Positive psychologists have proven that positivity leads to success, but most Christians in America have chosen to believe a single eschatological theory that leads to pessimism and cynicism. Pessimistic Christians put themselves in Christian bubbles and focus on self-preservation, and when a mind is clouded by negativity, interpretations of biblical prophecy lean toward the pessimistic possibilities. The fantastic writing of the Left Behind books has popularized premillennial dispensationalism with good intentions, but that interpretation of biblical prophecy teaches that sinfulness will continually increase until Jesus throws up his hands in disgust and secretly raptures worthy Christians, leaving behind unworthy sinners to suffer the wrath of the antichrist. Teaching that questionable theory produces negativity that hinders the Christian mission. When Christians believe that they cannot succeed in leading most of the world to Jesus, they will fail to put in the effort that success would require. Jesus, on the other hand, taught his followers that nothing will prevail over his church, and that teaching inspired them to sacrifice everything for the Christian mission. This is not a promise of prosperity without effort or of inevitable success, but biblical positivity is an energizing force that will help Christians flourish.

Exodus and Revelation both begin with tribulation and end in wedding vows. In both books a dragon waits to eat the Messiah child. In both books a woman flies away on eagles' wings to live in a new promised land.

This open access book focuses on a particular but significant topic in the social sciences: the concepts of “footprint” and “trace”. It associates these concepts with hotly debated topics such as surveillance capitalism and knowledge society. The editors and authors discuss the concept footprints and traces as unintended by-products of other (differently focused and oriented) actions that remain empirically imprinted in virtual and real spaces. The volume therefore opens new scenarios for social theory and applied social research in asking what the stakes, risks and potential of this approach are. It systematically raises and addresses these questions within a consistent framework, bringing together a heterogeneous group of international social scientists. Given the multifaceted objectives involved in exploring footprints and traces, the volume discusses heuristic aspects and ethical dimensions, scientific analyses and political considerations, empirical perspectives and theoretical foundations. At the same time, it brings together perspectives from cultural analysis and social theory, communication and Internet studies, big-data informed research and computational social science. This innovative volume is of interest to a broad interdisciplinary readership: sociologists, communication researchers, Internet scholars, anthropologists, cognitive and behavioral scientists, historians, and epistemologists, among others.

Selected poems by Nigel Winn (1950-2006). Nigel Winn left behind a collection of poems, a short play and other pieces of writing. He wrote actively during the period 1996-2006, and during that time studied for a BA in English Literature at the University of Lincoln, where he gained a First Class degree. He went on to teach at the university, where he was popular among students. Following his death, colleagues established the annual Nigel Winn Memorial Prize for Creative Writing.

In 1947, war bride Ursula arrives in Minneapolis torn between guilt over leaving loved ones behind and her desire to start a new life—and a family—in this promised land. But the American dream proves elusive—she is struck with polio, and then shocked by the sudden death of her GI husband. Without a spouse or the child she so desperately wanted, Ursula must rely on her shrewd survival skills from wartime Berlin, and she takes in a boarder to help make ends meet. She soon falls in love with the Argentinean medical technician living in her spare bedroom, but his devotion to communism troubles her—and when she finds herself pregnant with his child, she is faced with a dilemma: how to reconcile her dream of motherhood with an America that is so different from what she imagined.

The future is unknowable, yet our planning for it gives us hope for ourselves and our loved ones. There are a number of steps you can take to make our survivors' lives easier with our passing. Some are legal and financial issues which need to be handled by knowledgeable professionals.

"Everything looked perfect. Sand - unique Baltic sand, the best in the world - and the calm sea. But wait. Something was amiss. Something was wrong" It starts with a day at the beach. A single white sock that somehow spoils everything. It's enough to send writer and ornithologist Stanislaw Lubienski on a quest to understand what we throw away, where it goes and whether it will be our legacy. By analysing items he unearths on his trips into nature - a plastic bottle, a tube of Russian penis-enlargement cream, a cigarette butt, an empty aerosol can - tracing their origins and explaining the harm they can do, he shows how consumer society has developed out of control, to the point of environmental catastrophe. He also looks with a birdwatcher's eye at how various animals have come to adapt to and even rely on our rubbish, and interrogates the cultural significance of waste and the origins of our throw-away lifestyles. Finally, he adds a personal touch by examining his own "environmental neurosis" and by going out with refuse crews to watch them work. While Lubienski never hectors his readers, nor shames them, his clear-eyed, persuasive and humble polemic reminds us what we, as individuals, can and cannot do to address an apocalyptic issue while there's still something worth saving. Translated from the Polish by Zosia Krasodomska-Jones

Have you ever wished that you could be somebody else? Someone completely different? In a brand-new set of more favorable circumstances? Throw off your troubled (or even your nondescript) current life? Thats just how Paul Marchildon, in 1963, San Antonio, Texas, feltwhen everything was closing in on him. His marriage was quickly unraveling! His modest house was under foreclosure! And his car was about to be repossessed! In addition, he faced an impossible, romantic, situationvis-a-vis a woman with whom hed once worked. Paul was sorely tempted to steal $1,000 from his employer! He struggled to resist! Then, when his wife announced that she was taking his four childrenand moving in with her parents some 350 miles awayhe took the money! And ran! In his flight, Paul was intercepted by an angelspokesman for a small group of heavenly beings! The angel offered to give him a new body, a new voice, a new nameand to set him up in a beautiful condo, on the beautiful Pacific Ocean beach, in beautiful Oregon. More than a thousand miles from his untenable situation. There was just one highly problematic difficulty: the celestial deal consisted of those few angels faking Pauls death! Hed turn up as having died in an automobile crash! Truly, this would be a brand-new beginning! The troubled man accepted! It was only after he had become the youngerand far more handsome Taylor Young, that he begins worrying about those hed left behind! His widow ran off with some snake oil salesman, who won her over with a few lavish gifts. She joined a cult! That left the childrenall of whom Paul/Taylor missed terriblyin the hands of their grandparents. Grandma was dangerously harriedand Grandpa hated having the responsibility of having to raise kids that were not his own! Further, there was another womanone with whom Paul had had a romantic relationship. She was terribly upset by his running out. She is completely shatteredto learn of his death. Paul had also been close to her two children. None of this was helping! It was only after hed assumed his new lifestyle that the now-Taylor slowly learned of the many and varied difficulties confronting all these people from his past. The ones hed left behind. Obviously, he became more and more concerned about them! So he strived to do somethingto do whatever he canabout their troubling circumstances. The effect that his sudden journey back to Texas had on the two womenwith whom hed formed a relationship in Oregononly added to his rapidly accumulating difficulties. Trust me! A new beginning is not always what it would seem to be!

Thirty-seven-year-old John Morgans personal life is already in disarray when he receives a phone call that his brother and niece are dead. His relationship with his father is nearly nonexistent, he barely speaks to his sister, and he has no real friends to lean on. As the tragic news slowly begins to sink in, John realizes he is floating aimlessly in the middle of an unpredictable sea of emotions with no one to rescue him. Lost in his childhood memories, regrets, and grief, John begins to reevaluate his life, his relationships, and why he has trouble connecting withand even lovingothers. As he attempts to regain the happiness that was stolen from him when his father rejected him over his writing, John begins a painstaking journey to climb out of the depths of despair. But it is only a matter of time before his past catches up with him and forces him to face all of the realities in his life. In this compelling tale that movingly illustrates the devastating effects of a dysfunctional family, John must learn to change what he can, accept what he cannot, and make the difficult decision to leave some things behind.

Edinburgh, 1920. Three children are missing, abducted from the poorhouses of the city. When a body is found near the town of Liberton, Dr Thomas Stevenson, still suffering from the trauma of the First World War, finds himself drawn into the police investigation. But suspicion falls on the woman with the mysterious past who lives with Thomas. Could she be guilty of the brutal murder? With time running out and lives at stake, Thomas must prove her innocence, but to do that he has to find the real killer and unlock the truth about her secret past. A past that casts a long, dark shadow.