A fresh new voice on the Christian writing scene offers the candid story of his search for an authentic spirituality. In this eloquent and moving portrait of prayer, every reader seeking genuine spiritual connection will find gentle lessons about how to pray and a glimpse of the blessings that prayer bestows, even in the midst of life's daily rush.

“This is beautiful and brilliant stuff, profound and plain, incredibly human, wise and charming. I trusted and enjoyed every word.” –Anne Lamott, New York Times bestselling author about Looking for God in Messy Places For any who feel frustrated and world-weary, and who want more than just wishful thinking or superficial spirituality, this book is for you! In these pages, my friend Jake Owensby poignantly shows how LOVE is what can truly give us hope to carry on: real love, God's love for us, our love for each other, right here, right now in all the struggles of this messy life. And God knows, we need this book NOW! —Bishop Michael Curry, Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church and author of Love is the Way: Holding on to Hope in Troubling Times Life is messy. We can get discouraged by setbacks, overwhelmed by busyness, and shaken by worry. Hope is the power that gets us out of bed in the morning and gives us the courage to face adversity. Looking for God in Messy Places by Jake Owensby is a book about how love gives us an inextinguishable hope. This book is for anyone who has ever been frozen in place by loss or regret, anyone who has endured suffering, cruelty, or rejection. From word to word and page to page, readers will experience themselves as God’s beloved—so that they can be hopeful. From the introduction [This book is] For those whose struggles have been long and for those who are growing weary from heavy burdens. For those facing an unforeseen crisis or for those enduring a slow personal train wreck. For those whose throats have grown raw from crying for justice and for those whose wounds have gone unhealed. This is a book about hope, and I have written it especially for those who refuse to yield to discouragement and despair. Topics include: - The power of love to give us hope - The ways that God shows up in our daily lives - Recognizing God’s call in our lives - Becoming your true self - Having a sense of belonging - Forming a friendship with Christ - Contemplative faith

Have you ever wanted to share the Good News with a friend but couldn't find the right words or weren't sure which tract to use? More than a tract, Finding God in the Bible is a short Bible study that explains the plan of salvation and invites people to a personal relationship with Jesus. Let them discover for themselves what God says in His Word, through gentle guidance given by Ken Wilson.

Your City Guide to God Beneath the relentless rhythms of city life beats the heart of God, and award-winning author Marcy Heidish takes you into a more intimate relationship with him in the midst of crowds, chaos, and concrete. Her experiences from a curb in Brooklyn, the bay in San Francisco, a rooftop of Chartres Cathedaral in Paris, and the busy halls of Washington, D.C., help you see the city in a new light. She turns common city distractions, annoyances, and challenges into spiritual invitations or “gateways” to a new kind of contemplation where: •screaming sirens become cues to silent intercession, •skyscrapers, like spires, pull your eyes and thoughts heavenward, •and red traffic lights work as “pause” buttons that call for you to stop and pray. “In the city there is grit,” Marcy writes. And grime and garbage. But her practical tools in every chapter for reflection, discussion, and application help you see–whether you’re visiting, working, or dwelling in Philadelphia or Phoenix, New York or Los Angeles, Seattle or Syracuse–that in the city there is also grace.

Without romanticizing the prisoners in his stories, the author--who served for many years as the Catholic chaplain at Sing Sing prison--humanizes them, offers a compelling picture of the reality of an oppressive criminal justice system, and describes the challenge and joy of proclaiming the gospel in such an environment.

Bestselling author of Geography of Bliss returns with this funny, illuminating chronicle of a globe-spanning spiritual quest to find a faith that fits. When a health scare puts him in the hospital, Eric Weiner-an agnostic by default-finds himself tangling with an unexpected question, posed to him by a well-meaning nurse. "Have you found your God yet?" The thought of it nags him, and prods him-and ultimately launches him on a far-flung journey to do just that. Weiner, a longtime "spiritual voyeur" and inveterate traveler, realizes that while he has been privy to a wide range of religious practices, he's never seriously considered these concepts in his own life. Face to face with his own mortality, and spurred on by the question of what spiritual principles to impart to his young daughter, he decides to correct this omission, undertaking a worldwide exploration of religions and hoping to come, if he can, to a personal understanding of the divine. The journey that results is rich in insight, humor, and heart. Willing to do anything to better understand faith, and to find the god or gods that speak to him, he travels to Nepal, where he meditates with Tibetan lamas and a guy named Wayne. He sojourns to Turkey, where he whirls (not so well, as it turns out) with Sufi dervishes. He heads to China, where he attempts to unblock his chi; to Israel, where he studies Kabbalah, sans Madonna; and to Las Vegas, where he has a close encounter with Raelians (followers of the world's largest UFO-based religion). At each stop along the way, Weiner tackles our most pressing spiritual questions: Where do we come from? What happens when we die? How should we live our lives? Where do all the missing socks go? With his trademark wit and warmth, he leaves no stone unturned. At a time when more Americans than ever are choosing a new faith, and when spiritual questions loom large in the modern age, Man Seeks God presents a perspective on religion that is sure to delight, inspire, and entertain.

Finding God in the Graffiti encourages church educators, youth ministers, and students of ministry to connect the living reality of God through the use of powerful stories and narratives that will engage the youth in their church or Christian organization. It will inspire readers with many ways in which stories can engage youth educationally; provides a conceptual map of discipline for teaching and learning purposes; equips youth workers to practice a repertoire of narrative methods with young people; and gives practitioners conceptual tools to reflect on their practice with insight and precision.