[This post is part of a conversation on focal practices from the new book Living Into Focus by Arthur Boers, now featured at the Patheos Book Club.] I find life when I go to the local park and I’m not the only one. All kinds of focal practices happen there. Whenever I show up, I find a steady stream of people in this small and relatively unknown conservation area on the edge of our big city. Some faces grow familiar. There’s... Read more

In her new book, More Than Enchanting: Breaking Through Barriers to Influence Your World, Jo Saxton invites women to discover (or rediscover) the gifts and talents that God has given them, and more important, the calling on each of us to claim those gifts on behalf of God’s work in the world, wherever they are. We caught up with Jo this week to learn more about her motivation for writing this book, who she hopes it will influence, and the... Read more

[This post is part of a conversation on focal practices from the new book Living Into Focus by Arthur Boers, now featured at the Patheos Book Club.] In my mid-fifties now, I have many good memories. One thing I notice about those recollections is that although there are extraordinary events – the birth of our children, exotic travel – meals are consistently my happiest memories. And while the food was important on those occasions, the presence of people was most significant.... Read more

[This post is part of a conversation on focal practices featured at the Patheos Book Club on the new book Living Into Focus by Arthur Boers.] “You walked in this weather?” people often ask me, as if walking is only pleasurable in a congenial climate. Will Ferguson a Canadian humorist once walked 500 miles in Ireland and when he grew frustrated with the perpetual precipitation, he was often told: “There is no bad weather, only inappropriate clothing.” Or, as I... Read more

Arthur Boers’ Living into Focus (now featured at the Patheos Book Club) is a delightful invitation to personal transformation.  Boers recognizes the spiritual challenges of twenty-first century living and suggests a variety of ways to experience greater meaning, peace of mind, and personal depth.  Now, I am someone who works hard and prays hard – I also play hard at times!  I meditate nearly an hour a day, walk three to six miles a day, keep a prayer list, and practice... Read more

[This post is part of a roundtable conversation on the new book @stickyJesus, now featured at the Patheos Book Club.] In @stickyJesus, authors Toni Birdsong and Tami Heim counsel us to use the internet in a Christ-like way.  They ask Christians using the internet and social media to reflect on the following questions: Does our use of social media glorify God and encourage others?  Does our use of social media reflect our faith and values as Christians?  I couldn’t agree... Read more

By Deacon Jim Russell, Archdiocese of St. Louis, Missouri I have just finished Christopher West’s At the Heart of the Gospel, and, like my Archbishop mentions in his endorsement of the work at the front of the book, I believe the “desert” experience of West’s sabbatical has left him poised to continue blazing the trail, ever onward and upward, on the “holy mountain” that is John Paul II’s “Theology of the Body.” I would strongly urge any past critics of... Read more

By Rachel Stone, blogger at Eat With Joy! Anyone who has spent much (or even little) time online knows that people can be tremendously mean on the Interwebz, and that there’s a lot of trash in them there Clouds. At the same time, though, the Internet can connect us to other people–whether that’s to people we know from “real life” or people we’ve ‘met’ virtually–and that can be a tremendous source of encouragement. I value greatly some of the friends... Read more

[This post is sponsored by the new book @stickyJesus, by Toni Birdsong and Tami Heim, now featured at the Patheos Book Club.] Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. ~John 14:12 We are God’s beloved. We are heaven’s people; the blood-bought, Calvary claimed sons and daughters of the Most High King. We are the... Read more

"Being Different" is a classic and it is bound to cause a great stir and debate in inter-religious discussions. Read more