Ten years ago, I was diagnosed as having chronic depression. I was living and walking in darkness and it had consumed my entire being. I was in a relationship that was going no where, being used and emotionally damaged. I had one foot in the world, one foot in the church and no relationship with God. I was at the end of my rope and could not take life any longer. One night, I decided I was going to take my life. I was hurting and the pain was too much to bear. I sat on the floor, crying, thinking about how to end it all. I clearly heard Satan giving me ways to do it, until I opened my mouth and called on the name of the Lord, who interrupted Satan's plan to kill me that night. I asked the Lord to take the hurt and pain away. And He did it, immediately I remember getting up without the weight that had consumed me and I decided from that day forward that I would serve the Lord. My Damascus culminates this life changing experience and journey of letting go of the world and hanging on to God. "At one time you surrendered yourselves entirely as slaves to impurity and wickedness for wicked purposes. In the same way you must now surrender yourselves entirely as slaves of righteousness for holy purposes." - Romans 6:19 To receive the Lord Jesus Christ as your Personal Savior, simply pray: Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I am sinful and I need Your forgiveness. I believe that You died to pay the penalty for my sin. I want to turn from my sin nature and follow You instead. I invite You to come into my heart and life. In Jesus' name, Amen.

"The Girls of Yesterday" is a testimonial, in general, to women's intuition, strength and intelligence; and, in particular, the "Southern coming of age" story of a brother and sister's shared and profound love for each other growing up.

Jesse, the main character, headed to college in the deeper south to play basketball, feels great separation anxiety from Loretta, his one year younger sibling who all through their life exhibited physical, mental and even spiritual skills beyond the norm. Their love is unique in that Jesse always looks to Loretta for intuitive guidance, while she never fails to acknowledge her older brother's gifted sense of right and wrong.

Another important theme in "Girls" is the development of an endearing friendship with Jesse and Jess, a multi-talented young black football sensation, that brings to their relationship his racial perspective of growing up in the rural south, as opposed to Jesse's more sheltered childhood, and together they formulate maybe the very best of educations possible; that of two intense souls being truthful while loving each other.

These themes play constantly; with laughter, sorrow, horror, tragedy, and romance found in abundance, and infused throughout with this story's main and other very colorful characters, finishing with an integrated and surprise conclusion

In this companion guide, Michael Andre-Driussi illuminates Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun and Book of the Short Sun science fiction series through dictionary-style entries on the characters, gods, locations, themes, and timelines of the novels. Gate of Horn, Book of Silk, is organized in two parts, with the first half covering the Long Sun series (Nightside the Long Sun, Lake of the Long Sun, Calde of the Long Sun, and Exodus from the Long Sun) and the second half covering the Short Sun series (On Blue's Waters, In Green's Jungles, and Return to the Whorl) half covering one of the two series. "Languages of the Whorl," a section between the two parts, covers all the dialect, slang, and foreign terms used in the books--thieves' cant, flier language, Tick's talk, and more. Ten maps and diagrams are included. This is Michael Andre-Driussi's third guidebook to the rich tapestries of Gene Wolfe's worlds. As fans of of Lexicon Urthus and The Wizard Knight Companion have noted, that each book is both a convenient tool for a question while re-reading the novels but also an enjoyable read in its own right, from A to Z.

Lexicon Urthus is an alphabetical dictionary for the complete Urth Cycle by Gene Wolfe: The Shadow of the Torturer; The Claw of the Conciliator; The Sword of the Lictor; The Citadel of the Autarch; the sequel Urth of the New Sun; the novella Empires of Foliage and Flower; the short stories "The Cat," "The Map," and "The Old Woman Whose Rolling Pin Is the Sun"; and Gene Wolfe's own commentaries in The Castle of the Otter. The first edition was nominated for a World Fantasy Award. This second edition includes over 1,200 entries. When the first edition was published, Science Fiction Age said: "Lexicon Urthus makes a perfect gift for any fan of [Wolfe's] work, and from the way his words sell, it appears that there are many deserving readers out there waiting." Gary K. Wolfe, in Locus, said: "A convenient and well researched glossary of names and terms. . . . It provides enough of a gloss on the novels that it almost evokes Wolfe's distant future all by itself. . . . It can provide both a useful reference and a good deal of fun." Donald Keller said, in the New York Review of Science Fiction: "A fruitful product of obsession, this is a thorough . . . dictionary of the Urth Cycle. . . . Andre-Driussi's research has been exhaustive, and he has discovered many fascinating things . . . [it is] head-spinning to confront a myriad of small and large details, some merely interesting, others jawdropping."

Disney's animated trailblazing, Dostoyevsky's philosophical neuroses, Hendrix's electric haze, Hitchcock's masterful manipulation, Frida Kahlo's scarifying portraits, Van Gogh's vigorous color, and Virginia Woolf's modern feminism: this multicultural reference tool examines 200 artists, writers, and musicians from around the world. Detailed biographical essays place them in a broad historical context, showing how their luminous achievements influenced and guided contemporary and future generations, shaped the internal and external perceptions of their craft, and met the sensibilities of their audience.

Reflections of Darkness and Light is novelist Michael Andre Fath s debut volume of verse. These 51 poems transcend the gamut of human emotion and experience, whether physical, mental or spiritual, and sometimes everything, wrapped into a single offering. The splendor of daughters, our Chesapeake Bay s sheer majesty, the sublime brilliance of sport and luminosity of music, etc., are included themes giving way to those feelings of grandeur; with even the devoted care of one s 1950 s Chevrolet, and the intoxicating visual seduction of a simple sundress

Yet to counterbalance while being faithful to the more somber and tragic aspects of life, entries also portray the loneliness of being a single father, sibling and parent loss, fall from grace, a beloved pet s transition, a Marine Vietnam veteran s catharsis and much more.

These will hopefully, at the very least, entice reflection and appreciation of surviving life s numerous and many times seemingly insurmountable and impossible challenges.

The Village Squires - Tales of Mayhem and Revenge is an exciting and eye-opening story about a young and extremely talented rock and roll band's path to professional status and acclaim. Yet, its members' underlying sense of justice and retribution, resulting from several childhood and young-adult traumas, presents the band with a collective and debilitating dichotomy...in that they sometimes, very purposefully, become vigilantes, creating a shared alter-ego/lifestyle; and, while unique and noble with intent, eventually sabotage themselves in terms of greater career success.The main characters, Paulie Bayonne/lead vocals, Johnny Wilson/drums, Rocky Reeves/bass, and Mickey Franz/guitar, have all been best friends since junior high, growing up in a small city of Northern Virginia. Paul and John are one year older than Mickey and Rocky, and, by design, take on the roles of big brothers to each, respectively. These four experience the intoxicating highs and anguishing lows of flirting with stardom, as well as all the trappings of the music business, good and bad; but, it's the ubiquitous enigma of righteous decision and dilemma of consequence that gives this story its underlying and psychological foundation, ending, quite possibly, with reasonable proof of the concept of "guardian angels," after all.

This book looks into the role and effects of public apologies in international relations. It focuses on two major questions - why and when do states issue apologies for historic crimes and how and under what conditions are these apologies successful in remedying conflictive relationships? In recent years, we have witnessed an unseen popularity of apologies, with numerous politicians, managers and clergymen being eager to apologise and atone for the wrong-doings of their countries or institutions. Public apologies, thus, are a new and highly interesting, while nevertheless still puzzling phenomenon, the precise role and meaning of which in international politics remains to be explored. This book sets out to do exactly this. Focusing in particular on state apologies, it assembles twelve detailed empirical case studies which deal with the two questions raised above. In the first part, the case studies reconstruct the processes in which state representatives react to calls for public atonement, and in the second part the case studies explore the reactions to the apology and evaluate signs for its success or failure. All case studies are based on a theoretical framework which is outlined in the introduction to the book and helps develop tentative assumptions about the emergence and the effects of state apologies, drawing on different strands of literature, such as political science, philosophy, sociology or psychology. This work will be of great interest to students and scholars of conflict reconciliation, international relations and transitional justice.

This book looks into the role and effects of public apologies in international relations. It focuses on two major questions - why and when do states issue apologies for historic crimes and how and under what conditions are these apologies successful in remedying conflictive relationships? In recent years, we have witnessed an unseen popularity of apologies, with numerous politicians, managers and clergymen being eager to apologise and atone for the wrong-doings of their countries or institutions. Public apologies, thus, are a new and highly interesting, while nevertheless still puzzling phenomenon, the precise role and meaning of which in international politics remains to be explored. This book sets out to do exactly this. Focusing in particular on state apologies, it assembles twelve detailed empirical case studies which deal with the two questions raised above. In the first part, the case studies reconstruct the processes in which state representatives react to calls for public atonement, and in the second part the case studies explore the reactions to the apology and evaluate signs for its success or failure. All case studies are based on a theoretical framework which is outlined in the introduction to the book and helps develop tentative assumptions about the emergence and the effects of state apologies, drawing on different strands of literature, such as political science, philosophy, sociology or psychology. This work will be of great interest to students and scholars of conflict reconciliation, international relations and transitional justice.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Sol-Gel Techniques for Glass Producers and Users provides technological information, descriptions and characterizations of prototypes, or products already on the market, and illustrates advantages and disadvantages of the sol-gel process in comparison to other methods. The first chapter entitled "Wet Chemical Technology" gives a summary of the basic principles of the sol-gel chemistry. The most promising applications are related to coatings. Chapter 2 describes the various "Wet Chemical Coating Technologies" from glass cleaning to many deposition and post-coating treatment techniques. These include patterning of coatings through direct or indirect techniques which have became very important and for which the sol-gel processing is particularly well adapted. Chapter 3 entitled "Bulk Glass Technologies" reports on the preparation of special glasses for different applications. Chapter 4 entitled "Coatings and Materials Properties" describes the properties of the different coatings and the sol-gel materials, fibers and powders. The chapter also includes a section dedicated to the characterization techniques especially applied to sol-gel coatings and products.