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Watch For The Light: Readings For Advent And Christmas

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, John Donne, Meister Eckhart, T.S. Eliot, Gerard Manley Hopkins, C. S. Lewis, Thomas Merton, Archbishop Romero, Henri J.M. Nouwen, Philip Yancey

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 14 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Loved it!! 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

I love that this series, including "Bread and Wine:Readings for Lent and Easter," because it challeneges our complacent culture-dictated experience of Advent and Easter. This is not a feel-good book, it is a faith-building book. Be prepared to be shaken up and for God to meet you in a new way.

I bought copies for my friends and family. Everyone loved it!

The diversity of authors come together in surprising unity. This broadened my perspective and made me want to find books written by the individual authors. I also loved that the authors are from all points in history and geography. An experience like this is what all of us in the US need.

Company on the Journey 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Like a kid counting down the days until Christmas, I took a spiritual journey by reading the days until Christmas. My guide, Watch for the
light. Cheaper than a real journey...no stops for gas , no waiting in line. Pop open the book's cover and begin to read. Some funny stories, some poetry, some known authors and some not so well known, all leading the way to Christmas. When Christmas comes, you will be ready.

What's So Amazing About Grace?

Philip Yancey

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 188 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Mention the word "grace" and what immediately comes to mind for most of us is a bagpipe wailing the solemn notes of "Amazing Grace."

The grace of which Philip Yancey writes is the freely given and unmerited favor and love of God. This grace seems a remote, almost sentimental concept, without a place in our lives or our society. It is a vague, slippery thing to us, probably because we seem to experience grace so rarely and have managed to leech the word of meaning. But Philip Yancey has set about to rescue grace in his book What's So Amazing About Grace?

This grace is the true message of Jesus. All faiths have virtues and creeds and justice and truth, but Jesus speaks merely of receiving the love that God has for us. Accepting it, not earning it or making ourselves worthy of it. And frankly, accepting something we have not earned or are not worthy of is not an easy thing for most of us.

In truth, grace is both utterly simple and utterly confounding. Little by little, Yancey guides us into a clearer understanding of grace by using stories, in much the same way Jesus did. We read stories of both grace and ungrace at work in people's lives. Sadly, it is stories of ungrace that are more prevalent today, the current culture wars painful acknowledgments of ungrace in our lives as Christians in this country. Yancey helps us understand that ungrace is that state of being in which self-righteousness and pride are a result of thinking that we have somehow earned God's approval and may now stand in judgment in his behalf.

Philip Yancey was awarded the Gold Medallion Christian Book of the Year award for this book in 1998 by the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association. Readers concurred with this decision, making this book an immediate bestseller. Believers and nonbelievers alike should accept Yancey's challenge to become agents of grace rather than agents of vengeance or judgment or anger. In truth, we are each starving for grace, ready to grasp it tightly. And it is through grace that all other hungers--for justice, for righteousness, for love--are satisfied. Yancey opens his book by telling us that "grace" is the last best word, and in What's So Amazing About Grace?, he proves that he's right. --Patricia Klein

Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference?

Philip Yancey

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 66 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

It's not just talking to yourself with your hands in the air! 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Phil Yancey writes: "If I had to answer the question, 'Why Pray?' in one sentence, it would be: 'Because Jesus did.'"

And to what end? Phil Yancey "knows that the main purpose of prayer is not to make life easier, but to know God" (Review, CHRISTIAN SCIENCE SENTINEL).

"How long, O Lord?" is another Frequently Asked Question. But prayer is not like a five-paragraph essay for your English class. Some Christians, men especially, are much too concerned about length. Jesus often asked his Twelve Disciples to bow their heads for "a WORD of prayer." But once you got him started, Jesus didn't quit. He could talk to his Father all night long. The Twelve would grow tired of listening, and fall asleep. More than once they awoke for breakfast, and Jesus was still talking.

So that's first rule of thumb: "Pray without ceasing."

The other good rule of thumb is: "Don't let anyone else overhear." Most people, when they pray to God, are not really interested in having a meaningful conversation. Usually, they just want to ask Him for stuff: Help me, Lord, to find my car keys (a boyfriend / job / rent-controlled apartment). Please, O Lord, cure my headache (lung cancer / teen acne). O Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz? (a colour TV? / a night on the town?). Sometimes, if you have enough faith, prayer actually does work.

Next tip: Roll with the punches. The Lord answers EVERY prayer: It's just that sometimes His answer is Yes, and sometimes His answer is No.

(Caveat: a fire hydrant or a Buddha statue will answer every prayer with one of the same two replies, yes or no, in roughly the same proportions, as Jesus will do. But if you pray to an idol, Jesus may kill you; so I'm with Phil Yancey on this one: Pray to Jesus, it's safer.)

Yancey freely admits that God will not heal an amputated limb, or cystic fibrosis, or pancreatic cancer. He also concedes that unless God takes a special liking to you (videlicet, Moses, Bill Gates, Donald Trump, George W. Bush), the Lord is gonna do what the Lord is gonna do. So if you need to pray, the best strategy is to figure out what God will do anyway, and to pray for that.

Example: "Dear Lord, please don't allow my boyfriend to get struck by lightning." Or: "Please, Lord, don't let a piano fall from the sky on my boss's head." Or: "Our Father who art in Heaven, please permit me to pay taxes to the government." Or: "Dear Lord, please give us sunshine for our church picnic Saturday afternoon, as forecast on the Weather Channel" (but that last one can be a little chancy).

And at bedtime, you should say: "Phew! Thanks, Lord. You're amazing!"

If your child or parent or friend has a terminal illness, it's okay to ask God, politely, for that person to be healed. Just don't pester Him if the answer is "No." Yancey explains: "When I pray for another person, I am praying for God to open my eyes so that I can see that person as God does, and then enter into the stream of love that God already directs towards that person," such as giving him a good dose of pancreatic cancer or cystic fibrosis.

Here are some ways not to pray:

* "O Lord, thousands of children die each day from malnutrition. Feed them."
* "Dear God, millions suffer from untreated disease. Heal them."
* "O Lord, will You please steer that big hurricane in some other direction than the Gulf Coast of the United States?"

God is powerful, and He can often do things that will surprise you. But don't expect Yahveh, or Jesus for that matter, to smile on overly-ambitious prayer requests. Those kinds of prayers actually annoy Him, because they fall on His ears like veiled criticism, or (worse) like begging, which--because He is holy--He cannot tolerate.

It used to be, when I talked to God, I never got half of what I asked for. But I was using the wrong system. Phil Yancey's book, PRAYER: DOES IT MAKE A DIFFERENCE?, has made a big, big difference. Ever since I read it, my prayers have scored close to 60/40. So I've got no complaints.

- L.

Editorial Review:

Philip Yancey probes the very heartbeat—the most fundamental, challenging, perplexing, and deeply rewarding aspect—of our relationship with God: prayer. What is prayer? Does it change God’s mind or ours—or both? This book is an invitation to communicate with God the Father who invites us into an eternal partnership through prayer.

The Jesus I Never Knew

Philip Yancey

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 168 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

An old adage says, "God created man in His own image and man has been returning the favor ever since." Philip Yancey realized that despite a lifetime attending Sunday school topped off by a Bible college education, he really had no idea who Jesus was. In fact, he found himself further and further removed from the person of Jesus, distracted instead by flannel-graph figures and intellectual inspection. He determined to use his journalistic talents to approach Jesus, in the context of time, within the framework of history.

In The Jesus I Never Knew, Yancey explores the life of Jesus, as he explains, "'from below,' to grasp as best I can what it must have been like to observe in person the extraordinary events unfolding in Galilee and Judea" as Jesus traveled and taught. Yancey examines three fundamental questions: who Jesus was, why he came, and what he left behind. Step by step, scene by scene, Yancey probes the culture into which Jesus was born and grew to adulthood; his character and mission; his teachings and miracles; his legacy--not just as history has told it, but as he himself intended it to be.

Yancey is not alone in his examination of the "real" Jesus. Publishing today is replete with writers committed to setting the story "straight,quot; joining countless others who, over the past 2,000 years, have determined to discover the truth about Jesus. But where others would deconstruct and discount, Yancey disarms and discloses. We become colleagues with him as he examines the accounts of the life of Jesus. And among the things that we discover is that Jesus himself leaves us few options: either he was who he said he was or he was nuts.

Philip Yancey was awarded the Gold Medallion Christian Book of the Year award for this book in 1996 by the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association. It's not the first, nor the last, award Yancey has won for his writing. But the writing is not necessarily the great gift of this book. Yancey allows the reader to discover, along with him, The Jesus I Never Knew. --Patricia Klein

Where Is God When It Hurts?

Philip Yancey

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 37 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A helpful resource 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Yancey deals with a number of issues vital to the discussion of pain and writes with great sensitivity, insight and clarity. He redefines the nature and purpose of pain, debunks the "health and wealth" theology, addresses the activity of God in pain, how to help people who are experiencing pain and gives lessons we can learn from pain. This is a wonderful resource for anyone going through a painful time or those who work in ministry, counseling, etc. Highly recommended.

Everyone else has said it all 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Everyone else has said it all about this book. I believe this book is a must for everyone's library. I think Yancey is brillant.

Saving the Best For the End (of the Book and Perhaps Life)... 3 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

For most of the book, it is a rather journeyman, though sometimes inspired, look at pain and suffering. Well told, well done, well written, perhaps, but lacking the intensity of thought and insight that have always characterized Philip Yancey....

Then comes the end, where he pulls it all together in Part 5, "How Does Faith Help?" Then Philip Yancey writes like Philip Yancey..sharp, to the point, moving and inspirational.

A comparison might be the Old Testament to the New Testament. The New Testament alone is riveting and powerful, but, taken with the Old Testament, it becomes the Bible, the whole story of God's effort to communicate with man and man's effort to make sense of it. The New Testament is much more meaningful after having read the Old Testament.

It may be the same with this book. The first four parts,"Why Is There Such a Thing as Pain?," "Is Pain a Message from God?," How People Respond to Suffering" and "How CanWe Cope With Pain?" combine to make the fifth and final section so moving and powerful.

All of the parts (listed above)are meaningful and good. We all find ourselves at various points in our lives asking the questions and relating to the points raised in the first four parts, but Part 5 brings it all together and Yancey becomes Yancey again.

Not his best, but certainly worth the read. Certainly!! Especially if you are dealing with, anticipate dealing with or just plain wonder about pain, suffering and the presence/absence of God.

Editorial Review:

This perennial best-seller, now in a revised and expanded edition, includes a study guide. The book and study materials focus on the role of pain in God's plan for life and how we can respond to it.

Disappointment with God

Philip Yancey

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 77 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

If you think God is unfair, hidden, or silent, then you need to read this book 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

The death rate for humans is 100%. The rate of suffering is 100%. In fact, if you are fortunate enough to live to an old age, you will have probably endured much pain and suffering in your lifetime and you may very well suffer some more as you approach physical death. Why is that? Why did God design the world this way? Isn't this unfair? These were some of the questions I asked after watching my father endure a debilitating stroke which took away the life as he knew it, even though he survived the stroke.

I was really happy to see Philip Yancey's book in the Kindle edition because Yancey is my favorite author. I knew he would apply sound thinking and Biblical understanding. And indeed, Yancey does not disappoint (no pun intended). He attempts to answer three basic questions: 1) Is God unfair? 2) Is God hidden? 3) Is God silent?
Yancey thoughtfully addresses these issues through interviews with others and his own dedicated study of the nature of God throughout the Bible. Job plays a prominent role here. Even though Job loses everything and is angry with God and confronts God, he never loses faith. One of Yancey's interviewees, who has gone through more than his fair share of suffering says, "Life may be unfair, but God is not." He says that he has learned to see beyond the present physical reality and toward the spiritual reality. Life was not fair to Jesus -- here was the best and most righteous man in history who was summarily tortured and executed, suffering a horrible death. Yet justice ultimately prevailed through the triumph of the resurrection.

This is just a little hint of what Yancey has to say about this age-old subject. It certainly helped me think through these issues in my life.

Editorial Review:

"Is God listening? "Can he be trusted?" In this book, Yancey tackles the questions caused by a God who doesn't always do what we think he's supposed to do.

Soul Survivor: How Thirteen Unlikely Mentors Helped My Faith Survive the Church

Philip Yancey

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 77 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Like many Christians, Philip Yancey has often felt kicked around, abused, and damaged by the institutional church. And like many Christians, he has found solace in reading about and getting to know some extraordinary individual believers. He profiles 13 of those believers in Soul Survivor: How My Faith Survived the Church. "I became a writer, I now believe, to sort out words used and misused by the church of my youth," Yancey writes in the book's first chapter. The church of his youth, which described itself as "New Testament, Blood-bought, Born-again, Premillennial, Dispensational, fundamental," Yancey now describes as a frightening place where racism and bigotry were regularly preached from the pulpit. After graduating from Bible college, Yancey became a writer and chose to direct his attention to "people I could learn from, people I might want to emulate," such as C. Everett Koop and Robert Coles. He also read widely and passionately--Leo Tolstoy, Martin Luther King Jr., G.K. Chesterton, and Annie Dillard, to name a few. Soul Survivor offers probing, honest profiles of 13 individuals who have "helped restore to me the mislaid treasures of God." For most readers, these profiles will serve as starting points to explore the lives and minds of the individuals who have inspired Yancey. --Michael Joseph Gross

Reaching for the Invisible God

Philip Yancey

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 52 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

In a sea of books that promise certainty, award-winning author Philip Yancey (What's So Amazing About Grace, The Jesus I Never Knew) is not afraid to write about the mystery of belief, about letting risk and faith go hand in hand. Reaching for the Invisible God: What Can We Expect to Find? is Yancey at his best--wrestling with difficult questions and refusing to give pat answers. In our quest to know God, he offers this caveat: "The more personal conception of God we have, the more unnerving are the questions about him."

Yancey quotes extensively from classic writers and sketches scenes of doubting biblical figures as he grapples with making sense of a God who is personal, yet sometimes so elusive. Six different aspects of the Christian life are explored: our longing for God, who God is, the Holy Spirit, our faith, growth, and spiritual transformation. In his explorations, he reassembles the difficult and perplexing events of life around an ability to trust in a loving God. Trust is pivotal. Admitting that God's style "often baffles me," Yancey leaves no doubt that his framework of faith is still in place, that he sees "evidence of (God's) long-suffering, mercy, and desire to woo rather than compel--I have learned to trust God."

Here is the clear, concise writing mixed with deeply personal and authentic insights that won Yancey nine Gold Medallion Awards for previous books. Expect a 10th. --Cindy Crosby

John Newton: From Disgrace to Amazing Grace

Jonathan Aitken

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 13 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Brilliant review of a facinating life 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This is one of the best books I have read in the past 12 months. It is tightly written, full of insightful anecdotes, and paints the life of an ordinary man that God used to make an extraordinary impact on the world in which Newton lived...and beyond. Even if you are not a regular reader of christian biographies (like me) this one is worth picking up.

Editorial Review:

Most Christians know John Newton as a man who once captained a slave ship, was dramatically converted to Christ on the high seas, and later penned one of the greatest hymns of the faith, Amazing Grace. But he also had a huge impact on his times as an icon of the evangelical movement, as a great preacher and theologian, and as a seminal influence on abolitionist William Wilberforce. Newton's friendship with Wilberforce is portrayed in the major motion picture Amazing Grace.

Jonathan Aitken's new biography John Newton explores all these facets of Newton s life and character. It is the first biography to draw on Newton's unpublished diaries and correspondence, providing fresh insight into the life of this complex and memorable Christian. The result is a fascinating, colorful, and historically significant portrait of John Newton, a self-described great sinner redeemed by a great Savior through amazing grace.

Gift of Pain, The

Paul Brand, Philip Yancey

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 15 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Read and rejoice in this book! 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Dr. Paul Brand's "The Gift of Pain" (with Philip Yancey co-authoring) is probably my favorite-ever book. It reads like a mystery, a biography and a story-teller's yarn all at the same time. Be careful - once you pick this book up you won't want to put it down; the dishes will pile up in the sink and you'll stay up later than you should, reading by flashlight if necessary. Apart from the Bible, I can't recall any other book that has been so uplifting to my soul. It is the only book that, after reading a library copy, I bought not one but two copies: one to keep and one to loan out to anyone I can encourage to read it. The Brand/Yancey team also wrote two other excellent works ("In His Image" and "Fearfully and Wonderfully Made"), and there is a biography of Dr. Brand entitled "Ten Fingers for God." All well worth reading, but "Pain" is by far the best. My only regret is not having met Dr. Brand personally. If I had to choose one man (apart from Jesus himself) to point out to my son and tell him, "Grow up to be like that man," it would be Dr. Paul Brand. Do your soul a favor; read this book!

Editorial Review:

Pain is not something that most of us would count as a blessing; however, what it is and why we need it if we're to live life fully is brought to light in this book.