". . . from expected death comes unexpected new life!" The Gospel of Matthew does not shy away from the realities of struggle, suffering, doubt, and death. Yet, from the first names in the genealogy to the last words spoken by Jesus, the Gospel testifies to the promise that from expected death comes unexpected new life. Through the actions of Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba, we experience the expectation of death and the promise of unexpected new life. In the birth story of Jesus, Joseph suspects Mary of committing adultery. It is this dilemma that is the focus of the narrative. If he reveals her pregnancy, she could be killed. If he conceals her pregnancy, he will be going against the law of the Lord. What is a righteous man to do? In Joseph's dilemma, this experience of expected death, the Gospel of Matthew proclaims the promise of unexpected new life. The promise of unexpected new life is a theme that continues throughout Matthew's Gospel in the life and ministry of Jesus. The call of his disciples is a call from death to new life. The teaching of Jesus focuses on the experience of death and the promise of new life. In both healing and curing, Jesus brings unexpected new life to those who face death. But it is the death and resurrection of Jesus that is the climax of unexpected new life in the Gospel of Matthew. Even as Jesus experiences a most horrific and humiliating death in the crucifixion, death and the grave do not have the final say. In bearing witness to Jesus' resurrection, the Gospel of Matthew proclaims the magnificent promise of unexpected new life. Matthew J. Marohl invites you in these pages to read the Gospel of Matthew in a new way, from a fresh perspective. Integrating insights from the study of Mediterranean anthropology, Marohl makes the cultural world of the Gospel come alive, so that as you read Matthew again (or perhaps for the first time) you will certainly experience the powerful promise that from expected death comes unexpected new life!

"Intense. Stunning. Needed. Jillian's words will help you discover beauty in the unexpected."--LESLIE MEANS, creator of Her View From Home "Thoughtful and honest, Jillian's story of transformation reminds us that God is present and pursuing us, even in the most unexpected moments of our lives. Read and be changed."--KAYLA CRAIG, author of To Light Their Way and creator of Liturgies for Parents What if the unexpected is the beginning of becoming your truest self? Jillian Benfield was living life in the spotlight as a TV journalist, but after receiving a life-altering diagnosis for her unborn son, she realized no camera-ready outfit could dress up her grief. Overcoming this unexpected circumstance wasn't an option. She would have to undergo it instead. In doing so, she discovered who she was and who God wanted her to become. In this riveting story filled with grit and grace, Jillian helps you break down the false constructs you've built around God and your identity. You won't avoid your pain, but you'll learn to feel it, in a healing way. And you'll discover how your internal transformation leads to external purpose. No matter what you're going through, you're invited to open this gift: The Gift of the Unexpected

Best-selling authors Shaunti Feldhahn (For Women Only) and Robert Lewis help women understand how to live boldly and biblically while staying in step with the twenty-first century.

Silicon Second Nature takes us on an expedition into an extraordinary world where nature is made of bits and bytes and life is born from sequences of zeroes and ones. Artificial Life is the brainchild of scientists who view self-replicating computer programs—such as computer viruses—as new forms of life. Anthropologist Stefan Helmreich's look at the social and simulated worlds of Artificial Life—primarily at the Santa Fe Institute, a well-known center for studies in the sciences of complexity—introduces readers to the people and programs connected with this unusual hybrid of computer science and biology. When biology becomes an information science, when DNA is downloaded into virtual reality, new ways of imagining "life" become possible. Through detailed dissections of the artifacts of Artifical Life, Helmreich explores how these novel visions of life are recombining with the most traditional tales told by Western culture. Because Artificial Life scientists tend to see themselves as masculine gods of their cyberspace creations, as digital Darwins exploring frontiers filled with primitive creatures, their programs reflect prevalent representations of gender, kinship, and race, and repeat origin stories most familiar from mythical and religious narratives. But Artificial Life does not, Helmreich says, simply reproduce old stories in new software. Much like contemporary activities of cloning, cryonics, and transgenics, the practice of simulating and synthesizing life in silico challenges and multiplies the very definition of vitality. Are these models, as some would claim, actually another form of the real thing? Silicon Second Nature takes Artifical Life as a symptom and source of our mutating visions of life itself.

This book began when the author realised that, when people said they were fascinated by particular biblical passages, they were usually ones that presented dramatic encounters between people and between God and people. Such are the passages interpreted in this book. They usually set a vivid scene that heightens the dramatic nature of the encounter, and animated dialogue often directly ad- dresses the reader. There is also animated action that is vividly striking and often sudden and unexpected. These features involve the readers themselves and may question them about what they expect. Indeed the dramatic encounters provocatively lead to unex- pected new life in the future.

Many pastors and church leaders have heard the term "missional" but have only a vague idea of what it means, let alone why it might be important to them. But what does it actually mean? What does a missional church look like and how does it function? Two leading voices in the missional movement here provide an accessible introduction, showing readers how the movement developed, why it's important, and how churches can become more missional. Introducing the Missional Church demonstrates that ours is a post-Christian culture, making it necessary for church leaders to think like missionaries right here at home. Focusing on a process that allows a church to discern its unique way of being missional, it guides readers on a journey that will lead them to implement a new set of missional practices in their churches. The authors demonstrate that living missionally is about discerning and joining God's work in the world in order to be a witness to God's kingdom on earth.

The Unexpected Magic: Opening Duo A little bit of dirty and a dash of dark, the Opening Duo is the doorway to another world hidden within our own! First, meet Merideth and Rider, running for their lives. When Meri’s mother is murdered, he is sworn to protect her and will do anything to keep the bad guys at bay. Can he keep her safe and win her favor? Then, Sarah is haunted by a coven magister hell bent on reviving a witch through her body. Blake takes on the role of guardian, but does he have enough power to defeat his brother or get inside her heart? Start at the beginning when witches discover their powers in this magical adult series!

"The fact of being a citizen of the United States of America offers the opportunity--not the guarantee, but the opportunity--to live an extraordinary life," Les Joslin writes in the introduction to Life & Duty, an autobiography in which he proves his thesis as the relives the first seventy years of his American adventure. He shares these years in twenty chapters that comprise this three-part volume. Part I covers his family heritage and early years from 1943 to 1967, Part II his U.S. Navy career from 1967 to 1988, and Part III his life in Oregon from 1988. from Part I, Chapter 5, Summer 1965 on the Toiyabe National Forest... That wasn't the first time I'd dealt with an armed citizen, and it wouldn't be the last. Some of the challenges of my fire prevention job had nothing to do with wildfire prevention but everything to do with the fact I was sometimes the only public servant around to handle a situation. It had to do with that sometimes gray area between official duty and moral obligation. the previous summer, on my way to Twin Lakes, I detoured to check the dump I'd burned a few days before. Suddenly, I heard shots, just as the Lone Ranger and Tonto did in the opening scene of almost every episode, and what I saw as I neared the dump scared me. A big, beefy, fortyish man standing next to a late-model Cadillac sedan was firing a high-powerd rifle.... He'd heard me coming, and turned as I stopped the patrol truck. He didn't look particularly threatening. But there were serious unknowns. I didn't know him. I didn't know what he might shoot at. I didn't know he wouldn't shoot at me. from Part II, Chapter 10, November 1979 aboard USS Kitty Hawk... on November 28, I got up, showered and shaved, put on clean khakis as usual, and started toward the wardroom for breakfast. the usual scent of salt and jet fuel was in the air, and I had a lot on my mind. I descended two ladders to the hangar bay, only to be brought up short by bumping my head on a helicopter that wasn't supposed to be there. A quick look around revealed seven more RH-53D Sea Stallion helicopters that their HM-16 markings told me belonged to Helicopter Mine Countermeasures Squadron Sixteen, not part of the ship's air wing. So that's why the swing south to Diego Garcia! They'd been flown there, probably in C-5As, and had flown aboard last night. Had I actually slept through flight quarters? I forgot about breakfast, climbed the ladders back to the 02 level, and knocked on the door of the flag N-2's office. "This isn't going to work," I said as he opened the door. "We can't fly those helicopters into a city of five million hostiles and rescue fifty hostages." "They don't want to hear that," he replied, and closed the door. from Part III, Chapter 15, Summer 1992 on the Deschutes National Forest As I walked toward the fire, I began to think. Am I doing the right thing? After all, I'm just a contract wilderness information specialist, not part of the fire organization. I hadn't been to the Deschutes National Forest's fire school. I didn't have fire clothing. I didn't have a fire shelter. Except for a canteen, I didn't have any water. and I'd turned in my last red card--the fire qualification card that rated me as a crew boss--in 1966 when I'd left the Toiyabe National Forest to go on active duty in the Navy. That was twenty-six years ago! Should I be doing this? Sure, I answered my own question. I'd started out in the "old Forest Service" where everybody did everything. I'd done this many times before, in the days before fire shirts and Nomex britches and fire shelters. I'd had five fire seasons on the Toiyabe, been on a couple big fires. ... I knew this business. I knew how to keep out of trouble. About the time I resolved that little issue, I was at the fire....

Cowboy of the New Flesh And Other Stories. Here you will find: A man frozen in a cryogenics lab awakens to an unexpected new life. An alien killer stalks the last inhabitants of a distant mining colony. A deadly feud from another world finds its way to Earth. A professor gives his class a unique insight into the workings of the criminal mind. The last inhabitants of a small rural community prepare themselves for the end of their times. Two friends in another dimension enjoy a day at the fishing hole and a young man finds himself horribly entangled in their good times. Sometimes it's best not to recycle your garbage. An immortal has stopped evolving and stands locked in time as his world moves on. Sci-fi stories with a twist of horror and a touch of humor.

Welcome to the adventure! When I was growing up, the idea that being Catholic was an "adventure" was the farthest thing from my mind. You just "were". And, pretty much, memorizing some definitions and what "rules" you had to keep in order to be "saved" completed the picture. Then why would I entitle these challenging reflections to aid our life's journey: FREE AND HOLY WHERE YOU ARE? Perhaps because many Catholics don't feel freed by the "rules", and don't feel they will ever be truly "holy". Only for priests, sisters, or monks could "where you are" possibly promote holiness! Yet the "Daily Life of a Catholic" is exactly where we always are with Jesus as our friend and confidant, and members of his Body, the Church. Be prepared to choose a hundred thoughts or phrases you'll want to remember for the rest of your life. "If you are one of those people who, like me, understand Roman Catholic tradition as a solid foundation meant to encourage, not discourage, intelligent critical moral thought, then this is the book for you. It will make you excited (again) to be a Roman Catholic believer." Msgr. Robert J. Thelen, Seminary Professor and Parish Priest "A MARVELOUS BOOK Having learned that a priest I greatly admire had written a book, I eagerly looked forward to obtaining and reading a copy. When Msgr. Dennis M. Regan's "Free and Holy Where You Are: The Daily Life of a Catholic" arrived in the mail, my first reaction was I wondered if the book had a good title. The format of the book is a collection of two- or three-page essays, a format that I usually don't find attractive, and so I was concerned that I might not like the book. My concerns disappeared quickly as I read the text. Msgr. Regan has written a marvelous book, and the title is perfect. The book was a challenging, instructive and often inspiring experience. In God's incredible and unconditional love for each of us, God invites us to become: Co-creators with God of a redeemed but unfinished world. That will bring enthusiasm and excitement for any Christian believer who accepts the invitation." Rev. Robert E. Lauder, "Arts amd Culture" published in The Brooklyn TABLET, Nov. 30, 2019 A TERRIFIC, WELCOMING VOLUME Regan seeks to highlight what he sees as the more inviting aspects of Catholicism, which some readers may not expect---most prominently its flexibility and humanity....Readers who are familiar with the history of Catholic writings will be struck again and again in Regan's compassionate, empathetic notes, which would have been unrecognizable in Catholic thinkers of an earlier age....Many modern believers, especially young ones, will find a version of Catholicism in these pages that they can embrace. -----Kirkus Reviews