Find Out What’s So Funny When Nothing’s Funny Sometimes life just stinks—people disappoint, bad things happen, and hardship comes. Laughing Matters is a collection of stories that shows the difference between those who resign and those who rejoice when reality bites. Readers will be encouraged to choose joy, to find hope, and to discover the abundant life Christ offers all who follow Him. Author and humorist Phil Callaway—once described as “Dave Barry with a message”—employs his revealing and hilarious style to remind readers that, “it’s always darkest just before the fridge door opens.” Do you resign or rejoice when reality bites? Sometimes life just stinks. People disappoint. Bad things happen. Hardship comes in double helpings. The last thing you want to do is laugh. So let hilarious humorist Phil Callaway show you—as only he can—that some of the darkest times are those just before the fridge door opens. *** ** *** ** “Everything Phil Callaway writes is full of life because he’s discovered a fabulous secret: The joy of Christ doesn’t go away, even when life is a mess.” Luis Palau, President of the Luis Palau Evangelistic Association “Phil really knows how to get in touch with his spiritual funny bone.” Janette Oke, Bestselling author “One page into this book and I’m quaking with laughter. Callaway has the uncanny ability to uncover the funny in any situation and report it with inspirational wit.” Paul L. Maier, Coauthor of The DaVinci Code: Fact or Fiction? “This book is an excellent source of encouragement for anyone in the midst of a crisis who may be asking God that hardest question of all: ‘Why?’” Martha Bolton, Author of Cooking with Hot Flashes and Didn’t My Skin Used to Fit? Story Behind the Book Phil Callaway wrote this book after a five-year journey he and his wife embarked upon when she began having seizures. He discovered that when life throws you curve balls, juices lemons in your eyes, scrunches you in a knuckle sandwich…the last thing you want to do is laugh. And at the moment we realize that life can just plain stink, “this book helps us know where to go from that point,” he says. Celebrities like Dave Dravecky, Barbara Johnson, Gloria Gaither, and Joni Eareckson Tada have endorsed Callaway’s positive approach to trials. “Everything Phil Callaway writes is full of life because he’s discovered a fabulous secret: The joy of Christ doesn’t go away, even when life is a mess,” says evangelist Luis Palau.

Tamblyn offers an enlightening and practical look at how teachers and training professionals can inject elements of entertainment, creativity, humor, and emotion into their existing methods, even when dealing with serious or technical topics. Filled with fun, challenging, and thought-provoking exercises, the book also provides dozens of workshop activities and techniques.

A practical guide to using laughter and humour as a thinking skill to feel better and communicate more effectively. This book will explain simple techniques that will improve the reader's ability to gain a more positive perspective in difficult situations and increase their happiness through adopting the techniques from the Laughology model.The key subjects covered are What is laughter;What is humour; The psychological connection;

This is a book about Alzheimer’s that is funny, positive and heartfelt. The author Marlene Loney documented the twelve year journey with her mother in short stories and ultimately reframed the tragedy of Alzheimer’s into a positive life changing experience. Flip to any page and find a short story that is applicable to the journey. Offering readers insights, encouragement and community along with the unexpected benefits of giving care. This book celebrates the life of her mother and shares what the disease taught her about her capacity to love.

Those of all religious persuasions and of none can appreciate the issues of human meaning and identity the book raises. Highly recommended." --Library Journal * This is not just another cancer journal or first-person survivor account. At equal turns poetic and profound, John McFarland offers hope and honesty, practicality and spirituality, calm and understanding, along with a heightened appreciation of life's meaning and purpose. The Centers for Disease Control reports that more than 20 million people in the United States are currently diagnosed with cancer, and 1.4 million people will be diagnosed in the coming year. At some point in their lives, virtually everyone is touched by this disease, and every patient, survivor, family member, and friend will find hope, strength, and comfort in Now That I Have Cancer, I Am Whole. Throughout this moving account, survivor John McFarland shares his Everyman approach to everyday life with cancer in brief meditations full of unflinching honesty, humor, and optimism. This revised edition also shares McFarland's continued relationship with cancer, seeing it through his eyes as a grandfather to one-year-old Joey, who struggles to fight a rare and ravaging form of the disease.

This volume offers a systematic review of the literature on communication education and instruction. Making meta-analysis findings accessible and relevant, the editors of this volume approach the topic from the perspective that meta-analysis serves as a useful tool for summarizing experiments and for determining how and why specific teaching and learning experiences have positive student outcomes. The topics covered here are meaningful and relevant to classroom practice, and each chapter offers a summary of existing quantitative social science research using meta-analysis. With contributions from experienced researchers throughout the communication discipline, this work provides a unique analysis of research in instructional communication. Taken together, the chapters in this volume enhance understanding of behaviors, practices, and processes that promote positive student outcomes. This book is a must-read for scholars, graduate students, and researchers in communication education, and will also be of interest to scholars and researchers in education.