I remember the day as a sunny, summer Brazilian one. My wife, Denalyn, and I were spending the afternoon with our friends Paul and Debbie. Their house was a welcome relief. We lived close to downtown Rio de Janeiro in a high-rise apartment. Paul and Debbie lived an hour away from the city center in a nice house where the air was cooler, the streets were cleaner, and life was calmer. Besides, they had a swimming pool. Our two-year-old daughter, Jenna, loved to play with their kids. And that is exactly what she was doing when she fell. We didn't intend to leave the children unattended. We had stepped into the house for just a moment to fill our plates. We were chatting and chewing when Paul and Debbie's four-year-old walked into the room and casually told her mom, "Jenna fell in the pool." We exploded out the door. Jenna was flopping in the water, wearing neither floaties nor a life jacket. Paul reached her first. He jumped in and lifted her up to Denalyn. Jenna coughed and cried for a minute, and just like that she was fine. Tragedy averted. Daughter safe. Imagine our gratitude! We immediately circled up the kids, offered a prayer, and sang a song of thanks. For the remainder of the day, our feet didn't touch the ground, and Jenna didn't leave our arms. Even driving home, I was thanking God. In the rearview mirror I could see Jenna sound asleep in her car seat, and I offered yet another prayer: God, you are so good. Then a question surfaced in my thoughts. From God? Or from the part of me that struggles to make sense out of God? I can't say. But what the voice asked, I still remember: If Jenna hadn't survived, would God still be good? I had spent the better part of the afternoon broadcasting God's goodness. Yet had we lost Jenna, would I have reached a different verdict? Is God good only when the outcome is? When the cancer is in remission, we say "God is good." When the pay raise comes, we announce "God is good." When the university admits us or the final score favors our team, "God is good." Would and do we say the same under different circumstances? In the cemetery as well as the nursery? In the unemployment line as well as the grocery line? In days of recession as much as in days of provision? Is God always good? Most, if not all of us, have a contractual agreement with God. The fact that he hasn't signed it doesn't keep us from believing it. I pledge to be a good, decent person, and in return God will...save my child...heal my spouse...protect my job...(fill in the blank.) Only fair, right? Yet when God fails to meet our bottom-line expectations, we are left spinning in a tornado of questions. Is he good at all? Is God angry at me? Stumped? Overworked? Is his power limited? His authority restricted? Did the devil outwit him? When life isn't good, what are we to think about God? Where is he in all this? God at times permits tragedies. He permits the ground to grow dry and stalks to grow bare. He allows Satan to unleash mayhem. But he doesn't allow Satan to triumph. Isn't this the promise of the Bible in Romans 8:28: "We know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose"? God promises to render beauty out of "all things," not "each thing." The isolated events may be evil, but the ultimate culmination is good. We see small examples of this in our own lives. When you sip on a cup of coffee and say, "This is good," what are you saying? The plastic bag that contains the beans is good? The beans themselves are good? Hot water is good? A coffee filter is good? No, none of these. Good happens when the ingredients work together: the bag opened, the beans ground into powder, the water heated to the right temperature. It is the collective cooperation of the elements that creates good. Nothing in the Bible would cause us to call a famine good or a heart attack good or a terrorist attack good. These are terrible calamities, born out of a fallen earth. Yet every message in the Bible compels us to believe that God will mix them with other ingredients and bring good out of them. But we must let God define good. Our definition includes health, comfort, and recognition. His definition? In the case of his Son, Jesus Christ, the good life consisted of struggles, storms, and death. But God worked it all together for the greatest of good: his glory and our salvation. And is it possible that the wonder of heaven will make the most difficult life a good bargain? The Bible says, "this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison" (2 Corinthians 4:17). God's amazing offer Suppose I invited you to experience the day of your dreams. Twenty-four hours on an island paradise with your favorite people, food, and activities. The only stipulation: one millisecond of discomfort. For reasons I choose not to explain, you will need to begin the day with the millisecond of distress. Would you accept my offer? I think you would. A split second is nothing compared to twenty-four hours. On God's clock you're in the middle of your millisecond. Compared to eternity, what is seventy, eighty, ninety years? Just a vapor. Just a finger snap compared to heaven. Your pain won't last forever, but you will. Remember that "the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us" (Romans 8:18). If you have already accepted God's offer into his family through placing your faith in Jesus Christ, then you can have confidence in God's plan for your life in any crisis. The Bible promises that nothing "in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:39). If you have not yet accepted God's offer, you can do so right now. Not because you've earned it. But because he loves you and because the gift of salvation is available to all who profess him as Lord: Believe that God sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross in your place for your sins. Believe that Jesus rose from the dead after three days, showing that God accepted him as your substitute. Believe Jesus' claim when he said, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6). Confess that you have sinned and ask God's forgiveness. Invite him into your life and ask for God's to help to turn from your sin. If you wholeheartedly believe these things and want to become a part of God's forever family, you can pray something like this: "Dear God, I admit that I am a sinner and need your forgiveness. I accept Jesus Christ as my Savior, who gave his life for my sins. I entrust my life to you, Father God. Please come into my life and help me live a life that pleases you. Amen."

To us
it is just dirt,
the ground we walk on...
But to Dave
it was clay,
the plain and basic stuff
upon which he formed a life
as a slave nearly 200 years ago.
Dave was an extraordinary artist, poet, and potter living in South Carolina in the 1800s. He combined his superb artistry with deeply observant poetry, carved onto his pots, transcending the limitations he faced as a slave. In this inspiring and lyrical portrayal, National Book Award nominee Laban Carrick Hill's elegantly simple text and award-winning artist Bryan Collier's resplendent, earth-toned illustrations tell Dave's story, a story rich in history, hope, and long-lasting beauty.

This deck is designed to integrate the healing properties of traditional herbs with the symbolism of tarot. On each card, a different herb is pictured and identified.

Nothing is more essential than knowing how to worship the God who created us. This book focuses readers on the essentials of God-honoring worship, combining biblical foundations with practical application in a way that works in the real world. The author, a pastor and noted songwriter, skillfully instructs pastors, musicians, and church leaders so that they can root their congregational worship in unchanging scriptural principles, not divisive cultural trends. Bob Kauflin covers a variety of topics such as the devastating effects of worshiping the wrong things, how to base our worship on God's self-revelation rather than our assumptions, the fuel of worship, the community of worship, and the ways that eternity's worship should affect our earthly worship.

Appropriate for Christians from varied backgrounds and for various denominations, this book will bring a vital perspective to what readers think they understand about praising God.

In Religion, Empire, and Torture, Bruce Lincoln identifies three core components of an imperial theology that have transhistorical and contemporary relevance: dualistic ethics, a theory of divine election, and a sense of salvific mission. He shows how these religious ideas shaped Achaemenian practice and brought the Persians unprecedented wealth, power, and territory, but also produced unmanageable contradictions, as in a gruesome case of torture discussed in the book's final chapter. Close study of that episode leads Lincoln back to the present with a postscript that provides a searing and utterly novel perspective on the photographs from Abu Ghraib.

Faithful to the doctrinal tradition of the Orthodox Church, this work reflects the thought of the Eastern Fathers from the time of the Apostles to the end of the Byzantine Era. He reflects them both in the unfolding mystery of the Trinity through worship and the sacraments, and in giving Scripture an important place.

1 and 2 Kings, like each volume in the Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible, is designed to serve the church--through aid in preaching, teaching, study groups, and so forth--and demonstrate the continuing intellectual and practical viability of theological interpretation of the Bible.

This one-of-a-kind resource in professional ethics helps today's Christian leaders maintain a high moral character and lifestyle and sharpen their personal and professional decision-making skills. Two experienced teachers and pastors address both current and perennial ethical issues and offer guidance for developing a personal code of ethics to maintain integrity in the work of ministry. The authors address the nature of ethical decision making as well as practical areas where integrity can be compromised, including issues raised by the use of smartphones and social media. Appendixes include codes of ethics from various denominations.

Using the Rider-Waite deck as a basis, the author delineates the meditative symbolism inherent in each of the 22 cards of the Greater Arcaria and explains the use of the tarot as a means of divination

Among Christian devotional works, My Utmost for His Highest stands head and shoulders above the rest, with more than 13 million copies sold. But most readers have no idea that Oswald Chambers's most famous work was not published until ten years after his death. The remarkable person behind its compilation and publication was his wife, Biddy. And her story of living her utmost for God's highest is one without parallel. Bestselling novelist Michelle Ule brings Biddy's story to life as she traces her upbringing in Victorian England to her experiences in a WWI YMCA camp in Egypt. Readers will marvel at this young woman's strength as she returns to post-war Britain a destitute widow with a toddler in tow. Refusing personal payment, Biddy proceeds to publish not just My Utmost for His Highest, but also 29 other books with her husband's name on the covers. All the while she raises a child alone, provides hospitality to a never-ending stream of visitors and missionaries, and nearly loses everything in the London Blitz during WWII. The inspiring story of a devoted woman ahead of her times will quickly become a favorite of those who love true stories of overcoming incredible odds, making a life out of nothing, and serving God's kingdom.

2014 Carol Award Winner for Romance 2014 Inspirational Reader's Choice Award Winner for Long Contemporary When Meg Cole's father dies unexpectedly, she's forced to return home to Texas and to Whispering Creek Ranch to take up the reins of his empire. The last thing she has the patience or the sanity to deal with? Her father's Thoroughbred racehorse farm. She gives its manager, Bo Porter, six months to close the place down. Bo knows he ought to resent the woman who's determined to take from him the only job he ever wanted. But instead of anger, Meg evokes within him a profound desire to protect. The more time he spends with her, the more he longs to overcome every obstacle that separates them and earn her love. Just when Meg realizes she can no longer deny the depth of her feelings for Bo, their fragile bond is broken by a force from Meg's past. Can their relationship--and their belief that God can work through every circumstance--survive? "Definitely one for the keeper shelf!"--USA Today HEA Blog "Wade does a wonderful job of creating relatable characters as she explores the forces that shape a life." "Wade does a wonderful job of creating relatable characters as she explores the forces that shape a life."--Booklist "Wade's series starter is an enthralling story of overcoming challenges and trusting God... [Meg and Cole] are a couple you'll be rooting for to have a Texas fairy-tale ending."--RT Book Reviews

Late-modern culture has been marred by reductionism, which shrinks and flattens our vision of ourselves and the world. Renowned theologian Jeremy Begbie believes that the arts by their nature push against reductionism, helping us understand and experience more deeply the infinite richness of God's love and of the world God has made. In Abundantly More, Begbie analyzes and critiques reductionism and its effects. He shows how the arts can resist reductive impulses by opening us up to an unlimited abundance of meaning. And he demonstrates how engaging the arts in light of a trinitarian imagination (which itself cuts against reductionism) generates a unique way of witnessing to and sharing in the life and purposes of God. Theologians, artists, and any who are interested in how these fields intersect will find rich resources here and discover the crucial role the arts can play in keeping our culture open to the possibility of God.

Celebrate your love of HARRY POTTER(TM) films and magical creatures with this softcover notebook. Featuring stunning concept art illustrations of ARAGOG, this notebook is perfect for journaling or taking notes at home, work, or school. Includes 240 ruled pages, a ribbon placeholder, and an elastic band. PREMIUM PAPER: 240 pages of the highest quality paper give you plenty of space to record your thoughts. PERFECT TO TAKE ON THE GO: Featuring an elastic band and a 6 by 8 inch size, this is the perfect notebook to take with you to class or on your travels. OFFICIALLY LICENSED: Collect more officially licensed stationery from Insights, featuring Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, DC Comics, and more.

Jonathan Adler is a design company that creates luxe and livable interiors and chic products that are synonymous with modern American glamour. The Jonathan Adler Versailles Hex Boxed Pen features Adler's signature pattern dynamically deconstructed for a 21st century twist, classic-meets-cutting edge, treating graphic greatness to gobs of gold. This chic gold, lavender black patterned ballpoint pen is packaged in an elegant foil stamped hinged-box so it makes a beautiful gift. - Ballpoint Pen - Foil-Stamped Exterior Hinged Box - Size: 7 x 1.875 x 1.25", 178 x 48 x 32 mm

El libro aborda los diferentes Eshu con sus nombres por odun de Ifa, senalando las caracteristicas de los mismos. En la mayoria se especifica la carga o los componentes necesarios para su fabricacion; la manera de ser consagrados, las comidas (ofrendas), los lavatorios y su entrega. Una parte importante son los Tratados de las comidas especiales a Eshu y las hierbas con las que trabaja Eshu-Eleguara. Presenta algunos de los Eshu de los Oshas y de los Orishas. Una parte fundamental del libro esta compuesta por las obras y ceremonias que al pie de Elegua o con la intermediacion de este ante otro Orisha realizaron importantes personas consagradas para resolver situaciones muy diversas. Este libro conserva uno de los legados mas importantes de antiguos consagrados. ***Incluye Bono Especial***

Whether Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, or Slytherin, show your House Pride with this unique coaster book celebrating the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. This one-of-a-kind gift book features profiles of each of the Houses of Hogwarts, plus a set of five deluxe 3-1/2 x 3-1/2" wooden coasters. Each beautifully designed, full-color spread is devoted to one of the Houses, with a fifth on Hogwarts itself, and each contains a removable House Pride coaster. The embedded coasters in this set are magnetic, giving them dual purpose for both functionality and decor, and make a perfect gift for Harry Potter fans and collectors.