In the modern world of high technology and advanced medicine, people are living longer and healthier lives. “Middle age” has taken a leap ten years further down the road until reaching signs that indicate the beginning of the second half of life. In his book Teach Us to Number Our Days, David Roper shows you why and how this season of your life can truly be the best. Offering biblical wisdom and reassurance for you as you mature, Roper invites you to travel with him on his own “journey to maturity.” Calling you to both frank self-reckoning and joy, Roper presents an uplifting look at the possibilities that lie ahead. “So enjoy!” he says. “Enjoy your journey to maturity as you gain perspective on the past and hope for the future. Make the most of every moment of your life.”

In Painting the Psalms, artist Cherie Burbach shares original, mixed-media paintings that contain a positive, faith-filled message. Each painting contains inspiration from the Psalms in some way, through the imagery, words, or emotion contained within the verses. Cherie uses a variety of mediums and techniques to create art that is filled with depth and whimsy. It is her hope that this book will inspire you to look at the Psalms in a new way so you can celebrate your faith and believe in the message. Some of the paintings were created during Cherie’s popular “Painting the Psalms” series of ecourses, where she demonstrates step-by-step progress from start to finish, including all the small details that make mixed media paintings come alive with texture and color.

‘So Teach Us To Number Our Days’ grew from hearing of the increase in child and teenage suicides resulting from depression and, in particular, bullying. It can take many forms like stalking and harassment or verbal slander and physical assault. And, while it is not a new form of cruelty, bullying is worse for being so easy and far-reaching through anonymity over the internet. Written here is a depiction of the rippling effect of the pain and destruction from being bullied; linked in time with generations beginning with a young girl in a small town. Rachel loses her only protection from her tormentor when her brother goes off to war and is no longer there to watch over and defend his sister. Rachel’s life and future are stuck in time until, in her old age, she encounters and reaches out to a young boy sleeping in the woods in terrible need of help. Interlaced with their unfolding story are Bible Proverbs and other wisdoms which represent the revival of the faith her mother gave her. Rachel had been a journal-keeper, but her hidden books don’t turn up until the boy she loved and protected has grown up with a family of his own, that he includes her in, and she becomes the children’s ‘GiGi.’ Liam inherits Rachel’s secret-filled nineteenth-century home, unchanged since GiGi’s childhood, and he opens up the mystery of the reclusive woman who had saved him, discovering in the process he had also saved her from her lonely isolation. Through Rachel’s journals, and Liam’s own memories of his childhood, an old unsolved murder of a young bully comes to light, as well as an answer for the mysterious disappearance of Liam’s own mother. Young bullies grown up are apt to be bullies yet, just made more dangerous by the protection of social and political status. In this fictional story, the young bully is given a short life, murdered by someone unknown about two generations earlier. But the same bloodline produces another just as bad who becomes a cowardly assassin who, when justice happens, will live a long life—behind bars. There are many mysteries, twists, turns, and even a skeleton with no identity turning up in this tale that will keep readers engaged. Read, ponder, and then find a way to take a personal stand against bullying—being a Rachel, a Gabriel or an old Alan Ortonson!

Includes historical explanations of various Christian symbols, full-sized patterns, and detailed step-by-step instructions on how to create your own calendar out of a variety of materials.