Across the 30,000 or so varieties of Christianity, believers universally love Jesus. They have no trouble accepting his humanity and his divinity. Many express intimations of his close presence in their lives; a fear of his judgment and wrath as well as a love of his compassion; a justification for their worldviews and politics (of all persuasions), and firm convictions about his atonement for their sins and thus his centrality in their personal salvation.

But who is Christ?

Is Christ simply Jesus's last name, denoting his role as saviour of humanity, as messiah? What is Christ? How is his function or role different from Jesus's? Are we missing something fundamental because of our overwhelming emphasis on Jesus to the exclusion of the Christ, or our misunderstanding of what it means that Jesus was `the Christ'? Could it be that such limited views are contributing to the slow and painful erosion of Christianity in western culture, to its insularity and insistence on purity and exclusion?

These are questions Fr Richard Rohr has been pondering for many years. In his ecumenical and scripturally grounded books on contemplation, mysticism and many more topics, he has emphasized the importance of a large framework for understanding the nature of 'what is' and what lasts, of unity and the ultimate reality of God's presence in all of creation-Christian and non-Christian, human and non-human.

Could it be that Jesus, who is the Christ, is offering us a model and example on how to live inside `this Big Frame?'

Everyday Practices for a World Gone Mad

We live in soul-scorching times. The 24-7 onslaught of contemporary life--with its never-ending feed of global tragedies and shrieking demands for our attention, to say nothing of the ordinary pressures of work, family, friends, and community--has left us ragged, wrung-out, and emptied.

In his life-changing new book, John Eldredge distills a lifetime's wisdom about healing into a series of practical, ready-to-implement practices for putting yourself back together. These simple steps will enable you to begin recovery, help you focus on what matters most, disengage from the tragedies of this broken world, and discover the restorative power of beauty. The practices include:

• the one-minute pause
• benevolent detachment
• practicing kindness,
• getting outside, and
• stepping back from technology

The practices explained here are ready for the taking. You don't need abandon your life to get it back. You can restore it here and now. And you will never be the same.

John Eldredge is a bestselling author, a counselor, and a teacher. He is also president of Ransomed Heart, a ministry devoted to helping people discover the heart of God, recover their own hearts in God's love, and learn to live in God's kingdom. John and his wife, Stasi, live near Colorado Springs, Colorado.

We grow more spiritually by doing it wrong than by doing it right In Falling Upward, Fr Richard Rohr offers a new understanding of one of life's most profound mysteries: how our failing can be the foundation for our ongoing spiritual growth. Drawing on the wisdom from time-honoured myths, heroic poems, great thinkers and sacred religious texts, the author explores the two halves of life to show that those who have fallen, failed, or 'gone down' are the only ones who understand 'up'. The heartbreaks, disappointments and loves of the first half of life are actually stepping stones to the spiritual joys that the second half has in store for us. 'I thank God for Richard Rohr's sage-like presence in our culture: I honestly don't know where I'd be without it.' Brian Draper 'Richard Rohr at his vintage best: prophetic, pastoral, practical.' Cynthia Bourgeault 'A voyage into the mystery and beauty of healthy spiritual maturity.' Mehmet Oz, MD, host of the Dr Oz Show

40 Days with the Holy Spirit will inspire you to encounter God in fresh and surprising ways. You'll develop stronger spiritual muscles as you breathe, read, reflect, and pray-all with an eye to cultivating a relationship with the least familiar member of the Trinity. The book is interactive, offering the opportunity to write and pray each day; intelligent, rooted in a rigorous study of scripture, from Genesis to Revelation; and inviting, with 40 insightful, well-planned 20-30 minute daily exercises; and prayerful, with 40 original prayers that capture each day's insight into the deep, spiritual work of the Holy Spirit.

Squarely challenging a culture obsessed with success, an acclaimed philosopher argues that failure is vital to a life well lived, curing us of arrogance and self-deception and engendering humility instead. Our obsession with success is hard to overlook. Everywhere we compete, rank, and measure. Yet this relentless drive to be the best blinds us to something vitally important: the need to be humble in the face of life's challenges. Costica Bradatan mounts his case for failure through the stories of four historical figures who led lives of impact and meaning-and assiduously courted failure. Their struggles show that engaging with our limitations can be not just therapeutic but transformative. In Praise of Failure explores several arenas of failure, from the social and political to the spiritual and biological. It begins by examining the defiant choices of the French mystic Simone Weil, who, in sympathy with exploited workers, took up factory jobs that her frail body could not sustain. From there we turn to Mahatma Gandhi, whose punishing quest for purity drove him to ever more extreme acts of self-abnegation. Next we meet the self-styled loser E. M. Cioran, who deliberately turned his back on social acceptability, and Yukio Mishima, who reveled in a distinctly Japanese preoccupation with the noble failure, before looking to Seneca to tease out the ingredients of a good life. Gleefully breaching the boundaries between argument and storytelling, scholarship and spiritual quest, Bradatan concludes that while success can make us shallow, our failures can lead us to humbler, more attentive, and better lived lives. We can do without success, but we are much poorer without the gifts of failure.

You probably know what it's like to be driving down the road when you suddenly feel the vibration and hear the guh-guh-guh-guh-guh of the rumble strips--those groves in the pavement--warning you that you've drifted out of your lane. You didn't mean to get distracted. You only took your eyes off the road for a moment, but you drifted off course. And that's a lot like life, isn't it?

In Undistracted, Bob Goff lovingly yanks us back in our lane and helps us get back on track so we can live our lives with real purpose and joy.

In his trademark storytelling style, Bob helps us:

• Learn the destruction of distraction and the benefits of living a life of undistracted love and authentic connection
• Identify the distractions in our lives and either eliminate them or route around them
• Catch a vision of our future, undistracted selves where we can experience true happiness and joy

Bob's inspiring and entertaining stories in Undistracted show us what it looks like to live a beautiful and purposeful life rather than drifting aimlessly from one season to the next. He encourages us to fix our eyes on Jesus and harness life's distractions so we can find joy despite our circumstances.

Die John C. Maxwell Dagbeplanner 2023 spog met unieke, nuwe ontwerpe in ’n A5 kunsleer-formaat en bevat wysheid in insig van John Maxwell, befaamde leierskapdeskundige. Besigheidsmense kan nou ’n beplanner kies wat aan hulle behoeftes én smaak voldoen.

Kenmerke sluit in:

• Inspirerende daaglikse en maandelikse aanhalings
• Openbare vakansiedae en skoolkwartale vir Suid-Afrika, Namibië, Botswana en Zimbabwe
• Jaarbeplanners en kalenders vir 2023 en 2024
• ’n Bladsy-per-dag met plek vir prioriteite, afsprake, notas en finansiële aanwysers
• Logboek om brandstof en afstand op te teken Notabladsye
• NUUT: moderne en vars ontwerp
• 210 x 142 mm, kunsleer met ritssluiter, lintmerker

A coming-of-age travel memoir that probes thorny spiritual questions while taking the reader on a wild ride from the deep American South to the Middle East, Europe, and the Far East. Once the golden girl of her Arkansas town, Natalie finds herself squeezed under small town shame and rejection after being kicked out of church for getting a divorce. It's a hard fall off of a sanctimonious high horse, and religious fundamentalism has left her feeling broken and stuck. But she can't shake the 'wanderlust woes' that have plagued her since childhood, so she runs away to the Middle East. As a mostly-sheltered Southerner, she struggles to adapt but is determined to be 'at home' in the world. Her journey is more than a pilgrimage, it's a peregrination: a one-way ticket to elsewhere in search of the place of her own resurrection. Within these pages is a suspenseful adventure filled with love, loss, laughter, tears, and a little bit of scandalous behavior, but at the heart of it, Natalie walks squarely into the unknown to confront the secret matters of the soul that we wrestle with at night.

Just This is a collection of brief and evocative meditations and practices that invites us to cultivate the gift of waking up to the beauty of reality in all its glorious ordinariness. With his signature blend of contemplation, theology, and pastoral sensitivity, Fr Richard Rohr creates a spaciousness for the soul to grow into a kind of seeing that goes far beyond merely looking to recognising and thus appreciating. This is the heart of contemplation, the centerpiece of any inner dialogue that frees us from the traps of our perceptions and preoccupations. The contemplative mind does not tell us what to see; it teaches us how to see what we behold.

A-Z of Wellbeing is an accessible introduction to help you attend to your own wellbeing and live out your own alphabet of peace. It presents twenty-six words of wellness to help you discover new practices, connect with God, and share wellbeing with others. Each topic includes: * Connect the word to a biblical theme * Learn a new habit to practise * Get active sharing the habit with others * Take Notice of a personal story * Give back with questions and further resources By sharing the words that were helpful in her own journey of recovery from breakdown, Ruth Rice gently encourages us to find our own toolkit of words and habits that will help us maintain our own wellbeing. Content Benefits: Ruth Rice helps us to find a language that enables us to speak honestly and live healthily together around the area of mental and emotional health. * 26 words of wellbeing are unpacked with insights and practical application * Uses the five ways of wellbeing from the New Economics Foundation * Understands wellbeing within the framework of God's character, practical habits and community reality * Enables us to understand wellbeing as a life long journey rather than a quick fix * Encourages us to find our own alphabet of wellbeing that works for us * Enables us to speak, live and share wellbeing * Suitable for anyone who wants to attend to their wellbeing * Helpful for anyone who wants to understand and come alongside someone who is struggling with their wellbeing

Not every Christian needs to go to seminary, but there are certain teachings of the Bible that every Christian should know. Whether you're a relatively new believer in Jesus or a mature Christian looking for a better understanding of basics of the faith, Christian Beliefs is for you.

This readable guide to twenty basic Christian beliefs condenses Wayne Grudem's award-winning book Systematic Theology, prized by pastors and teachers everywhere. He and his son, pastor Elliot Grudem, have boiled down the essentials of theology for everyday Christians and made them both clear and applicable to life. Each brief chapter concludes with questions for personal review or group discussion.

In this revised and updated edition of Christian Beliefs, you will learn about:

• The Bible and its authority for our lives
• The characteristics of God
• The importance of prayer
• Angels and the reality of spiritual warfare
• What it means that we are created in the image of God
• What God has done for us in Christ
• The purpose of the church
• What will happen when Christ returns
• The biblical understanding of heaven
• And much more

Christian Beliefs is the ideal book for every Christian who wants a solid foundation for understanding the most basic and essential teachings of the Bible.