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The Psalmist insists that God is always there beside us. If we really believe that, shouldn't we keep an eye out for God? Search the grimy corners as well as the flowery meadows? Scan the aisles of Walmart and the soccer field, the cubicle and the laundry room?

Polarizing debates are raging over queer lives in churches and the public square. But what if we were able to start the conversation over? Imagine the entire dialogue about LGBTQ lives and Christian faith had its start in your living room or your own local congregation. If you could ask the first question, what would it be? While there is no starting over, this book is about imagining new pathways into old conversations. It is an invitation to question the terms of our typical debates over sexuality and faith. Less concerned with answering questions, it aims to cultivate our imagination for asking new questions. And new questions about queer lives and Christian faith couldn't come at a more appropriate time.

It is almost guaranteed. Most of us know someone who is struggling with the disease of addiction. Friends and family members who find themselves journeying with an addict are on a difficult path. No one is immune. Even pastors. It was during Jim Dant's fifteen-year tenure as pastor of Highland Hills Baptist Church in Macon, Georgia that one of his children fell prey to the disease of addiction. Jim came face to face with his pastoral, parental, and human limitations. As his child began a struggle for sobriety, this father began a struggle for serenity. Both began 12 Step Programs, and three years into his child's recovery, Jim found the strength to share his gleanings in the form of a series of sermons preached to his congregation, and included in this book. Within and between every line of the sermons are the experience, strength and hope that Jim found in his journey through the valley of the shadow of addiction. May they bring the same to you as you make your journey. Jim Dant is the married father of three grown daughters. After serving as a pastor for almost thirty years, in February 2012 he began working as a partner at Faithlab writing, leading retreats and conferences, and providing spiritual direction for individuals. In his leisure, he enjoys music, dabbling in Hebrew, playing Texas Hold 'em poker and training for triathlons.

This life will eventually carry us through a wilderness, a period of life epitomized by hardships, suffering, wandering, and grief. The wilderness can also be a time to withdraw from the world, to give up something of significance in order to think, pray, read, and gain spiritual insight on life. Finding Our Way Through the Wilderness is designed to help those who are in a wilderness by no choice of their own and those who choose to enter the wilderness to prepare spiritually for the arrival of Easter or the next part of their journey. Readers will emerge from the wilderness stronger, healthier, wiser, and better equipped to continue on their way.

For those who want something deeper than the commercialized trappings of the Advent season, Finding Our Way with the Magi gives readers a daily opportunity to be spiritually challenged, encouraged, inspired, and confronted with Jesus' admonitions to live out our faith in an increasingly secular world. Seamless shifts are made from common, sometimes humorous life stories to biblical truths that all of us need to apply to our daily lives. Creative "Advent Actions" appear at the end of each day's reading to give concrete, practical suggestions for putting that day's focus into practice during Advent. Guided prayers help readers begin a conversation with God based on the reading for the day. Michael Helms clears away the layers of wrappings, ribbons, and assorted commercial glitz so that once again we can gaze upon the Christ Child. These delightful, often touching reflections usher us gracefully through the Advent season. -Dr. Jim Barnette Professor, Samford University With the narrative grace of a gifted pastor, Michael Helms offers meaningful devotional engagement along with thoughtful direction for actually living through the Advent season with purpose and intention. -Rev. Dr. Amy Butler Senior Pastor, Calvary Baptist Church Washington, DC Michael Helms' Finding Our Way with the Magi is a Christ-centered GPS that will navigate your family through the Advent season with a gentleness and grace that foster the peace and hope so often absent in the daily bustle of life. -Dr. Bruce Gourley Executive Director, Baptist History & Heritage Society Dr. Michael Helms is the senior pastor of the First Baptist Church of Jefferson, Georgia, and the author of numerous books, including Finding Our Way: An Introspective Journey Through the Labyrinth of Life, Hoping Liberia: Stories of Civil War from Africa's First Republic, and Finding Our Way Through the Wilderness-A Journey for Lent and Other Days of Spiritual Reflection and Prayer.