In his second book, novelist Michael Snyder introduces us to three very unusual and distinct voices all torn by tragedy:
Willy Finneran, washed-up genre novelist with an espresso maker that just won't die and a habit of avoiding conflict even if it means putting the truth on a sliding scale.
Ozena Webb, single mother and Javatek's top customer service representative. She spends every evening playing board games with her twelve-year-old son who is mentally crippled from an early childhood accident.
Shaq, a small and scraggy homeless man with trauma-induced blank spots on his memory, trying to piece together the story of his life while assisting Father Joe at the Mercy Mission.
As their stories intersect, the narrative vacillates between hope and naivete, comic relief and postmodern ennui. Startling in its authenticity, this unforgettable novel reveals that no matter how far one has strayed from hope, there is always a way to return.
Meet Ryan Fisher---a self-assured real estate agent who's looking for an edge in the market.
While watching a news special late one night, he sees evangelical Christians raising their hands in worship. It's like they're begging for affordable but classy starter homes.
Ryan discovers the Christian business directory and places an ad complete with a Jesus fish. His business doubles in a week.
But after visiting an actual church, Ryan realizes that with his business savvy, he could not only plant a church---he could create an empire.
The Almost True Story of Ryan Fisher is a hilarious, spot-on, and often heartbreaking satire in the tradition of Kurt Vonnegut, Tom Perrotta, and Douglas Adams.
In a world of hype, we may buy into the idea that through Jesus, we'll be healthier and wealthier as well as wiser. So what happens when we become ill, or depressed, or bankrupt? Did we do something wrong? Has God abandoned us?
As a child, Michael Horton would run up the down escalator, trying to beat it to the top. As Christians, he notes, we sometimes seek God the same way, believing we can climb to him under our own steam. But we can't, which is why we are blessed that Jesus descends to us, especially during times of trial.
In Too Good to Be True, Horton exposes the pop culture that sells Jesus like a product for health and happiness and reminds us that our lives often lead us on difficult routes we must follow by faith. This book offers a series of powerful readings that demonstrate how, through every type of earthly difficulty, our Father keeps his promises from Scripture and works all things together for our good.
Support, respite, and encouragement for those who care for others
Taking care of a family member who is ill, disabled, or dying requires courage, strength, commitment, and love. Now Terry Hargrave, an expert in counseling and caregiving, offers you help with a devotional written with your specific needs in mind. The morning prayers and evening reflections in this book are short and to the point. Strength and Courage for Caregivers weaves together powerful stories, practical advice, and the restorative promises of Scripture, reminding caregivers that they are not alone in this important yet all too often unacknowledged and underappreciated work.
Are you confused about who you are or where you're headed? Does your life seem cluttered and chaotic? Do you wish you understood God's plan and purpose for your life? Do you want to uncover your God-given strengths? If you said yes to any of these questions, you've come to the right book.
The first step is to know who you are. Remember, you're a child of God---created by him with your own unique heart, abilities, personality, and spiritual gifts. God brought all those elements together in you so that you could serve him and the world in your own unique way.
Inside the pages of this book, you'll discover the place where your God-given passions and strengths intersect, and you'll find the way you're designed to serve. With interactive exercises and questions for you to answer, you'll learn more about your:
* Spiritual Gifts
* Heart
* Abilities
* Personality
* Experiences
Understanding each of these areas of your life, you'll begin to see who you are and how you're designed to serve. You'll stop serving because that's what you're 'supposed' to do, and start serving from the depths of your heart and soul because it's what you were created to do.
Meet the Henderson family: Jeff, a struggling salesman who lives with a constant nagging fear that something will happen to his family; Will, who's just trying to figure out life in the fifth grade; Emily whose greatest concern is that she won't be nominated homecoming queen; and Amy, who is growing stir-crazy from being a housewife of eighteen years---and is convinced this was God's plan B for her life.
The Hendersons are longtime residents of Goodland, Kansas, a small Midwest town where nothing new or exciting ever happens ... until now. Are the recent 'weird' happenings and catastrophic weather mere coincidence, or more? The town spirals into chaos and confusion as its residents discover the end is no longer near---the end is now.
Rob Stennett's second novel is both a satire and a story of the apocalypse, a thriller and an exploration of family, community, belief, unbelief, and the two thousand-year-old Christian tradition of looking to the sky because the end is near.
