Showing titles in Holidays

It's the Christmas season and storefront displays, twinkling Christmas trees, and busy shoppers liven up Main Street as Park Place, South Carolina, prepares for its most exciting season of the year. But not everyone in town is celebrating. Maria drifts into Park Place trying to escape an abusive husband. Broken in body and spirit, at first her goal is just to survive and protect the baby she's carrying, but as she's slowly introduced to the good people of this small Southern town, she comes to believe that kindness and compassion can lead her out of the darkness of her former life.

Travel with Adam Hamilton as he retraces the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. Once again, Hamilton approaches his subject matter with thoughtfulness and wisdom, just as he did with Jesus' crucifixion in 24 Hours That Changed the World and with Jesus' birth in The Journey. Listen to The Way on your own or, for a more in-depth study, enjoy it with a small group or part of a 40-day church-wide emphasis during Lent and Easter or anytime of the year.

When Eddie was 12 years old, all he wanted for Christmas was a bike. Although his life had gotten harder - and money tighter - since his father died and the family bakery closed...Eddie dreamed that somehow his mother would find a way to have his dream bike gleaming beside their modest Christmas tree that magical morning. What he got from her instead was a sweater. "A stupid, handmade, ugly sweater" that young Eddie left in a crumpled ball in the corner of his room.

Think back to when you were a kid and someone you loved gave you a little wink across the dining room table, like Mom or Dad or Grandma. You didn't say, “What do you mean by that?” You knew. It meant: “Hey kid, I'm proud of you.” That's what a Godwink is: a message of reassurance from above, directly to you, out of seven billion people on Earth, saying “Hey kid...I have you on my mind! I love you. You’re never alone.” A Godwink can be an unexpected connection to someone you love, a mysterious pathway to a life-changing opportunity, or unanticipated income out of the blue.

Are you looking for a way to keep your family engaged in the true spiritual nourishment Lent has to offer? Tending the Garden of Our Hearts offers family devotions based on the Scriptures for each day of Great Lent, including questions to discuss and ponder and an appendix full of hands-on activities to bring the lessons of the season to life.

How do we walk with Christ - daily follow him, grow in him, and faithfully serve him? In the Gospels, Jesus modeled for us the Christian spiritual life. The apostles taught it in their writings. And the Church has, through the last 2,000 years, sought to pursue this Christian spiritual life. In The Walk, Adam Hamilton focuses on five essential spiritual practices that are rooted in Jesus's own walk with God and taught throughout the New Testament.

Join pastor and author Adam Hamilton in this six-week Lenten journey, and take an in-depth dive into the life, faith, and character of Simon Peter.

Christmas at Falstone Castle - Sarah M. Eden - The Dowager Duchess of Kielder eagerly anticipates spending Christmas with her son and his family. Though their relationship has been strained, the duchess is determined to heal the chasm. Even with the help of the widowed local vicar, her plan will take a Christmas miracle. But during this magical season, anything is possible...even two second chances for love.

Jesus' final days were full of risk. Every move he made was filled with anticipation, danger, and the potential for great loss or great reward. Jesus risked his reputation when he entered Jerusalem in a victory parade. He risked his life when he dared to teach in the Temple. His followers risked everything when they left behind their homes or anointed him with costly perfume. We take risks as we read and reread these stories, finding new meanings and new challenges.

In prayer we need to be deeply conscious that God is the almighty one, the supreme creator, the ruler of the Universe, that he is infinite and eternal; we need to know that God is the underlying, unchangeable truth, "with whom can be no variation, neither shadow that is cast by turning". God as principle is the absolute good expressed in all creation. When we know God and "worship him in spirit and truth" we recognize him as this great goodness, which is omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent, ready and willing to guide, to bless, and to uplift.

I’ve had a crush on my brother’s best friend my entire life. Once, in high school, I even got a taste of what it would be like to be with him, thanks to some well-placed mistletoe: incredible and humiliating. We always spend Christmas with Max’s family at our cabin, and every year I have to suffer through a blissful week with him in a completely platonic way. His steady stream of girlfriends have made him off limits...until now.

Everyone loves Christmas and the holiday season. We reunite scattered family members, watch the wonder in a child’s eyes, and feel the joy of giving gifts. The rituals of the holiday season give a rhythm to the years and create a foundation for our lives, as we gather with family, with our communities at church, at school, and even at the mall, to share the special spirit of the season, brightening those long winter days.

No single event in human history has received more attention than the suffering and crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth. In this book, Adam Hamilton guides us through the last 24 hours of Jesus' life. Each chapter is designed to help the listener experience and understand the significance of Jesus' suffering and death in a way you have never done before.

In Witness at the Cross, Amy-Jill Levine shows how the people at the cross each have distinct roles to play. Each Evangelist presents a distinct picture of the death of Jesus. Each portrays different individuals and groups of people at the cross, each offers different images and dialogues, and so from each, we learn how those meanings and messages cross the centuries to any who would come to the cross today.

Just before Christmas in 1843, a debt-ridden and dispirited Charles Dickens wrote a small book he hoped would keep his creditors at bay. His publisher turned it down, so Dickens used what little money he had to put out A Christmas Carol himself. He worried it might be the end of his career as a novelist. The book immediately caused a sensation. And it breathed new life into a holiday that had fallen into disfavor, undermined by lingering Puritanism and the cold modernity of the Industrial Revolution.

Join Frederica Mathewes-Green on a guided retreat through an ancient Orthodox text. Regardless of your denominational background, First Fruits of Prayer will bring to life the prayer experience of first millennium Christianity through immersion in this poetic hymn, an extraordinarily beautiful work that is still chanted by Christians around the world each Lent. It weaves together Old and New Testament scriptures with prayers of hope and repentance and offers ancient ways of seeing Christ that still feel new today.

After a lifetime of putting his body on the line to entertain his dozens (and dozens!) of fans, the Hardcore Legend is paying the price - physically and emotionally. When the final bell on Mick's career tolls, not in the ring, but in a neurologist's office, his future seems far from merry and bright. Until Mick is given the chance to become Santa Claus - not dress up, not pretend, but become Santa - allowing him to rediscover the joy of performing. Fully committing to his new mission, Mick details the drastic measures he takes to keep the Christmas magic alive.

Jesus came to lift up the lowly. Throughout his ministry to his final days on the road to the cross, we find stories of his relationships with ordinary, flawed, and unexpected people. He met, dined, and traveled with people who were not perfect. Many of them were struggling, some were outsiders or even outlaws. Whoever they were, from those he healed to the outlaws with him at his crucifixion, Jesus brought the good news of God's kingdom to those who most needed to hear it. Adam Hamilton explores the life, teachings, death, and resurrection of Jesus as told in the Gospel of Luke.

When the disciples asked Jesus how to pray, Jesus gave them this prayer. He likely taught it to his followers often, not just one time. He never intended the Lord's Prayer to be a museum piece, placed on a mantel. It was Jesus teaching God's people, through his disciples, how to pray. In The Lord's Prayer: The Meaning and Power of the Prayer Jesus Taught, Adam Hamilton guides us to really know—and really pray—the Lord's Prayer. He explores each of its rich lines and their meaning in the Bible, illuminating what we ask of God and what we ask of ourselves through its words.

Part travel journal but mostly spiritual guide, Finding Jesus in Israel takes an unvarnished look at the Holy Land with an off-the-bus peek into the people and places that make Israel such an amazing destination. We are shaped and transformed by the oceans we sail, the deserts, mountains, and valleys we wander, and the people we meet along the way. And as any traveler worth his salt knows, the real trip happens within.