It's a story about balancing competition with compassion, about focusing on individual goals without losing sight of life's bigger picture, and realizing the great influences that can be made by people who would rarely be considered great. A modern twist on the classic underdog, it's high school track meets Rocky...or Rudy. Rae had lived a tumultuous young life. Having lost both parents by the age of eleven, she was sent to live with her Uncle Joe. Joe was both polarizing and unfiltered, but under his guidance, Rae found solid footing, not just in life, but also on the track, where she had become a captain and a standout miler for the Morris High School track team. As Morris' head track coach, Joe was as unconventional as he was successful. Not only had he won dozens of team titles, at some point throughout his career, he'd coached a state champion in every event...except the mile. Rae was determined to win it for him, during this, her senior season. Rae's single-minded approach was thrown for a loop when Izzy showed up at Morris. As a student with autism, joining the track team could be Izzy's path to inclusion. Rae wanted to take the new girl under her wing, but Joe was against it, knowing the distraction would affect Rae's training and her pursuit of her own personal glory. What transpired was a season full of laughter and tears, triumph and heartbreak, reminding us all that in life's great race, the winner isn't always determined by a stopwatch.

We can be quick to pray for people around the world in times of trauma, but has prayer become a way to avoid taking real action? Are we reluctant to be fully aware of the suffering around us? Trevor Hudson challenges us to see, hear, and respond to the needs of others, recognizing the living Christ in all things. Hudson designed an 8-day program—a pilgrimage—to help all Christians cultivate the depth of compassion Jesus demonstrated. Through this program, pilgrims learn to be present wherever they are and with whomever they meet. "We seldom become more compassionate without working at it," writes Hudson. "One practical way to cultivate compassion involves building the pilgrimage experience into our lives. …The risen Christ meets us in the lives of those who suffer." Join Trevor Hudson in this exploration of how to love your neighbor as yourself and choose compassion as part of your daily life.

This book can help foster parents and caseworkers get into the shoes of birthparents. Foster parents may use it as a self-help guide. Case workers will find it helps attune them to the tasks both foster parents and birthparents face. Agencies will find it especially effective for use in the separate and joint training of caseworkers and foster parents and for use by teachers and students in learning about birthfamilies.

This is the participant's workbook for this study. For more information about this study go to the Leader's Guide #0687471211

"Walk a Mile in My Shoes" is the real life story of a boots-and-all pioneer who did it tough in the early days in areas from Toowoomba to Rockhampton. Brigalow scrub cleaner, sideshow boxer, travelling beauty salon manager, pub owner in Westwood and thoroughbred racehorse breeder are only some of this mans lifetime occupations.

Life has a way of dealing us cards that we are not prepared to play. However, God is faithful and will always strengthen us for every situation we face. He is with us as we play the cards we are dealt, making sure that we win every time. In this book, you will have a front row seat into the life of a true overcomer. God gave Cynthia strength to endure every hardship that entered her life and He will do the same for you. God took what the enemy meant for evil and turned it into good. He transformed her trials into triumphs and gave her the victory. As you read this book, you will be encouraged and provoked to believe that all things are possible with God, if you only believe and work toward the goals you set for yourself.

Tiphani is the oldest of four and she has not had the best life growing up. Her father in in prison, her step-father died in a tragic accident and her family is dirt poor. For the past four years Tiphani has kept her head down and worked hard to make a future for herself. She knows that college is her only way out and she will do whatever it takes to get there. A boyfriend was not part of the plan though. Could this guy really be interested in a girl like Tiphani or is this just another trick so the popular kids have more to laugh about?