Two thousand years ago, a simple man walked this planet with a simple message. They called him Jesus. His was a message of radical exclusion in a world he called the Kingdom of God. He spoke in parables grounded in common, everyday experiences, parables about yeast and leavened bread, weeds and mustard seeds, fishing nets and pearls. In the Kingdom of God, everyone was equal and differences made no difference. But the world couldnt handle such an outrageous message. Whoever heard of a world where differences make no difference? Of course, they make a difference. So they dangled him from a cross for all the world to take note. After his death, they honored him with a title, the Christ, and began a whole new religion in his name. But for two thousand years far too many have been dishonoring him by misrepresenting his message. His message of radical inclusion has been twisted and contorted into a message that far too many of his followers use to sanction that which he came to overcome. Instead of eliminating distinctions between insiders and outsiders, pure and impure, clean and unclean, his message has been used to perpetuate sexism, racism, age-ism, homophobism, imperialism, and all the other -isms that stand in the way of radical inclusion. All this has happened so gradually, literally over centuries if not millennia through crusty old doctrines, dogma, and creeds that very few have even noticed. Christianity has become fat and happy, just like the frog in the Parable of the Boiling Frog. You stick a frog in a vat of boiling water, and it will struggle with all its might to escape an otherwise certain death. But if you stick a frog in a vat of lukewarm water and ever so gradually keep warming it one degree at a time, the frog will grow comfortable in the increasing warmth of its environment until, before he realizes it, he has been boiled. Two thousand years later, it is time to set the record straight; time to return to Jesus simple message through the common, ordinary experiences of today. In the biblical witness, Moses wandered in the wilderness for forty years; Jesus, for forty days. So, too, shall we wander by channel surfing through forty chapters of scripture. From Adam and Eve to Ricky Nelsons Garden Party at Madison Square Garden; from the Book of Jobs Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar to The Three Stooges; from Matthews and Lukes nativity scenes to Larry, Darryl, and Darryl of The Bob Newhart Show; from the temptation stories and Jesus wandering in the wilderness to American Bandstand, the Temptations, and Dion & the Belmonts The Wanderer; from Pilate and Herod cross-examining Jesus to Judge Wapner and Judge Judy; from atonement theology to Lets Make a Deal, it is time to paint our antiquated parables with a more contemporary brush; in so doing, it is time to turn Jesus simple message into a profound reality. Onward, radical inclusion! On to the Kingdom of God. In the immortal words of Bart Simpson, Surfs up, dude.

**Winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Autobiography** Included in President Obama’s 2016 Summer Reading List “Without a doubt, the finest surf book I’ve ever read . . . ” —The New York Times Magazine Barbarian Days is William Finnegan’s memoir of an obsession, a complex enchantment. Surfing only looks like a sport. To initiates, it is something else: a beautiful addiction, a demanding course of study, a morally dangerous pastime, a way of life. Raised in California and Hawaii, Finnegan started surfing as a child. He has chased waves all over the world, wandering for years through the South Pacific, Australia, Asia, Africa. A bookish boy, and then an excessively adventurous young man, he went on to become a distinguished writer and war reporter. Barbarian Days takes us deep into unfamiliar worlds, some of them right under our noses—off the coasts of New York and San Francisco. It immerses the reader in the edgy camaraderie of close male friendships forged in challenging waves. Finnegan shares stories of life in a whites-only gang in a tough school in Honolulu. He shows us a world turned upside down for kids and adults alike by the social upheavals of the 1960s. He details the intricacies of famous waves and his own apprenticeships to them. Youthful folly—he drops LSD while riding huge Honolua Bay, on Maui—is served up with rueful humor. As Finnegan’s travels take him ever farther afield, he discovers the picturesque simplicity of a Samoan fishing village, dissects the sexual politics of Tongan interactions with Americans and Japanese, and navigates the Indonesian black market while nearly succumbing to malaria. Throughout, he surfs, carrying readers with him on rides of harrowing, unprecedented lucidity. Barbarian Days is an old-school adventure story, an intellectual autobiography, a social history, a literary road movie, and an extraordinary exploration of the gradual mastering of an exacting, little-understood art.

Bethany Hamilton has become a fitness expert by virtue of being a professional athlete who has excelled—and she's done it while overcoming incredible challenges. Whether you know Bethany or not, whether you surf or not, everyone has challenges, and in Surfer Style, Bethany shares some of her core experiences with body, mind and spirit. Sharing her expertise as an athlete, New You helps young girls develop a healthy lifestyle, understand their changing bodies, gain confidence, and establish a pattern of healthy living starting at a young age. This book includes workouts specially developed for young girls by Bethany’s personal trainer, recipes and information on healthy eating based on “Bethany’s food pyramid,” which follows the Mediterranean diet, and advice on deepening your spiritual health, for a total body wellness book perfect for growing girls. This isn't a book about Bethany, this is a book about wellness, becoming your best “you,” through physical and spiritual balance, because spiritual health is just as important as physical health.

Fasting is about feasting on more of God! When many hear the word “fasting,” they immediately think of what they have to give up. But what if fasting is actually a sacred doorway into fresh encounters with the all-consuming fire of God? Author and revival historian, Jennifer Miskov, has tapped into an...

A quiet book about how an intensely deceptive movement can begin, with its almost innocent origins buried deeply in the hopes and fears of good people. Quickening Dreams is the first book in the Deceiving the Elect series, introducing us to a cast of quirky, lovable characters, both good and bad. This book speaks to that growing feeling of uncertainty, deep in your heart, where you are beginning to question the reality of this world, and the religion your parents taught you. In distant echoes you are beginning to hear the still, small voice, and perhaps you are one of the very few that is having odd dreams, dreams that seem to waken you, and bring you to life.

“This book will prove to be a most effective weapon… against the debunking and skeptical attitudes toward the Gospels that are so prevalent, not only in academe, but also on the street, among young people who, sadly, are leaving the Churches in droves.” – Robert Barron, author of Catholicism For well over a hundred years now, many scholars have questioned the historical truth of the Gospels, claiming that they were originally anonymous. Others have even argued that Jesus of Nazareth did not think he was God and never claimed to be divine. In The Case for Jesus, Dr. Brant Pitre, the bestselling author of Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist, goes back to the sources—the biblical and historical evidence for Christ—in order to answer several key questions, including: • Were the four Gospels really anonymous? • Are the Gospels folklore? Or are they biographies? • Were the four Gospels written too late to be reliable? • What about the so-called “Lost Gospels,” such as “Q” and the Gospel of Thomas? • Did Jesus claim to be God? • Is Jesus divine in all four Gospels? Or only in John? • Did Jesus fulfill the Jewish prophecies of the Messiah? • Why was Jesus crucified? • What is the evidence for the Resurrection? As The Case for Jesus will show, recent discoveries in New Testament scholarship, as well as neglected evidence from ancient manuscripts and the early church fathers, together have the potential to pull the rug out from under a century of skepticism toward the traditional Gospels. Above all, Pitre shows how the divine claims of Jesus of Nazareth can only be understood by putting them in their ancient Jewish context.