I Heard Good News Today

True stories to grow your faith!

These lessons help children thank, worship, and pray to God; learn about and begin to follow Jesus; decide to share and be kind; and tell what is special about Jesus. A 52-Week Bible Journey–Just for Kids!Route 52™ is a Bible-based journey that will take kids through the Bible every year from age 4 to 6. Every lesson features: Scripturally sound themes Culturally relevant, hands-on activities Age-appropriate Bible-learning challenges Reproducible life-application activity pages Route 52™ Bible lessons will help kids learn the Bible and how to apply it to their lives at their own level of spiritual development. These reproducible Bible lessons are appropriate for Bible school, children's church, youth group, kids club, and midweek Bible study programs.

In concluding his three volume series of reflections on the Sunday Gospels, Father Dowling throws light in a special way on the nuances to be found in the Gospel of Luke, which plays such a predominant role in Cycle C of the liturgical readings. Ever gender-conscious in his presentation of the teachings of Jesus, Luke made a special effort to follow a lesson in which a man was the protagonist with another in which a woman took the lead. Struck by Our Lord's predilection for the poor, the out-cast, the sick and the sinner, Luke highlights the kindness, the compassion, the empathy and the forgiving nature of Jesus. Drawing on his years of study and long experience as a homilist in a variety of settings, Father Dowling educates and inspires with these brief yet profound reflections in the hope of enriching the spiritual lives of those who make use of them. Homilist and average parishioners will find much to ponder here. All will appreciate the addition of the topical, liturgical and scriptural indices to his three-volume series present in this third book.

Instead of being a dour task on the checklist, what if the process of homily prep renewed you? Instead of feeling insecure about your message, what if your skills made you confident to preach a consistently clear message of Good News, authentic to you, relevant to your listeners, holding their attention and inviting transformation? Backstory Preaching: Integrating Life, Spirituality, and Craft shows you how. By integrating your life and spirituality with the practical skills necessary for effective preaching, you can move beyond the boredom, stress, or insecurity of preaching so it is no longer you who preach but Christ who preaches in you. By connecting with God in the midst of your sermon prep, the Gospel will be spread deeper and further. God’s joy—and yours—will be made complete.

From the New York Times bestselling author Kristin Hannah comes a powerful novel of love, loss, and the magic of friendship. . . . now a #1 Netflix series! In the turbulent summer of 1974, Kate Mularkey has accepted her place at the bottom of the eighth-grade social food chain. Then, to her amazement, the "coolest girl in the world" moves in across the street and wants to be her friend. Tully Hart seems to have it all---beauty, brains, ambition. On the surface they are as opposite as two people can be: Kate, doomed to be forever uncool, with a loving family who mortifies her at every turn. Tully, steeped in glamour and mystery, but with a secret that is destroying her. They make a pact to be best friends forever; by summer's end they've become TullyandKate. Inseparable. So begins Kristin Hannah's magnificent new novel. Spanning more than three decades and playing out across the ever-changing face of the Pacific Northwest, Firefly Lane is the poignant, powerful story of two women and the friendship that becomes the bulkhead of their lives. From the beginning, Tully is desperate to prove her worth to the world. Abandoned by her mother at an early age, she longs to be loved unconditionally. In the glittering, big-hair era of the eighties, she looks to men to fill the void in her soul. But in the buttoned-down nineties, it is television news that captivates her. She will follow her own blind ambition to New York and around the globe, finding fame and success . . . and loneliness. Kate knows early on that her life will be nothing special. Throughout college, she pretends to be driven by a need for success, but all she really wants is to fall in love and have children and live an ordinary life. In her own quiet way, Kate is as driven as Tully. What she doesn't know is how being a wife and mother will change her . . . how she'll lose sight of who she once was, and what she once wanted. And how much she'll envy her famous best friend. . . . For thirty years, Tully and Kate buoy each other through life, weathering the storms of friendship---jealousy, anger, hurt, resentment. They think they've survived it all until a single act of betrayal tears them apart . . . and puts their courage and friendship to the ultimate test. Firefly Lane is for anyone who ever drank Boone's Farm apple wine while listening to Abba or Fleetwood Mac. More than a coming-of-age novel, it's the story of a generation of women who were both blessed and cursed by choices. It's about promises and secrets and betrayals. And ultimately, about the one person who really, truly knows you---and knows what has the power to hurt you . . . and heal you. Firefly Lane is a story you'll never forget . . . one you'll want to pass on to your best friend.

These lessons help young children explore the world God made and thank him for his care, talk about who Jesus is and how to be his helper, and learn to pray to God. A 52-Week Bible Journey–Just for Kids!Route 52™ is a Bible-based journey that will take kids through the Bible every year for ages 3-4. Every lesson features: Scripturally sound themes Culturally relevant, hands-on activities Age-appropriate Bible-learning challenges Reproducible life-application activity pages Route 52™ Bible lessons will help kids learn the Bible and how to apply it to their lives at their own level of spiritual development. These reproducible Bible lessons are appropriate for Bible school, children's church, youth group, kids club, and midweek Bible study programs.