawing from images used throughout the Scriptures, the Rack Speaks is a stepping-stone to a deeper Search of God's Word and a call to grow in faith. These ten lessons guide you to Look around at the many forms of rock-dust and sand, soil and mountains-see God's magnificent creation, and testify that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God! God is continually at wok through His World to call us closer to Him, to live, to be alive. Allow His Word in the soil of your heart. For individuals or small-group Bible study, this resource encourages readers to journey toward deeper faith and trusts in the World and Work of the triune God through His creation. Book jacket.
What book of the Old or New Testament has generated the most commentaries in the history of the Church? Not John?s Gospel, not Paul?s letter to the Romans, not the prophet Isaiah, no, it is the Song of Songs. It is a book that is unknown to many Catholics, and shocking to those who discover it for the first time because of its descriptions of a lover and his beloved God is only mentioned once and that is at the very end. And yet the greatest of the Fathers have commented on it. Origen?s is the classic and St. Jerome says of it: ?Origen, having surpassed all of the interpreters of all the books of Scripture, surpassed himself in this interpretation of the Canticle.? St. Bernard of Clairvaux, St. Francis de Sales, St. John of the Cross, all have added to the great tradition of interpreting this book for they see it as God?s love for Israel and the Church, Christ?s love for Mary, for the Church, and for each of us. The author draws on all these classics of Catholic tradition to give us a verse by verse reading of the Song of Songs which will deepen the spiritual lives of all of us a deepening rooted in God?s word and the most profound Catholic tradition.
At the age of 47, when he a successful publishing executive and living with his wife and four children in an affluent Chicago suburb, John Shafer made the surprise announcement that he had purchased a vineyard in the Napa Valley. In 1973, he moved his family to California and, with no knowledge of winemaking, began the journey that would lead him, thirty years later, to own and operate what distinguished wine critic Robert M. Parker, Jr. called “one of the world’s greatest wineries.” This book, narrated by Shafer’s son Doug, is a personal account of how his father turned his midlife dream into a remarkable success story. Set against the backdrop of Napa Valley’s transformation from a rural backwater in the 1970s through its emergence today as one of the top wine regions in the world, the book begins with the winery’s shaky start and takes the reader through the father and son’s ongoing battles against killer bugs, cellar disasters, local politics, changing consumer tastes, and the volatility of nature itself. Doug Shafer tells the story of his own education, as well as Shafer Vineyards’ innovative efforts to be environmentally sustainable, its role in spearheading the designation of a Stags Leap American Viticultural Area, and how the wine industry has changed in the contemporary era of custom-crushing and hobbyist winery investors.
Alan Scott, a leader in the Vineyard Movement, draws upon his years of experience to share inspiring stories of cities transformed by scattered servants. He shares practical ways for church leaders to move beyond the building walls and take the kingdom to those who need it most. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, Scott argues that every believer, not just the leaders, can fill their city, workplace, and family with the beauty and power of Christ. When believers become scattered servants, the Holy Spirit will equip them to advance the kingdom and change lives through their hearts and hands.
