Hospital intensive care units have changed when and how we die--and not always for the better. The ICU is a new world, one in which once-fatal diseases can be cured and medical treatments greatly enhance our chances of full recovery. But, paradoxically, these places of physical healing can exact a terrible toll, and by focusing on technology rather than humanity, they too often rob the dying of their dignity. By some accounts, the expensive medical treatments provided in ICUs also threaten to bankrupt the nation. In an attempt to give patients a voice in the ICU when they might not otherwise have one, the living will was introduced in 1969, in response to several notorious cases. These documents were meant to keep physicians from ignoring patients' and families' wishes in stressful situations. Unfortunately, despite their aspirations, living wills contain static statements about hypothetical preferences that rarely apply in practice. And they created a process that isn't faithful to who we are as human beings. Further confusing difficult and painful situations, living wills leave patients with the impression that actual communication with their physicians has taken place, when in fact their deepest desires and values remain unaddressed. In this provocative and empathetic book, medical researcher and ICU physician Samuel Morris Brown uses stories from his clinical practice to outline a new way of thinking about life-threatening illness. Brown's approach acknowledges the conflicting emotions we have when talking about the possibility of death and proposes strategies by which patients, their families, and medical practitioners can better address human needs before, during, and after serious illness. Arguing that any solution to the problems of the inhumanity of intensive care must take advantage of new research on the ways human beings process information and make choices, Brown imagines a truly humane ICU. His manifesto for reform advocates wholeness and healing for people facing life-threatening illness.

This compelling collection tells five stories of young Australian women who served in times of armed conflict in early twentieth-century China. These courageous missionaries lived in the midst of pre-Boxer uprisings, the Republican revolution, clashes between regional warlords, Japanese occupation during World War II, and civil war between Nationalists and Communists. Suffering deprivation and hardship with the Chinese people, they were shot at and bombed, endured capture and imprisonment, and risked their lives to save others. Some were even killed. Working in villages, hospitals, schools, universities, orphanages, and refugee centers, these women helped shape the emergence of modern China. In partnership with local people they helped raise the status of women and develop educational, medical, and welfare institutions that exist to this day. Based on thorough first-hand research, visits to various sites in China, and including a number of historic photos, this book is written for anyone interested in the lives of people who made a difference to the world around them.

TEN YEARS AGO, Harvard professor James Kugel was diagnosed with an aggressive, likely fatal, form of cancer. “I was, of course, disturbed and worried. But the main change in my state of mind was that the background music had suddenly stopped—the music of daily life that’s constantly going, the music of infinite time and possibilities. Now suddenly it was gone, replaced by nothing, just silence. There you are, one little person, sitting in the late summer sun, with only a few things left to do.” Despite his illness, Kugel was intrigued by this new state of mind and especially the uncanny feeling of human smallness that came with it. There seemed to be something overwhelmingly true about it—and its starkness reminded him of certain themes and motifs he had encountered in his years of studying ancient religions. “This, I remember thinking, was something I should really look into further—if ever I got the chance.” In the Valley of the Shadow is the result of that search. In this wide-ranging exploration of different aspects of religion—interspersed with his personal reflections on the course of his own illness—Kugel seeks to uncover what he calls “the starting point of religious consciousness,” an ancient “sense of self” and a way of fitting into the world that is quite at odds with the usual one. He tracks these down in accounts written long ago of human meetings with gods and angels, anthropologists’ descriptions of the lives of hunter-gatherers, the role of witchcraft in African societies, first-person narratives of religious conversions, as well as the experimental data assembled by contemporary neuroscientists and evolutionary biologists. Though this different sense of how we fit into the world has largely disappeared from our own societies, it can still come back to us as a fleeting state of mind, “when you are just sitting on some park bench somewhere; or at a wedding, while everyone else is dancing and jumping around; or else one day standing in your backyard, as the sun streams down through the trees . . . ” Experienced in its fullness, this different way of seeing opens onto a stark, new landscape ordinarily hidden from human eyes. Kugel’s look at the whole phenomenon of religious beliefs is a rigorously honest, sometimes skeptical, but ultimately deeply moving affirmation of faith in God. One of our generation’s leading biblical scholars has created a powerful meditation on humanity’s place in the world and all that matters most in our lives. Believers and doubters alike will be struck by its combination of objective scholarship and poetic insight, which makes for a single, beautifully crafted consideration of life’s greatest mystery.

Walking in the Valley of the Shadow of Death: God guidance that's where I met Jesus By: Annie Grant Annie Grant spreads her journey of seeking Jesus through the hard trials of life, from troubles in her marriage to losing a home in a fire, Annie Grant’s trials and tribulations prove that even in our darkest moments, the Holy Spirit will lead. Love from God is truly there, and there is always hope for the hopeless.

This book is a compelling and true story, a must read story about a man who died, then slipped into a coma, and by a miracle came back to life and back from the other side of death. About being given a second chance in life, and what I have learned from it. That is; a choice between spending eternity in either Heaven or Hell. To tell everyone what awaits all of us upon death. This could be one of the most important books you ever read, I hope to encourage all who believe in Jesus, and if these words could just reach one lost soul, then my purpose is fulfilled. This is real events: It is riveting and encouraging yet fearful. The answer to what everyone seeks is revealed in this book. What happens when we die, what will we see, where will we go?

Valley of shadows: "It isn't just DEA agent Hawke Morran who's at risk when his undercover assignment is blown. The lovely Miranda Shelton saved him - so now she's in danger, too. It's up to Hawke to keep them both safe. His heart will accept nothing less."--Page 4 of cover.

The story shows how a group of senior NCOs called Old Soldiers or lifers by the men that served under them used a communication system to barter their way to a soft life in a combat zone. From the leader of the Old Soldiers, Chief Master Sergeant OToole to the Vietnamese woman Fat Mae Ree in charge of the entertainment for the base, the plot takes the reader from fiction to real life and how a young Vietnamese teaches the Old Soldiers how to be conned.

On February 6, 2023, eight-year-old Dallin Cunningham, fell from a slide at school and hit his head on the frozen ground. On the evening of the next day, his mother Kathryn sang him lullabies as his soul slipped quietly through the veil. Walking through the Valley of the Shadow of Death is her account of what filled those two days: the sorrow, the tears, the decisions, and most importantly, the miracles. It is a witness of the awful inevitability of death, that mountain that looms over this valley of mortality. It is a testimony of the loving mercy of our Savior Jesus Christ, the only one who can warm and guide us when that mountain’s oppressive shadow darkens our path. Through this book, Kathryn Cunningham offers her testimony that in her days of deepest distress, she tested the words of our prophet that we should seek and expect miracles and found they were true. This story will help you see miracles in your own life and losses, and it will strengthen your testimony of the truthfulness of the plan of salvation.

Our daughter Grace is a special needs child, and her life is full of challenges. Because of her illness, her intellectual development was hindered, and there is a certain amount of stubbornness as well. Yet the Lord blesses her, using her stubbornness as a positive trait. She has a warrior spirit, never giving up and always facing her illness fearlessly. Grace was on an extremely restricted diet, but she seldom complained or whined for the food that she could not take. She never complained about doing blood work, because she wanted to be a brave example to the other children around. I admire Grace because she made up her own story, "The Return of Frollo and Sarousch" a continuance of the Hunchback of Notre Dame story ten years later. It is my good intention to publish Grace's story, not just to encourage her but to share with you our testimony and how Grace touched our lives. I want people to see that behind the special needs, these kids are capable of making a difference in their own lives and others'. There are many trials and challenges in life, but only God knows and He is in total control.

This is about a story of a child who comes from a dysfunctional family. His discipline was so extreme and with no real help, even from the God this kid depended on. So with that being the issue in order for this child to find peace and safety for his own life he took to the streets. This child had no idea that the streets were filled with snakes and rat. He was living as if he was burning his own self at the stake; you guessed it was a self sacrifice if you would call-it. In this book you will find this child in numerous occasions where you might wish you were there to give him some help. But the whole time this child has recognized a force that was present with him, but yet unseen. Through the chapters of this book you may find some inserts of theological attempts to explain some of the phenomenal events. However it was done with the greatest attempts not to be religiously hypocritical. The story into this kids life will take you to places and reveal some truths often not spoken of about what goes on behind the wall in juvenile incarceration. The mind of the streets and the betrayal of friends or so called friends. It also sheds light on how being free regardless of the situation can be peaceful to some. Last but not least, youll get to take a novice look at life beyond the vial of what is seen and spoken of by many. All the lies told by the media and other false idea of thing that some only assume and have no real facts or life experience to prove it.