The Three Hardest Words

Three simple words–“I love you”–capture the heart of Jesus’ life and ministry. These three words form the bottom line and top drawer of all his teachings. And they remain the three hardest words in the world to get right. Two pronouns and a verb have never been so difficult to grasp, much less to practice. Popular culture has ruined love’s reputation by redefining it first as romance, and then as lust. But it’s not just the meaning of the word love that causes so much confusion. To fully understand love, we also need to find out who we are in God’s eyes and whom we are commanded to love. Following Jesus can be described as the daily practice of all three words: I. Love. You. There is nothing more rewarding, and nothing more risky. Join Leonard Sweet in this eye-opening, life-altering exploration of three simple, one-syllable words. After all, the lifestyle of love is the only life that Jesus calls you to live. There is nothing more challenging than adopting the three-word lifestyle of Jesus as your own. Perhaps you have wondered why love seems to work for everyone else, but not for you. Or maybe you’ve done your best to love those around you, but it seems that life has drained your last drop of trust and affection. Nothing is better than love when it’s right; and nothing is more destructive than attempts at love that fail to follow the Jesus prescription for a healthy life. Jesus devoted his earthly life to saying these three words–I love you–and teaching us how to say them. As Jesus defined love, it takes everything you’ve got…and then even more, which only God can give. The lifestyle of love is not something you can master on your own, but Jesus is ready to show you how. Starting today, you can learn to live “I love you”–the three hardest words in the world to get right. Leonard Sweet, PhD, serves as the E. Stanley Jones Professor of Evangelism at Drew Theological School in Madison, New Jersey. He is also a Distinguished Visiting Professor at George Fox University in Newberg, Oregon, and founder and president of SpiritVenture Ministries. He has written many books, including Out of the Question…Into the Mystery and the trilogy SoulTsunami, AquaChurch, and SoulSalsa.

Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner single-handedly showed the world that applying counter-intuitive approaches to everyday problems can bear surprising results. Think Like a Freak will take readers further inside this special thought process, revealing a new way of approaching the decisions we make, the plans we create and the morals we choose. It answers the question on the lips of everyone who’s read the previous books: How can I apply these ideas to my life? How do I make smarter, harder and better decisions? How can I truly think like a freak? With short, highly entertaining insights running the gamut from “The Upside of Quitting” to “How to Succeed with No Talent,” Think Like a Freak is poised to radically alter the way we think about all aspects of life on this planet.

This popular text, now in its Fourth Edition, introduces pre-service and in-service teachers to the most current theories and methods for teaching literacy to children in elementary schools. The methods presented are based on scientific findings that have been tested in many classrooms. A wealth of examples, hands-on activities, and classroom vignettes--including lesson plans, assessments, lists of children's literature books to fiction and nonfiction texts, and more--illustrate the methods and bring them to life.The text highlights the importance of teaching EVERY child to become competent in all of the nuances and complexities of reading, writing, and speaking. The value of reflection and peer discussion in learning to expand their students' literacies is emphasized. Readers are encouraged to reflect on their own experiences with reading and teaching throughout their lifetimes--experiences that will serve well in learning to teach reading. "Your Turn" boxes invite readers to think about their views of the material presented, and to talk with colleagues and teachers about their "best ways" of learning this new information. "Did You Notice?" boxes engage readers in observation and analysis of methods and classroom situations discussed in the text. Teachers' stories serve as models of successful teaching and to draw readers into professional dialogue about the ideas and questions raised. End-of-chapter questions and activities provide additional opportunities for reflection and discussion. All of these pedagogical features help readers expand and refine their knowledge in the most positive ways. Topics covered in Teaching Reading to Every Child, Fourth Edition: *Getting to Know Your Students as Literacy Learners; *Looking Inside Classrooms: Organizing Instruction; *Assessing Reading Achievement; *The Importance of Oral Language in Developing Literacy; *Word Identification Strategies: Pathways to Comprehension; *Vocabulary Development; *Comprehension Instruction: Strategies At Work; *Content Area Learning; *What the Teacher Needs to Know to Enable Students' Text Comprehension; *Writing: Teaching Students to Encode and Compose; *Discovering the World Through Literature; *Technology and Media in Reading; *Teaching Reading to Students Who Are Learning English; *All Students are Special: Some Need Supplemental Supports and Services to Be Successful; and *Historical Perspectives on Reading and Reading Instruction. New in the Fourth Edition: *A new chapter on technology with state-of-the-art applications; *A new chapter with the most up-to-date information on how vocabulary is learned and on how it is best taught, responding to the national renewed interest in vocabulary instruction; *A new section on Readers/Writer's workshop with a focus on supporting student inquiry and exploration of multiple genres; *A more comprehensive chapter on literature instruction and the role of literature in the reading program with examples that support students' multigenre responses; *A discussion of literary theories with examples for classroom implementation; *Broader coverage of the phases of reading development from the pre-alphabetic stage to the full alphabetic stage; *A more inclusive chapter on writing instruction; and *A thoroughly revised chapter on teaching reading to students who are learning English, including extensive information on assessment and evaluation.

Leonard Sweet shows you how the passion that Starbucks® has for creating an irresistible experience can connect you with God’s stirring introduction to the experience of faith in The Gospel According to Starbucks. You don’t stand in line at Starbucks® just to buy a cup of coffee. You stop for the experience surrounding the cup of coffee. Too many of us line up for God out of duty or guilt. We completely miss the warmth and richness of the experience of living with God. If we’d learn to see what God is doing on earth, we could participate fully in the irresistible life that he offers. You can learn to pay attention like never before, to identify where God is already in business right in your neighborhood. The doors are open and the coffee is brewing. God is serving the refreshing antidote to the unsatisfying, arms-length spiritual life–and he won’t even make you stand in line.

The gospel is nothing without relationship. And no one gets it like the Google Generation. God came to earth to invite us, personally, into a relationship. And while Christians at times downplay relationships, the social-media generation is completely sold on the idea. In Viral, Leonard Sweet says Christians need to learn about connecting with others from the experts—those who can’t seem to stop texting, IM-ing, tweeting, and updating their Facebook statuses. What would happen, he asks, if Christians devoted less attention to strategies and statistics and paid more attention to pursuing relationships? The current generation is driven by a God-given desire to know others and to be known by others. Most of them, in seeking to connect in meaningful ways, have found a place of belonging that is outside the organized church. Why not bring the two together? Those who are sold out to relationships can teach Christians how to be better friends to people who need God. At the same time, members of the social-media generation can learn how to follow their desire for belonging, straight into the arms of God. It’s time for relationship to be restored to the heart of the gospel. And when that happens, can revival be far behind? End-of-Chapter Interactives Included

​What is a bumbershoot? Or a moonbow? And what does it mean when someone absquatulates...? Find out all this and more in The Dictionary of Difficult Words. Test your knowledge with more than 400 words to amaze, confuse, and inspire budding wordsmiths (and adults). All of the words featured in this book are difficult to spell, hard to say, and their meanings are obscure to most children (and most adults)! Written with simple, easy-to-understand definitions by lexicographer Jane Solomon, this dictionary celebrates the beauty of the English language for family trivia time spent around the printed page.

Filled with enjoyable spelling activities and exercises The fun and easy way? to help your K-5th grader become an A+ speller If you want to make spelling easier for your child or boost spelling skills and confidence, you've come to the right place. Veteran reading specialist Tracey Wood gives you tips, games, exercises, word lists, and memory aids to help your child build solid spelling know-how. Her techniques are fun, fast, and effective, and best of all, they're not boring! Discover how to * Mix spelling practice with reading and writing * Spell short and long vowel words * Make spelling easier with word families * Gain insight into "sight" words * Break spelling into syllable chunks