Wrestling With An Angel A Story Of Love Disability And The Lessons Of Grace

"It sounded at first like something out of an old horror movie. I thought maybe someone was just playing around, but then I heard it again and again, a loud piercing cry, and less like Hollywood every time. The windows were down in my police cruiser on that warm fall day, but I still couldn't tell where the sounds came from. I began looking around for the unlikely sight of someone being disemboweled in a mall parking lot on a Saturday afternoon. Seeing nothing, and still hearing the screams, I called in a 'disturbance.' Around the next corner I found the source of the commotion." So begins Greg Lucas' captivating account of life as a husband, a police officer, and Jake's dad. Jake Lucas, the first of four children, lives with severe physical and mental challenges. Caring for him each day is an ordeal few of us can imagine, and this story of Jake's first 17 years is not one you will soon forget. But the remarkable thing is how the whole narrative is saturated with wonder at the grace and goodness of God, who brings hope and promise through his Son into the darkest of circumstances. In this book, we see that Jake's problems are our problems, only bigger, and the challenges of caring for him carry profound lessons about God's care for us. Wrestling with an Angel is about tragedy and laughter and pain and joy. It is about faith and grace and endurance and God's unfailing, loving wisdom daily being worked out in each of our lives, whatever the nature or extent of our difficulties. Here is a book that may explain faith to you in ways you never quite grasped, through a life few of us can relate to. When it is all done, we come away better able to live as Christ calls us to live.

"It sounded at first like something out of an old horror movie. I thought maybe someone was just playing around, but then I heard it again and again, a loud piercing cry, and less like Hollywood every time. The windows were down in my police cruiser on that warm fall day, but I still couldn't tell where the sounds came from. I began looking around for the unlikely sight of someone being disemboweled in a mall parking lot on a Saturday afternoon. Seeing nothing, and still hearing the screams, I called in a 'disturbance.' Around the next corner I found the source of the commotion." So begins Greg Lucas' captivating account of life as a husband, a police officer, and Jake's dad. Jake Lucas, the first of four children, lives with severe physical and mental challenges. Caring for him each day is an ordeal few of us can imagine, and this story of Jake's first 17 years is not one you will soon forget. But the remarkable thing is how the whole narrative is saturated with wonder at the grace and goodness of God, who brings hope and promise through his Son into the darkest of circumstances. In this book, we see that Jake's problems are our problems, only bigger, and the challenges of caring for him carry profound lessons about God's care for us. Wrestling with an Angel is about tragedy and laughter and pain and joy. It is about faith and grace and endurance and God's unfailing, loving wisdom daily being worked out in each of our lives, whatever the nature or extent of our difficulties. Here is a book that may explain faith to you in ways you never quite grasped, through a life few of us can relate to. When it is all done, we come away better able to live as Christ calls us to live.

Moms: Look to the gospel for your rest, joy, sufficiency, and motivation. For far too long mothers have been beaten down by the law of "do better" and "try harder." The burden of "getting it right" threatens to crush weary souls who desire to serve their families faithfully. Christ in the Chaos brings comfort to conflicted hearts that are starved of grace and longing for the freedom in Christ the Bible promises. In this book, Kimm Crandall emphasizes the importance of the gospel and how Christ's life, death, and resurrection change every aspect of motherhood. From finding our identity in Christ and understanding God's grace to taking off the mask of acceptability and dealing with the comparison crud, this book will free you to serve your family knowing that his love for you does not change based on your performance. Christ in the Chaos is a "must read" for every mother who longs for what is seemingly impossible: peace and freedom in the midst of her chaos.

Street-level apologetics for everyday Christians. Because faith in Jesus makes sense. And you don't need an advanced degree to understand why. This book was written for two reasons: First, too many people think believing in Christianity means blind faith, against all evidence, the way a child believes in Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy. Nothing could be further from the truth. Second, every few years a new book intended to undermine Christianity becomes a best seller and shakes the faith of many. Yet the arguments in these books are rarely compelling. Jesus likened faith in God to a house built on a foundation. If built on sand, storms of doubt will tear the house apart. But if we build on a solid foundation, we will stand. In these pages, Joe Coffey inspects our foundation - so we can know why we believe, and so we can speak of our faith to others with greater confidence and clarity. The conclusion? The Christian faith is built on a tremendous amount of credible evidence. You don't need to be a scientist, an historian, an archeologist, or a philosopher to understand why belief in Jesus makes perfect sense. Think of the last time an unbeliever asked you a seemingly unanswerable question as a way of supporting their unbelief. Did you feel thwarted in your attempt to "give an account for the hope that is in you"? Smooth Stones answers six of the toughest of these questions: How do you know God exists? How can you be sure the Bible is authentic and true? If God exists, why is there evil and suffering? Doesn't science disprove the Bible? Aren't all religions the same? How can you be sure the claims of Christ are true? Joe Coffey writes in a style that is clear, winsome, and compelling. Smooth Stones will equip you with answers to some of the toughest apologetics questions a Christian can face. There is plenty of evidence to support the claims of Christianity. Smooth Stones puts much of that evidence at your fingertips and offers practical guidelines for how to unpack it in ways that are "gentle and reverent."

To interpret Scripture rightly, imitate Jesus. The earthly ministry of Jesus was all about rightly interpreting and applying God's Word. We can do the same. No special training required. In fact, right interpretation of Scripture, followed by right application, is the primary way that Christians are to be like God. This is not an issue of education. It's an issue of imitation. The example of Jesus' life shows us how.

Just two words: "But God..." Understand their use in Scripture and you'll never be the same. Whether from the pen of Moses, Paul, or other biblical authors, "But God" appears in various forms hundreds of times in the Bible. To understand these two words as they are used in Scripture is to understand the gospel. This book focuses on nine of the most important appearances of this key phrase, drawing in numerous other passages of Scripture and in the process unfolding the magnificent drama of God's sovereign grace--from his mercy on Noah to our security in a resurrected Savior. James Montgomery Boice wrote, "May I put it quite simply? If you understand those two words--'but God'--they will save your soul. If you recall them daily and live by them, they will transform your life completely." Boice was right. To the left of "But God" in Scripture appear some of the worst human atrocities, characterized by disobedience and rebellion. To the left of "But God" is hopelessness, darkness, and death. But to its right, following "But God," readers of Scripture will find hope, light, and life. Following God's intervention, the story of Scripture becomes one of grace, righteousness, and justice. In fact, this phrase is used to describe God's activity in nearly every great salvation story in the Bible. It is the perfect phrase for highlighting God's grace against the dark backdrop of human sin. "But God" marks God's relentless, merciful interventions in human history. It teaches us that God does not wait for us to bring ourselves to him, but that he acts first to bring about our good. It also teaches us of the potential consequences if God were not to act. Scripture shows over and over that without God's intervening grace, without the "But God" statements in the Bible, the world would be completely lost in sin and under judgment. May the reading of this book, and of the biblical "But God" statements it contains, cause you to understand these two words, recall them regularly, and allow them to transform your understanding of God's grace and thus transform your very life.

When a woman becomes pregnant, miscarriage is usually the furthest thing from her mind. Such was the case for Jessalyn Hutto when she became pregnant with her first baby. But as is all too common in our post-fall world, the life she carried came to an abrupt end. Death had visited her womb, and the horrors of miscarriage had become a part of her life’s story. ••• Ultimately, she would lose two children in the womb, at 6 and 15 weeks gestation. Through these painful losses, a whole new world of suffering opened up to her. It seemed that everywhere she looked women were quietly mourning the loss of their unborn children. Yet this particular type of loss has been grossly overlooked by the church. ••• Couples navigating the unique sorrow of losing a child are often left with little biblical counsel to draw upon. Well-meaning friends and family often offer empty platitudes and Christian clichés. But what these couples truly need is the hope of the gospel. ••• Short, sensitive, and theologically robust, Inheritance of Tears offers hope and comfort to those who are called to walk through the painful trial of miscarriage, and shows pastors and church members how to effectively minister to these parents in their time of need.

A book to nurture practical faith in people who are directly or indirectly affected by disability. In disability, the heart of man becomes tethered to pain, thereby providing an unusual opportunity for God’s grace to be magnified and faith is trained to be dependent upon the Lord. In this book, written with compassion and sensitivity, Paul Tautges, with Joni Eareckson Tada, draws upon key biblical principles to nurture faith. Includes a Study & Discussion Guide.