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In Jeremiah 12:5 God says to the prophet, If you're worn out in this footrace with men, what makes you think you can race against horses? We all long to live life at its best--to fuse freedom and spontaneity with purpose and meaning. Why then do we often find our lives so humdrum, so unadventuresome, so routine? Or else so frantic, full of activity, but still devoid of fulfillment? How do we learn to risk, to trust, to pursue wholeness and excellence--to run with the horses instead of shuffling along with the crowd? In a series of profound reflections on the life of Jeremiah the prophet, Eugene Peterson explores the heart of what it means to be fully and genuinely human. In his signature pastoral style, he invites readers to grasp the biblical truth that each person's story of faith is completely original. Peterson's writing is filled with humor and self-reflection, insight and wisdom, helping to set a course for others in the quest for life at its best. This special commemorative edition includes a preface taken from Eric Peterson's homily at his father's memorial service.

Have you ever felt a tension between developing your internal spiritual life and the call to outward service in the world? Those of us who are more naturally activists risk becoming bitter, tired and burned out. Those of us who gravitate toward the contemplative life may struggle to connect our spirituality with the world around us. How do we allow the life of Jesus to flow through our whole bodies into our everyday lives?This book is a result of how Tom Smith held these questions in tension, as Eugene H. Peterson reflects in his foreword:"There is a back story here that is helpful in understanding Tom Smith's fierce focus and energetic imagination. He grew up in South Africa during the years of apartheid. . . . He also was aware that the Rwanda genocide took place in a population mostly Christian. He became a pastor in a flourishing South African church and then came to North America. He experienced the temptation to degenerate church into a consumer program. . . . This book is a witness to what takes place when names trump numbers and stories with their accompanying metaphors keep relationships personal and prayerful."Having Jesus in our hearts is not enough. Jesus calls us to a spirituality that involves our everyday actions and interactions with others and extends our sphere of influence. In this raw, honest, whole-life approach to Christian formation, Tom Smith introduces us into a "rhythm of life" that that brings flourishing to our personal spirituality that then extends to our service in the world.

Calvin Miller introduces six types of Celtic prayer that teach you how to pray out of the circumstances and uncertainties of your own life. With traditional examples of each type of prayer, the book also includes a historical and spiritual overview of Celtic spirituality.

Perhaps you've been missing out. God has given us five senses and a brain with two sides. Yet we often approach God in one way only: through words that are analyzed and processed logically in our left brain. The right brain, however, is the creative, intuitive center--the place that connects most to our seeing, smelling, touching, tasting and hearing, and that roots experiences in our hearts in transforming ways.In Awaken Your Senses, longtime ministers Beth Booram and Brent Bill invite you to engage your right brain in your faith through sensory spiritual practices that position your heart for divine encounter. Readings and a variety of exercises that utilize your whole body lead you to experience God in new ways by tasting chocolate, words, matzoh, Scripture, forgiveness seeing the moon, wisdom, art, glory, your best self touching others, stones, prayers, rubble, Jesus hearing silence, music, pain, footsteps, the Spirit, the news smelling gardenias, life, salty air, home, healing oil, coffeeTeaching you to pay attention in love to your surroundings, Booram and Bill will help you open your eyes and ears and nose to a sensuous faith--one in which God can be experienced each day as we live and move and have our being.So whether you're weary, stuck, struggling, growing or on information-overload, the exercises and reflections offered here can bring refreshment--a cold drink of water, a gentle breeze--to your soul. Come experience God with all of who you are, and discover more of who he is.

2011 Christianity Today Book Award winner"We do not set out to become old. Far from it. We hardly intend even to become middle-aged. Instead we plan to live in some eternal now which will lead on to something better, something more complete than what we had before. . . .Sometime in our spiritual travels, as a complete surprise, we notice it has become winter. . . . This change has occurred, it seems, without preparation, without fair warning."So spirituality writer Emilie Griffin begins, taking us on an exploration of our later years. It is a book filled with wonderful, rich story, carefully crafted spiritual exercises and wisdom from those who have gone before us. She explores relocation, vocational changes, losing her mother, and negotiating and renegotiating her relationships with her grown children.The journey of our later years is a wondrous voyage, though turbulent at points. But it is, as Emilie Griffin reminds us, the journey we have been preparing for all along.

What does loneliness tell us? "Be it chronic or acute, slight or significant, loneliness is proof of our relational design. At the core of our being is this truth-we are designed for and defined by our relationships," former pastors Plass and Cofield write. "We were born with a relentless longing to participate in the lives of others. Fundamentally, we are relational souls." Our ability to make deep and emotionally satisfying connections rests on the capacity to trust, and we all know trust can be difficult. Early-life relational "programming" and patterns of attachment can serve as blueprints for relationships later in life, whether good or bad. But no matter our conditioning, God is out to reclaim and restructure the deepest terrain of the human soul by helping us shed our reactive "False Self" and put on our receptive "True Self." Through spiritual disciplines and a conscious participation in the love of the Father, Son and Spirit, we transform our self-awareness and our connection with other people. Authored by counselor Dr. Richard Plass and spiritual director James Cofield, The Relational Soul brings together concepts from psychology and spiritual formation. Each chapter includes introductory stories and practical "If this is true, what about you?" questions to help readers engage in relationships in more life-giving ways. When the presence of Christ and community connects with a soul that is open, we witness the miracle of transformation.

Christianity Today Book Award winner Leadership Journal Top Book of the YearCopastors Kent Carlson and Mike Lueken tell the story of how God took their thriving, consumer-oriented church and transformed it into a modest congregation of unformed believers committed to the growth of the spirit--even when it meant a decline in numbers.As Kent and Mike found out, a decade of major change is not easy on a church. Oak Hills Church, from the pastoral staff to the congregation, had to confront addiction to personal ambition, resist consumerism and reorient their lives around the teachings of Jesus. Their renewed focus on spiritual formation over numerical growth triggered major changes in the content of their sermons, the tenor of their worship services, and the reason for their outreach. They lost members.But the health and spiritual depth of their church today is a testimony of God's transforming work and enduring faithfulness to the people he loves.Honest and humble, this is Kent and Mike's story of a church they love, written to inspire and challenge other churches to let God rewrite their stories as well. Read it for the church you love.

Revival starts when people pray together. Christians often dream about the possibility of revival. But revival doesn't come because we wish or plan for it. Revival occurs when groups of people pray together. However, praying together effectively doesn't come easily, and we're often left wondering how to best engage in the work of intercession.Carolyn Carney offers a practical guide for those who want something more than just another prayer meeting. Drawing from decades of ministry experience, The Power of Group Prayer includes stories and practices for corporate prayer, reflection questions, and supplemental resources to help build powerful intercession groups. Pastors, small group leaders, and campus ministry leaders--or anyone who wants a deeper prayer life--will be equipped to lead others in the kind of prayer that is necessary for effective, resilient ministry.Praying together has the power to transform you and the world around you. Come to a place of deep intimacy with God as you learn ways to pray in community.

The Bible has the astounding power to transform lives. The stories of people like Francis of Assisi, Antony of Egypt, Augustine of Hippo, Martin Luther and Martin Luther King Jr. vividly demonstrate this. Why aren't more of us transformed by Scripture today? Too often we study biblical texts without believing that God truly inhabits this book. Scripture seeks to capture our minds, not merely educate them. In these pages Chris Webb explains that we can transform our Christian life by reading as lovers rather than as theorists. This is possible by coming to the text prayerfully, expectantly, in humility and empty-handed. When we open the Bible, it does not say to us, "Listen: God is there!" Instead, the voice of the Spirit whispers through each line, "Look: I am here." Reading the Bible this way can reconfigure the habits of your heart, refresh your imagination and memory, reshape and redeem your emotions, realign your reality individually and communally for kingdom life, and take us beyond the Bible into a renewed way of life. Here is the work of today--which is also the work of the whole of life--to open your heart afresh to the living Word of God.

Elijah Campbell is on the verge of losing his writing career, his faith, and his marriage when a recurring childhood nightmare drives him back to his hometown, Bradford's Ferry. There, his encounters with loved ones both past and present shed light on the reason his wife left him--and the meaning of his nightmare. However, beyond the light he begins to glimpse something even more terrifying--a decision he must make either to continue hiding the secrets of his past or unhide the only thing that can save his marriage: himself.In psychologist Kelly Flanagan's non-fiction works (Loveable, True Companions), he drew from clinical insight to explore the spiritual depths of identity and relationships. Now, in this debut novel, he weaves a page-turning and plot-twisting tale that brings new life to those insights, along with fresh revelations about personal growth, spiritual transformation, and the dynamics of interpersonal relationships.This visit to Bradford's Ferry will linger long after the final page has been turned, and a guide for group discussion invites further conversation about the story's themes of healing, grace, faith, forgiveness, and freedom.

Finally--a safe place to talk about sin.The topic of sin in general has been safe for a while. But here, guided by psychologist Michael Mangis, we get specific by learning to know ourselves and our signature sins--the individual and specific patterns of sin in our life that affect our thoughts, actions and relationships.In these pages, the author empathetically and honestly reflects on the ways we manage our behavior to hide our sin and ignore the true poverty of our hearts. But until we deal with the root of our sin, we will be ruled and fooled by it, and miss the freedom Christ died to bring. Exploring common forms of sin and then discovering how our own temperament, culture, family and gender affect the way those sins manifest themselves in our lives will lead us to a place of real honesty with ourselves, God and others. But the book doesn't stop there; it also shows ways to combat our sin so that we can change our hearts, not just our behavior.Sin is serious and specific, and it doesn't go away on its own. But here is serious--and safe--help for facing sin and finding freedom in Christ.

Keri Wyatt Kent explores how the disciplines of gardening parallel the disciplines of spiritual life. As you work with God to create the right conditions in the soil of your soul, growth will follow. And the harvest will be glorious.

Would you like to journal, but you're not sure how to start?Do you love to journal, but need some fresh ideas?Here's a book to help you discover (or recover) the power of writing as a spiritual discipline. In these pages you'll find intriguing and encouraging insights on topics like ""ordinary things,"" ""discovery journaling,"" ""drawing from another's well"" and ""dialogue journaling with Scriptures.""In each brief chapter, Luann Budd draws on her own life and writing. She shows how to put each of her ideas into practice. And she provides additional inspiration and examples from significant men and women throughout history who have journaled.Read this book to discover the transforming power of journal keeping!

Iron sharpens iron, and one person sharpens . . . another. (Proverbs 27:17) As we seek God together we come to know him more deeply. That's the idea behind Spiritual Mentoring. Spiritual mentoring is an ages-old practice that Keith Anderson and Randy Reese introduce in a way that fits life as we know it today. Spiritual mentoring is not only for pastors or saints. Mentors are ordinary Christians who are willing to enter into a faith relationship with another person who wants to grow. Likewise, those who are mentored are not seminary candidates but simply followers of Jesus who long for guidance in their spiritual journey. In this book Anderson and Reese show you how to mentor and be mentored as they introduce, chapter by chapter, the work of a different classical spiritual writer, including¿ Augustine Aelred of Rievaulx John of the Cross Julian of Norwich Ignatius of Loyola Teresa of Avila Madame Jeanne GuyonThese writers offer timeless insights from centuries past, while Anderson and Reese help you put their teaching into practice today to grow closer to Jesus in the company of another believer. If you want to learn how to help younger Christians grow while stretching your own faith, or if you want to tap into the experience of a Christian friend who is farther along the road of faith, this is the book that will get you started.