Based on the true story of a man who was slave to meth for twenty years, lived the violent lifestyle of a body guard for drug dealers, and served as yard captain for the Aryan Brotherhood while in prison. As a junior in high school, he tried meth for the first time and was instantly hooked on a substance that turned a loveable, hardworking athlete into a monster. Like the prodigal son who wound up in the pig pen, he found himself on the garbage heap of society before crying out to God. The Monster and the Miracle is the gripping story of a man trapped in drug addiction. His story demonstrates the possibility of escape from meth's enslavement through the power of Jesus Christ and shows the extravagant love God has for a hopeless sinner.

For twenty years, Slade Smith was slave to meth, living the violent lifestyle of a body guard for drug dealers and serving as yard captain for the Aryan Brotherhood while in prison. As a junior in high school, he tried meth for the first time and was instantly hooked on a substance that turned a lovable, hardworking athlete into a monster. Like the prodigal son who wound up in the pig pen, Slade found himself on the garbage heap of society before crying out to God.

Although it's probably the most important job many people will have, most of us enter parenthood seriously unprepared. Regardless of how much we believe we know, we raise our children pretty much by what feels like instinct, doing what our parents did or what we wish they had done. When a child veers off course, our parenting approach has to change. In her book From Monsters to Miracles: Parent-Driven Recovery Tools that Work author Anette Edens, PhD, shares her experience as a parent and psychologist helping families with children who have addictions. From Monsters to Miracles: Parent-Driven Recovery Tools that Work is a must-read for parents of substance-abusing teens. You'll learn how to maneuver through the chaos to create a harmonious family life. Even if your teen is not ready or willing to change, there is help and hope.

Michel de Montaigne begins his magisterial The Essais by telling his readers that he, himself, is the matter of his book. He says that he has written himself so that after death he could remain in the world with chose who knew and loved him. Montaigne's intimate project, meant to be read by friends, has emerged as one of the most surprising and compelling accounts of the human condition ever written. Although Montaigne famously retired from public life to write, neither his concerns nor the activities recounted in The Essais is purely private. Montaigne is engaged in his world as a philosopher, but also as a citizen, gentleman, and friend; so, his wisdom turns outward as well as inward. This volume of essays, based on papers presented at The A.V. Elliott Conference for Great Books and Ideas sponsored by Mercer University's McDonald Center for America's Founding Principles, focuses on the outward oriented political philosophy of Montaigne, which is informed by his probing introspection and thoroughly unsentimental self-observation. Contributors include Ann Hartle, Daniel Cullen, Christine Henderson, Eduardo Velasquez, Kevin Honeycutt, and Christopher Edelman. Book jacket.

In a world no longer blessed with virtue, there remains a place among the moving icebergs, cradled between the twilight of dreams, yet hidden from the nightmare of man. It is a sanctuary that has miraculously clung to its innocence, a faraway place, a place called SEALSSONG. A dying girl is about to find out that there are more things in life to fear than death itself. Born with gifts beyond that of natural reasoning, young Emma finds herself spirited away by an evil relative desperately seeking out her angelic powers in order to fulfill a most diabolical prophecy. Her aunt Decara, a tear-stealing villainess on a dastardly quest to find a sacred teardrop housed inside a purple stone, possessing enormous powers, will first have to find one orphaned baby seal named Miracle, who must learn to survive in a fantastic world confronting deadly seal hunters and the bloodshed they bring. For it is he who now inherits the powerful, tear, and it is he whom Emma soon comes to realize—that she must kill!