From its beginnings as a trickle of icy water in Virginia's northwest corner to its miles-wide mouth at Hampton Roads, the James River has witnessed more recorded history than any other feature of the American landscape -- as home to the continent's first successful English settlement, highway for Native Americans and early colonists, battleground in the Revolution and the Civil War, and birthplace of America's twentieth-century navy. In 1998, restless in his job as a reporter for the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, Earl Swift landed an assignment traveling the entire length of the James. He hadn't been in a canoe since his days as a Boy Scout, and he knew that the river boasts whitewater, not to mention man-made obstacles, to challenge even experienced paddlers. But reinforced by Pilot photographer Ian Martin and a lot of freeze-dried food and beer, Swift set out to immerse himself -- he hoped not literally -- in the river and its history. What Swift survived to bring us is this engrossing chronicle of three weeks in a fourteen-foot plastic canoe and four hundred years in the life of Virginia. Fueled by humor and a dauntless curiosity about the land, buildings, and people on the banks, and anchored by his sidekick Martin -- whose photographs accompany the text -- Swift points his bow through the ghosts of a frontier past, past Confederate forts and POW camps, antebellum mills, ruined canals, vanished towns, and effluent-spewing industry. Along the banks, lonely meadowlands alternate with suburbs and power plants, marinas and the gleaming skyscrapers of Richmond's New South downtown. Enduring dunkings, wolf spiders, near-arrest, channel fever, and twenty-knot winds, Swift makes it to the Chesapeake Bay. Readers who accompany him through his Journey on the James will come away with the accumulated pleasure, if not the bruises and mud, of four hundred miles of adventure and history in the life of one of America's great watersheds.

Help Your Tween Become a Girl Who Lives Her Faith Bestselling author and trusted Bible teacher Elizabeth George wants to help your tween daughter, age 8-12, understand what God's Word is saying and how it applies to everyday life. In this interactive and guided study of the book of James, your tween daughter will discover short chapters with helpful sections, such as Heart Check-up—a series of insightful prompts designed to help her write about and internalize what she's learned from each day's devotion A Prayer to Pray—heartfelt words she can use when she talks to God Gems from James—powerful Scripture verses from the book of James she can study, memorize, and apply to her life Each chapter will bring your tween daughter a greater understanding of the many life lessons to be learned in James and encourage her to be a girl after God's own heart.

The book of James is different from other New Testament books. It is not about the life of Christ or history of the church; it is not a prediction of what will happen; it is not high-minded theology. The book of James is a book about wisdom, offering readers practical advice about living a life that glorifies God. Pursue godly wisdom and be inspired to live wholly for Jesus by embarking on a journey through the book of James. The Journey Through series from Our Daily Bread Ministries provides assistance to those who desire to spend time with God in His Word, book by book. Perfect for personal devotions.

An analysis of key themes in the Bible features a coordination of each theme with the periods of Biblical history, an identification of key terms, and lesson plan suggestions. Original.

If I had to describe the book of James, the first word that comes to mind is "practical." James had a way of taking the lessons he learned at the feet of the Master, and bringing them down to a simple instruction for believers across the centuries. This book teaches the fulfillment of our faith. Walk into any library, or Christian bookstore, look through the catalogs of your denominations publishing house, or type "James" into any internet search engine and you will find dozens of books on James. Fulfilling Faith: A Journey Through James doesn't pretend to be a scholarly work. It is not some deep theological tome. Instead, it is one man's observations about the practicality of fulfilling our faith by following the teachings of Christ. The purpose of the book Fulfilling Faith is to have a conversation with the reader, not to be a textbook. You won't find copious amounts of references to dusty old texts that few read anymore (though they absolutely serve a purpose), but you will hopefully find some insight into how we can take the words of James and apply them to our lives.

War is uncomfortable for Christians, and worldwide war is unfamiliar for today’s generations. Jim Downing reflects on his illustrious military career, including his experience during the bombing of Pearl Harbor, to show how we can be people of faith during troubled times. The natural human impulse is to run from attack. Jim Downing—along with countless other soldiers and sailors at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941—ran toward it, fighting to rescue his fellow navy men, to protect loved ones and civilians on the island, and to find the redemptive path forward from a devastating war. We are protected from war these days, but there was a time when war was very present in our lives, and in The Other Side of Infamy we learn from a veteran of Pearl Harbor and World War II what it means to follow Jesus into and through every danger, toil, and snare.

Midway Through The Journey Of Our Life is about a pivotal year in the life of a beautiful and successful woman. A 50th birthday party sets the stage for a spiritual upheaval in the world of Karin Sorensen, who jeopardizes everything that has made her life worthwhile, not for a grand passion, but for a whim, an errant desire that takes over the reason and her will. What transpires is a rich and complex story of predators and prey, affluence and squalor, terrorism and addiction. An embittered teacher plots revenge. A ghost from the past reemerges in a new form. A billionaire rethinks his life. An aged patriarch has prophetic insights. An escort turns out to be more than she seems. The black sheep of the family transforms her life. Its a tale full of unexpected twists and turns, set mostly in contemporary Manhattan.

Proving that any subject can be interesting if you delve into it deeply, stationery aficionado James Ward offers a surprisingly entertaining history of office supplies. Did you know that Henry David Thoreau contributed to pencil manufacture? Or that the Monkees' Mike Nesmith inherited $25 million earned by his mother's invention, Liquid Paper? Or that Norwegians wore paper clips as a symbol of resistance to the Nazis? Ward, who blogs on I Like Boring Things, unearths the magic in the mundane, relating the often-convoluted stories behind the creation of paper, pens, pencils, paper clips, staples and tape. Don't expect business case studies of 3M or the Parker Pen Company; Ward is a cultural connoisseur who tempers his enthusiasm for the stationery cabinet with full awareness of its absurdity. getAbstract recommends his informative, memorable and fun essays to anyone who ever borrowed a Sharpie from the office or made a necklace of paper clips.