Up The Mountain

Mrs. Badger, an avid collector and naturalist, takes a weekly journey up to Sugarloaf Peak, greeting her friends on the way and sharing her discoveries with them. One day she meets Lulu, a very small cat, who wants to go with her to the top of the mountain. On the way, Lulu learns to take care of the natural world, help those in need, and listen to her intuition. Rich in wisdom and beautifully illustrated, Up the Mountain Path offers a profound story full of lessons about love, generosity, and following one's heart.

In the tradition of A Civil Action—this true story of a North Carolina outdoorsman who teams up with his Appalachian neighbors to save treasured land from being destroyed will “make you want to head for the mountains” (Raleigh News & Observer). LIVING ALONE IN HIS WOODED MOUNTAIN RETREAT, Jay Leutze gets a call from a whip-smart fourteen-year-old, Ashley Cook, and her aunt, Ollie Cox, who say a local mining company is intent on tearing down Belview Mountain, the towering peak above their house. Ashley and her family, who live in a little spot known locally as Dog Town, are “mountain people,” with a way of life and speech unique to their home high in the Appalachians. They suspect the mining company is violating North Carolina’s mining law, and they want Jay, a nonpracticing attorney, to stop the destruction of the mountain. Jay, a devoted naturalist and fisherman, quickly decides to join their cause. So begins the epic quest of “the Dog Town Bunch,” a battle that involves fiery public hearings, clandestine surveillance of the mine operator’s highly questionable activities, ferocious pressure on public officials, and high-stakes legal brinksmanship in the North Carolina court system. Jay helps assemble a talented group of environmental lawyers to contend with the well-funded attorneys protecting the mining company’s plan to dynamite Belview Mountain, which happens to sit next to the famous Appalachian Trail, the 2,184- mile national park that stretches from Maine to Georgia. As the mining company continues to level the forest and erect the gigantic crushing plant on the site, Jay’s group searches frantically for a way to stop an act of environmental desecration that will destroy a fragile wild place and mar the Appalachian Trail forever.

Caplan (TO TOUCH IS TO LIVE) asserts that "the reality of the present condition of contemporary spirituality in the West is one of grave distortion, confusion, fraud, and a fundamental lack of education." She claims that, as positive as the tremendous rise in spirituality is, there is not any context for determining whether any particular teaching, or teacher, is truly enlightening. Caplan compiles interviews with such noted spiritual masters as Joan Halifax, Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee and Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi on the nature of enlightenment. In the first section, Caplan examines the motivations people have for seeking enlightenment and contends that very often they seek this state as a means of gratifying the ego. This "presumption of enlightenment," she says, often afflicts teachers masquerading as spiritual leaders. These teachers sometimes look down on their students and gloat over how far they have come and how far the students have to go. A second section focuses on "The Dangers of Mystical Experience," in which Caplan claims that many seekers mistake the mystical experience itself for enlightenment; she and the teachers she interviews all assert that enlightenment always involves gaining some knowledge about self and others. The third section, "Corruption and Consequence," focuses on the nature of power and corruption; the fourth section, "Navigating the Mine Field: Preventing Dangers on the Path," provides a survey of the ways in which practitioners can avoid the "pitfalls of false enlightenment." A final section, "Disillusionment, Humility and the Beginning of Spiritual Life," concludes that "the Real spiritual life [is] the life of total annihilation and the return to just what is." Caplan's illuminating book calls into question the motives of the spiritual snake handlers of the modern age and urges seekers to pay the price of traveling the hard road to true enlightenment.

Recently a top Christian leader wrote an article entitled: America is in Crisis: “What do we do?” This theme was very interesting to me thus I read it with great expectations, but was sorry to hear once again that the apparent answer to the question was to return to the old methods that we have been using in the past. The world is changing and there are myriads of new possible methods and tools that can be used in the proclamation of the Gospel. We need to seek new answers to the question of “What do we do?” The title of this book shows both the success of the past but also give us new challenges for the future. Our goal is to complete the great Commission of Jesus Christ and that is to “Make disciples of all nations”. We have had much success in that at the present time we can say that approximately one third of the world claims some adherence to the Christian Faith. But the job is not yet completed. We are only half way there. In climbing a mountain the start is easy and exciting. We look at the beautiful peaks and can imagine what it will be like when we reach the top of the mountain. Once we have reached the peak, we have an unspeakable joy as to our accomplishments. It is only when we are halfway up the mountain that real discouragement sets in. When we are half way towards our ultimate goal we need to get ready for the more difficult part of the task. We have accomplished much but still much needs to be done. There are twelve authors who have contributed to this book. All are experts in one of the ten mountains of culture. The writers of this book are suggesting how we can look at the ten mountains of culture and discover new and creative ways of making the Gospel known to all peoples. This book is intended to both inform the reader of the present situation and to challenge them to think on what we can accomplish when we apply mega thinking to our present satiation. Authors: Jenny Clark · Alan Cross · Timothy Goropevek · Thomas K. Johnson · John Langlois · David McAlvany · Mary-Catherine McAlvany · Timo Plutschinski · Charles Reynolds · Hans-Günter Schmidts · Walker Tzeng · Mark Wagner · William Wagner

What does it take to be one of the world's best high-altitude mountain climbers? A lot of fundraising; traveling in some of the world's most dangerous countries; enduring cold bivouacs, searing lungs, and a cloudy mind when you can least afford one. It means learning the hard lessons the mountains teach. Steve House built his reputation on ascents throughout the Alps, Canada, Alaska, the Karakoram and the Himalaya that have expanded possibilities of style, speed, and difficulty. In 2005 Steve and alpinist Vince Anderson pioneered a direct new route on the Rupal Face of 26,600-foot Nanga Parbat, which had never before been climbed in alpine style. It was the third ascent of the face and the achievement earned Steveand Vince the first Piolet d"or (Golden Ice Axe) awarded to North Americans. Steve is an accomplished and spellbinding storyteller in the tradition of Maurice Herzog and Lionel Terray. Beyond the Mountain is a gripping read destined to be a mountain classic. And it

Life is good, Joyce says. Some days, I dont feel like jumping ditches, but we can always praise our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, for all he has done. Amen!

Middlehood women share insights, stories, wisdom, and creative ideas for navigating this rich time of change with courage, laughter, and love.

ÿJohn Furniss and his friends took every opportunity to escape from their work and studies and go climbing together, first in England, Wales and Scotland and later tackling the more challenging peaks of the Austrian and German Alps. Adding the vertical metres together, they scaled more than 13 times the height of Mount Everest.