Being Challenge

Being Challenge is a 40-day study designed to help you grow in your relationship with God. Many people want to be greater followers of Jesus, and they want some handles on the process. It doesn't start with rules-it starts with a relationship. The best way to grow in our relationship with God is to learn from Jesus, the one who had a perfect relationship with Him. Jesus' love and life demonstrate habits that point us to God and transform our lives. Are you ready?

A practical, refreshingly optimistic guide that uses centuries-old wisdom to help us better cope with the stresses of modern living. Some people bounce back in response to setbacks; others break. We often think that these responses are hardwired, but fortunately this is not the case. Stoicism offers us an alternative approach. Plumbing the wisdom of one of the most popular and successful schools of thought from ancient Rome, philosopher William B. Irvine teaches us to turn any challenge on its head. The Stoic Challenge, then, is the ultimate guide to improving your quality of life through tactics developed by ancient Stoics, from Marcus Aurelius and Seneca to Epictetus. This book uniquely combines ancient Stoic insights with techniques discovered by contemporary psychological research, such as anchoring and framing. The result is a surprisingly simple strategy for dealing with life’s unpleasant and unexpected challenges—from minor setbacks like being caught in a traffic jam or having a flight cancelled to major setbacks like those experienced by physicist Stephen Hawking, who slowly lost the ability to move, and writer Jean-Dominique Bauby, who suffered from locked-in syndrome. The Stoics discovered that thinking of challenges as tests of character can dramatically alter our emotional response to them. Irvine’s updated “Stoic test strategy” teaches us how to transform life’s stumbling blocks into opportunities for becoming calmer, tougher, and more resilient. Not only can we overcome everyday obstacles—we can benefit from them, too.

Be forgiven. Be free.Forgiving Challenge is a 40-day journey that will lead you to more freedom than you ever thought possible. Even though the offer of freedom is available to all, many still live in bondage. The key to unlocking your freedom is the forgiveness that Jesus has already won for you. His forgiveness not only assures you of eternal life with Him but offers you an opportunity to live with purpose today. Bring all of your sin, your guilt, and your shame to Jesus and experience this gift of grace in your life. A forgiven person is a forgiving person. So come. Be free.

Out of the many experiences of my own life both personally and in working with large numbers of young people and their families, I have seen the increasing devastating effect that fatherlessness is having in our society. I am a father – to me that is a great privilege and honour – and I have walked out the journey of raising 3 children of my own, and I have also observed the challenges that many men face in being a father. To a large extent it was a combination of those 3 factors/experiences that challenged me to write a book on what I believe is a man’s greatest challenge – that of being a father. In the book I firstly wanted to highlight briefly some of the consequences of fatherlessness in our society. Men need to know that the efforts that they make as fathers are important – they are leaving a legacy in the lives of their children that will impact generations. And they need to know that the challenges that they face as they seek to father their children are not unique. As fathers we are all in the same ‘fight’; we are all walking out a very similar journey and I want to challenge men afresh to rise up and make a difference in their own homes and families and then in society. The majority of the book is designed to pass on the things that I have learnt in my own journey as a father to the next generation of fathers. I firstly present what I believe are some of the fundamental requirements of being an effective father – things such as love and time, and the power of the words that we speak. I then focus on six basic steps or principles that apply to becoming an effective father to your children. These six ‘steps’ are both sequential, and yet they need to be continually applied to the many different areas of life time and time again – you never outgrow them, rather they evolve as you and your children grow and mature. I then look at the importance of dealing with your children as individuals, and encourage men to see things in a long term perspective. Life at times does get messy and take unexpected detours, but with time we get to see the results that we all desire as men in the lives of our children. In all these areas I haven’t sought to give men a ‘how to’ guide or a ‘step by step’ method, rather where possible I have endeavoured to share examples from my own family to help explain the principles and to help men work out how to apply the truths to their own families. The last thing that I touch on is to address some of the main challenges or obstacles that we as men confront as we seek to be an effective father. For each of these areas one could write an entire book on the subject, and the ways in which these obstacles work out in a man’s life are as varied as men themselves. So all that I have done is to raise awareness of these issues and give some broad guidelines to help guide men through them. As fathers we are all in the process of learning and growing. None of us have arrived, but we can all learn from one another and together we can make a positive change in our society for the benefit of the generations to come. Being a father is a man’s greatest challenge, and it is hard work at times but it is worth it all.

Turn any student into a bookworm with a few easy and practical strategies Donalyn Miller says she has yet to meet a child she can’t turn into a reader. No matter how far behind Miller's students might be when they reach her 6th grade classroom, they end up reading an average of 40 to 50 books a year. Miller's unconventional approach dispenses with drills and worksheets that make reading a chore. Instead, she helps students navigate the world of literature and gives them time to read books they pick out themselves. Her love of books and teaching is both infectious and inspiring. In the book, you’ll find: Hands-on strategies for managing and improving your own school library Tactics for helping students walk on their own two feet and continue the reading habit after they’ve finished with your class Data from student surveys and end-of-year feedback that proves how well the Miller Method works The Book Whisperer includes a dynamite list of recommended "kid lit" that helps parents and teachers find the books that students really like to read.

Freud wrote that the greatest problem facing humanity is its destructive urge. There is no one factor that solves the issue. The Challenge of Being Human explores tendencies that make us up and capacities that try to meet them. The shock of ourselves is perennial. We are challenged by our own aliveness and a need to open doors as yet unknown. We are not done evolving, growing, learning, feeling, caring. Growth of capacity to tolerate and work with experience is part of our evolutionary challenge. This book seeks to support us in whatever ways we can begin to meet this challenge.

“Reading this will lead you to a better life.” —Dean Nelson, author of God Hides in Plain Sight In The 100 Thing Challenge Dave Bruno relates how he remade his life and regained his soul by getting rid of almost everything. But The 100 Thing Challenge is more than just the story of how one man started a movement to unhook himself from consumerism by winnowing his life’s possessions down to 100 things in one year. It’s also an inspiring, invigorating guide to how we all can begin to live simpler, more meaningful lives.

The Challenge by Tom Hoyle, bestselling author of Thirteen, is a gripping adventure thriller about an online game gone wrong, perfect for fans of Michael Grant. Ben has been grieving for his best friend, Will, who suddenly disappeared from their tiny village a year ago. But when twins Sam and Jack begin at the school, things start to look up. Cool, good-looking and popular, they draw Ben into their world and introduce him to The Challenge. What first appears to be a fun internet game quickly turns sinister as Ben's tasks become wilder and more dangerous, starting to raise questions over Will's disappearance. But once you're involved with The Challenge, it's very hard to get out . . .