This is an intriguing and inspiring collection of devotionals based on messages gleaned from signs along the roads we travel. It can be meaningful to adults, fascinating to children, and even helpful to youth learning to drive. Each message is supported by words of wisdom from the ancient Book of Proverbs. If we will just slow down and observe, even something as seemingly mundane as a road sign can convey a powerful lesson. Mr. Brown, in the future, I would appreciate it if you would pay attention to them (road signs) and act accordingly. As he handed me the ticket, he said, Have a good day. North Carolina State Trooper My goodness, Bernie, this is amazing. Never thought of this but it is simple and profound. We can see road signs differently after reading your devotionals. The pictures are wonderful, too and Proverbs come alive in a new way. Lucy Adams, Author and Cofounder of the Western NC Christian Writers Fellowship Our city, like others, devotes a tremendous amount of resources toward placing directional and informational signs along its streets for guidance and to insure the publics safety. It is amazing how Bernie Brown has extracted additional meaning from many of these road signs to assist each of us on our individual lifes journey. This fascinating little book will not only inspire you but will assist you in passing your spiritual drivers license test. Steve Thunder Tumlin, Jr., Mayor, city of Marietta, GA (Bernies home since 1971; he was named Marietta Citizen of the Year in 1990)

Our childhood is an intricate part of who we become as adults. Everyone has difficulty, despair and disappointment in their past. How we choose to overcome these challenges determines the course of our lives. Through it all, love has the potential to heal old wounds. In a time when children were meant to be seen and not heard, young lives were not always honored. Jamie and Martha, a brother and sister who were tragically orphaned at a young age, find themselves shuffled between family and friends. Stripped of their voices and choices, they endure heartbreaking circumstances that no child should ever experience. Even though disappointment seems to be the only constant in their young lives, they struggle courageously to find bits and pieces of happiness in a world that is often cruel and spiteful. Through it all, something pure and innocent within the children refuses to die. On their journey, they learn one of lifes most important and powerful lessons: the healing power of love makes life and living possible. While love cannot change the past, it is the key to redeeming an unwritten future. For Martha and Jamie, it is love that creates the true refuge that is home.

A friend on our path of mindfulness practice, Richard Brady shares one of the first deeply personal accounts of a lay practitioner following in the steps of world-renowned Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh. Short Journey Home presents a powerful story of transformation, rooted in the author’s long-term and life-changing practice with Thich Nhat Hanh. Richard Brady guides us through his life experiences and lessons learned, offering strikingly deep and sincere accounts of: his time spent with Thich Nhat Hanh and with senior monastics, his successes and difficulties with community building, practicing with family, working with death, and sharing the practice with others. Brady skillfully grounds his stories in direct teachings offered by Thich Nhat Hanh, and he organizes these stories according to some of Thich Nhat Hanh’s most powerful lessons on topics like impermanence, interbeing, and transformation. By taking these teachings to heart, practicing with them diligently, and sharing the results, Brady acts as our spiritual companion, demonstrating how the Plum Village path of practice can lead us to peace, freedom, and awakening in this present moment.

My youngest son, Sam, hands me a DVD converted from a video recording taken years ago. Apprehensive, I slide it into a laptop and watch the scene from my past come to life. After viewing only part of it, he exits to do homework, pauses, and quips, What happened to you, Mom? Time suspends as I search for a reply. Life life happened, Sama lot of life. Like your dad dying and you and I ending up with a genetic disorder. Muscle biopsies, spinal taps, surgeries, you know. Crazy stuff happened. He looks my way only somewhat understanding. His seventeen-year-old, senior-in-high-school self tries on my explanation, but it doesnt quite fit. He cant give in so why should I? He continues up the stairs and I stand alone. Alone with the reality that the hard stuff is winning. That I caved under the pressure. That my tall, blond-haired, blue-eyed son knows who I was, compared to who I am.

The story of one man’s journey from his youth in suburban Chicago to an adult in spiritual India and a world of mystics, yogis, and gurus. Within this extraordinary memoir, Radhanath Swami weaves a colorful tapestry of adventure, mysticism, and love. Readers follow Richard Slavin from the suburbs of Chicago to the caves of the Himalayas as he transforms from young seeker to renowned spiritual guide. The Journey Home is an intimate account of the steps to self-awareness and also a penetrating glimpse into the heart of mystic traditions and the challenges that all souls must face on the road to inner harmony and a union with the Divine. Through near-death encounters, apprenticeships with advanced yogis, and years of travel along the pilgrim’s path, Radhanath Swami eventually reaches the inner sanctum of India’s mystic culture and finds the love he has been seeking. It is a tale told with rare candor, immersing the reader in a journey that is at once engaging, humorous, and heartwarming. Praise for The Journey Home “Here is an inspiring chapter of “our story” of spiritual pilgrimage to the East. It shows the inner journey of awakening in a fascinating and spellbinding way.” —Ram Dass, author, Be Here Now “He tells his story with remarkable honest—the temptations of the 1970s, his doubts, hopes, and disappointments, the culture shock, and the friendships found and lost . . . Add a zest of danger, suspense, and surprise, and Radhanath Swami’s story is a deep, genuine memoir that reads like a novel.” —Brigitte Sion, assistant professor of Religious Studies, New York University

In this book adapted for children ages 9 to 13, Michael Thomas is a schoolboy who’s stuck in what seems to be a pretty sorry life. His big brother’s busy soccer schedule rules the house, and his best buddy has moved to another town. Mike feels that he has no life. No one would notice if he just disappeared! Then his real journey begins. Based on the parable inspired by Kryon and written by Lee Carroll, this is a book your entire family will enjoy.

"The Journey Home" is the story of two young lovers in the 1890's who run away to get married but are pursued by a family friend. It is the journey home that brings the three together, creating a friendship amidst the trials and adventures that they face together along the trail. Tragedy, pain, joy, and all the emotions of life change them from teenagers into adults as they travel. It is a story that will touch your heart, make you laugh, and remind you that life is for living, not just existing.

DAVID DUKES was born and raised in Madison, Florida. At the age of seventeen, in 1963, he led the civil rights movement in Madison. He did voter-registration work, sit-ins at restaurants, and recreational facilities, conducted training seminars, and demonstrated in support for freedom, equality, justice, and human rights for blacks in the American South.

Long Journey Home, is an autobiography beginning in Poland in 1939. This is a little known story of what happened in Poland during Russian occupation as seen through the eyes of a young girl. On June 20, 1941, a ten year-old girl living a quiet country life is suddenly awakened by a knock on the door in the middle of the night. Two Russian soldiers pointing rifles at parents gave orders to be ready to leave at dawn. Their destination was Siberia. One day after their arrest, Germany declared war on Russia and re-conquering the eastern part of Poland, moved swiftly into Russian mainland. Stalin unable to contain them, sought help from Western Allies. An amnesty pact was signed at the Kremlin with General Sikorski for the Polish Government-in-Exile, granting freedom to all Polish prisoners and deportees. It also provided for formation of a Polish volunteer army on Russian soil to be trained and shipped to the Western Front. Anyone having a close relative in that army could leave Russia. The author and her family were the lucky ones. Freed from Russia in August 1942, going through the Caspian Sea to Persia (now Iran), India, Mexico and, ultimately after six years of wanders, landing in the U.S.

Two brothers must rely on all their wilderness skills to survive their journey home after reuniting with their father and living off the grid in the second adventure of the Wilder Boys series. At the start of the summer, Jake and Taylor Wilder set out on the adventure of a lifetime. After seeing their mother loaded into an ambulance because of Bull, her terrifying boyfriend, the boys know they are no longer safe. So they go in search of their father, who has been living off the grid in Wyoming. After jumping trains, hitching a ride with a truck driver, and hiding in the luggage compartment of a tour bus, the boys finally find him in Grand Teton National Park. Just as the boys are getting used to their father’s lifestyle—and his “my way is the only way” attitude—they learn that their mother is still alive. But if the brothers don’t give back the money they took from Bull last year, she could be taken away from them…for good. Convinced that their father isn’t going to help, the Wilder boys set out on their own again. It’s a long way from Wyoming to Pittsburgh, and with winter approaching there will be new challenges. But they have to get back. Will the brothers be able to make it back to their mother before it’s too late?