A Father For All Seasons

This highly personal book gives encouragement to dads and sons by reminding them that they need each other. Written by award-winning author Bob Welch, excerpts of this book have appeared in Focus on the Family and Reader's Digest magazines.

Life comes in seasons. In every season, dad matters. Each season of fatherhood has a different role for dads. In The Seasons of Fatherhood, we will explore some key practices to help us succeed in our role for that season. The lessons in this book are what God has been teaching me about fathering four remarkable people.

Robbie the Raccoon and his friends love Father Oak and worry that he is sick when his leaves begin to turn color and fall off, but Robbie's mother explains what the change means and helps him plant some acorns as a sign of hope for spring.

Reminiscent of Frederick Exley's A Fan's Notes and James Dodson's Final Rounds, First and Last Seasons is not only a courageously confessional memoir but a work of resounding originality-a Rust Belt requiem for a father written by the black sheep son he leaves behind. Dan McGraw did not plan to go home to help his father die. To the thirty-nine-year-old Texas-based senior editor for "U.S. News & World Report, Cleveland, Ohio, was a million miles away. Dan was the prodigal middle son within a large Irish-Catholic family, and life never really got going until he was far away from the city and his dominant father, Richard. But the gravitational pull of his hometown grew stronger as each year passed by. The final tug home came when the NFL announced that the Cleveland Browns football franchise would be resurrected for the 1999-2000 season. All McGraws and Clevelanders are die-hard Sunday afternoon football fans, and Dan decided to take a leave of absence and cover the Browns' first season. Soon thereafter, Richard was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Dan came home to a press pass and the caretaking chores for a father intent on dying the way he lived, on his own terms. First and Last Seasons is a heart-wrenching work about fathers and sons, the binding influence of community, and how emotionally disconnected men find a common language in sports. It is also a poignantly funny and charming celebration of one man's life and how his sacrifices and mistakes helped his son find the best part of himself. A beautifully written, intensely personal story, this cathartic chronicle of how Dan participated in his father's final season is sure to speak to the millions of fathers and sons who havetrouble finding the voice to express their love for one another.

The world in which we are living now is certainly different from the world of say forty years ago. Life has become so busy for all of us, and as a result, the things we once held dear such as the family, sharing, and caring have become things of the past. Families the world over are going through difficult and challenging times. The divorce rate has never been so high, and many children suffer as a result of broken families and relationships. The pressures of life force many to commit crimes and become involved with the use and misuse of drugs and alcohol and as a result many people find themselves in prisons. Technology has taken over from face-to-face communication and many find it difficult to cope without it. Diseases and other chronic illnesses have been attacking millions of people and many are dying because there is no cure for some. Unfortunately, the world has been experiencing one of if not the worst pandemic ever, and thousands of lives have been snatched away and millions infected, leaving many families in a state of shock and depression. These prayers were written to bring some comfort and assurance to those who are going through the various seasons in their lives and to declare that no matter what the issues are, God is in control of everything. If you are experiencing sickness, separation, being incarcerated, loss of jobs, loss of property, family issues, concerns for children and young people, seeking a companion or for just giving thanks to God for prosperity, this book of prayers is the ideal book for you. I trust that as you read this book of prayers, you will find it a blessing to you and your families and trust that you will pass from simply reading these prayers to praying. It is my hope that through these prayers, you will be led to make prayer a daily part of your lives and that the Lord will receive all the praise and glory.

Dare to expect a new world through the power of prayer. That is the challenge offered by Psalms for All Seasons. John Craghan says that by praying the Psalms, you will discover radical newness in your life as you align your heart with God's will. The psalms are prayers of both praise and lament. They fill us with confidence and consolation. They teach us to be thankful and wise. Psalms for All Seasons explores fifty-five of the most beautiful psalms in the Bible. The author's deft analysis places these ancient prayers squarely in contemporary times. By examining the structure, vocabulary, and themes of the psalms, he engages each example as a stunning prayer for the twenty-first century. This careful revision of the 1993 edition relies on the New American Bible, Revised Edition, and provides solid biblical scholarship to support the use of the Psalms in study and prayer.

Grant Cole, like thousands of other young Americans, was drafted into the U. S. Army early in the Korean War. Grant grew up during the 1930s and 1940s in Los Angeles, California. After school, he entered the machinist trade. Because of this experience, the Army assigned him to the Ordnance Corps. In Korea, he was placed in a maintenance unit in Seoul and remained there for the remainder of his active duty. His view of the war there was very different from one on the front lines. Grant learned that the face of war is always an ugly one.