Poetry. BACKUP TO BABYLON collects three shorter works by Maxine Gadd, a writer who has based her life and her work in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside for more than two decades. The first section, Greenstone, follows an arc between rural life, shaped by idealism, and the city. Feminism, activism, and utopianism are among Gadd's concerns. Backup to Babylon describes the Vancouver of the 1980s, a time of the Francis Street Squat, of Solidarity, of political hope raised up and crushed. Lac Lake describes a world made from the pieces left by the collision of cultures called contact. Versions of Greenstone, Backup to Babylon, and Lac Lake were privately published in limited editions. With their publication in book form, they are now made available for the first time to a broader readership. Red diaper baby Maxine Gadd's writing reflects an engagement with contemporary art and critical movements, alongside a connection to neighbourhoods and community. She credits the Kootenay School of Writing with introducing her to many of the writers who fed her during the time this work was written

The amazing story of the soldiers, conservationists, and ordinary Iraqis who united to save the animals of the Baghdad Zoo

We should not base our beliefs on some emotional experience we had, which we cannot really explain with any substance, other than to attribute the experience to something we want to believe was spiritual or God-inspired. This choice, belief and faith, should not be an unexplainable gut feeling or some thought shrouded in a cosmic concept of God that is neither specific nor explainable. Neither should we hide behind peer pressure that makes us feel guilty if we denied having any real belief in the existence of God at all. None of these aspects are the basis to knowing anything, let alone foundations of a faith. The question then becomes, how do we know what is true and what to believe on the ground where we live? What are the facts and what is folklore? How can we know for certain? This writing is intended to discuss what is biblically spoken of behind the faith of what Christians believe. It is not, however, about conspiracies in the church or an attempt to air any dirty laundry. The book of Revelation was chosen as the principle text of this discourse because it is intermingled throughout Scripture like no other. It provides seamless segues that will open up opportunities to address other related questions in Scripture as we examine what is behind the faith.

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The sixth book in the NYT bestselling Expanse series, Babylon's Ashes has the galaxy in full revolution, and it's up to the crew of the Rocinante to make a desperate mission to the gate network and thin hope of victory. Now a Prime Original series. HUGO AWARD WINNER FOR BEST SERIES ​ A revolution brewing for generations has begun in fire. It will end in blood. The Free Navy -- a violent group of Belters in black-market military ships -- has crippled the Earth and begun a campaign of piracy and violence among the outer planets. The colony ships heading for the thousand new worlds on the far side of the alien ring gates are easy prey, and no single navy remains strong enough to protect them. James Holden and his crew know the strengths and weaknesses of this new force better than anyone. Outnumbered and outgunned, the embattled remnants of the old political powers call on the Rocinante for a desperate mission to reach Medina Station at the heart of the gate network. But the new alliances are as flawed as the old, and the struggle for power has only just begun. Babylon's Ashes is a breakneck science fiction adventure following the bestselling Nemesis Games. The Expanse Leviathan Wakes Caliban's War Abaddon's Gate Cibola Burn Nemesis Games Babylon's Ashes Persepolis Rising Tiamat's Wrath ​Leviathan Falls Memory's Legion The Expanse Short Fiction Drive The Butcher of Anderson Station Gods of Risk The Churn The Vital Abyss Strange Dogs Auberon The Sins of Our Fathers

While from the north, the mighty Medo-Persian army threatens the very existence of the great Neo-Babylonian Empire; within the city of Babylon, a secretive and defiant resistance movement has set itself against the reckless overindulgent King, Belshazzar, and is collaborating with the Persians against him. Amidst the subterfuge and the stringent measures taken by the king to quell this rebellion, the princess and her lover Eli, a Hebrew, are struggling to make sense of a relationship marred by the huge social and religious gap which separates their two cultures and religions. They find themselves caught between the resistance and the invading Persians, and only manage to escape the chaos with the help of two dissonant palace officials and the leaders of the Hebrew community. Their escape, however is hampered by the injuries Eli has sustained at the hands of the palace guards and the princess is forced to leave Babylon without him. Later he sets out on the camel trail to find her, and after running the gauntlet between the desert and the Bedouin bandits, he eventually meets up with her on the camel trail to Jerusalem and their new adventure is about to begin.

Leaders in congregations and Christian organizations wrestle with an unraveling of the world in which they have little experience and training. While they are offered unending resources by experts on leadership, some with claims to biblical blueprints, the challenges seem mismatched to those methods. Branson and Roxburgh frame the situation as one in which “modernity’s wager”—the conviction that God is not necessary for life and wisdom and meaning—has defined the Western imagination. Because churches and leaders are colonized by this ethos, even when God is named and beliefs are claimed, approaches to leadership are blind to God’s agency. Branson and Roxburgh approach this challenge as a work in practical theology, attending to our cultural context, narratives of God’s disruptive initiatives in Scripture, and a reshaping of leadership theories with a priority on God’s agency. With years of experience as teachers, consultants, and guides, they name practices which lead to more faithful participation. Leadership, God’s Agency, and Disruption is wide-ranging in cultural and biblical scholarship, challenging in its engagement with numerous leadership studies, and practical with its focus toward the on-the-ground life of churches and organizations.

Harness the powerful new SQL Server 2012 Microsoft SQL Server 2012 is the most significant update to this product since 2005, and it may change how database administrators and developers perform many aspects of their jobs. If you're a database administrator or developer, Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Bible teaches you everything you need to take full advantage of this major release. This detailed guide not only covers all the new features of SQL Server 2012, it also shows you step by step how to develop top-notch SQL Server databases and new data connections and keep your databases performing at peak. The book is crammed with specific examples, sample code, and a host of tips, workarounds, and best practices. In addition, downloadable code is available from the book's companion web site, which you can use to jumpstart your own projects. Serves as an authoritative guide to Microsoft's SQL Server 2012 for database administrators and developers Covers all the software's new features and capabilities, including SQL Azure for cloud computing, enhancements to client connectivity, and new functionality that ensures high-availability of mission-critical applications Explains major new changes to the SQL Server Business Intelligence tools, such as Integration, Reporting, and Analysis Services Demonstrates tasks both graphically and in SQL code to enhance your learning Provides source code from the companion web site, which you can use as a basis for your own projects Explores tips, smart workarounds, and best practices to help you on the job Get thoroughly up to speed on SQL Server 2012 with Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Bible.