(McManus) is a son of the red-clay country, and he gives us that country vividly with all its hard work, pain, loss, and sharp-edged humor. These are truth-telling poems that remind us to pay attention.--Ellen Bass, author of "Mules of Love" and "The Human Line."

A classic in contemporary Oklahoma literature, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz’s Red Dirt unearths the joys and ordeals of growing up poor during the 1940s and 1950s. In this exquisite rendering of her childhood in rural Oklahoma, from the Dust Bowl days to the end of the Eisenhower era, the author bears witness to a family and community that still cling to the dream of America as a republic of landowners.

Ruby Fae realizes she made a terrible decision two years ago when she dropped out of college to marry the sweet-faced JW and join his traveling evangesist family on the road. Now she's living on a bus with her in-laws and trapped in a never-ending revival tour. Homesick and worried for her baby daughter, Ruby is desperate to get back to Oklahoma.

About the Book In From Red Dirt: An Autobiographical Narrative and Verse of a Georgia Son is a tribute to the Harlem Renaissance writer Jean Toomer, whose setting of the novel Cane (1923) begins in rural Sparta, Georgia. This location is approximately 70 miles from the author’s hometown of Augusta. While the book is autobiographical, Briggs uses both a narrative and poetry format to describe and reflect on significant phases of his childhood, educational, interpersonal, and professional experiences, and recent visit to Kenya with Abokin, a group of missionaries endorsed by his church. This unique narrative will be quite intriguing to the individual who values the importance of family and interpersonal relationships but experiences immense challenges, knowingly and unknowingly, within those relationships. Briggs’s story presents his own perspective on growing up in the segregated South of the 1950s and 1960s, reveals how our individual decisions may impact our lives, and explores God’s purpose for all of us if we should choose to be patient and to listen to Him. About the Author Cordell A. Briggs is a product of Seventh-day Adventist higher education and Historically Black Colleges and Universities. He graduated from Oakwood University, Andrews University, and Howard University. Briggs is Professor Emeritus of English at Moreno Valley College, Riverside Community College District, in Riverside, California. Throughout his forty-year career in higher education, he taught English, American literature, African American literature, and linguistics at the community college and university levels. Briggs has two wonderful and successful adult children. He has three delightful grandsons and one precious granddaughter. He has spent much of his time lately being involved with Abokin, Inc., the SDA missionary group that does volunteer work in the areas of evangelism, health care ministry, and education in Africa.

A compassionate, shame-free guide for your darkest days “A one-of-a-kind book . . . to read for yourself or give to a struggling friend or loved one without the fear that depression and suicidal thoughts will be minimized, medicalized or over-spiritualized.”—Kay Warren, cofounder of Saddleback Church What happens when loving Jesus doesn’t cure you of depression, anxiety, or suicidal thoughts? You might be crushed by shame over your mental illness, only to be told by well-meaning Christians to “choose joy” and “pray more.” So you beg God to take away the pain, but nothing eases the ache inside. As darkness lingers and color drains from your world, you’re left wondering if God has abandoned you. You just want a way out. But there’s hope. In I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die, Sarah J. Robinson offers a healthy, practical, and shame-free guide for Christians struggling with mental illness. With unflinching honesty, Sarah shares her story of battling depression and fighting to stay alive despite toxic theology that made her afraid to seek help outside the church. Pairing her own story with scriptural insights, mental health research, and simple practices, Sarah helps you reconnect with the God who is present in our deepest anguish and discover that you are worth everything it takes to get better. Beautifully written and full of hard-won wisdom, I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die offers a path toward a rich, hope-filled life in Christ, even when healing doesn’t look like what you expect.

I slowly raised my hand when the visiting pastor asked who wants change in their life. He looked at me and told me, "I have nothing for you, you need to write, just write. Your story needs to be heard." We were barely hitting top speed, flying down the hill, and the sound that blasted through the trees and above the pebbles scared us all. It was the blast of a horn from a log truck. This bellowing booming sound meant get out of the way! Our laughter turned into fear as we all turned back to see a large empty log truck barreling at us. Growing up in the heart of the deep East Texas woods with three channels on TV, we could not help but take our adventures outside. These stories will take you down the red dirt road we called home. We raced log trucks in a makeshift buggy, nearly burnt down Granny's house, danced in her shoes, created clubhouses out of anything not tied down, plus so many more. Looking back at these adventures, we laugh and wonder how we made it without broken bones or, worse, mishaps. We made it with prayer and a family's love for God and us. With each adventure you read, you will find a lesson learned I discovered along the way forty plus years later as I have grown into my faith. It's been there all along, all I needed was to slow down and be still.

Expounds the ideas of Red Letter Christianity, or, following Jesus' words exactly in order to live a better and more faithful life.

Dirt is a story about the places where we start. From a single-wide trailer in the mountains of rural West Virginia to the halls of Yale Law School, Mary Marantz's story is one of remembering our roots while turning our faces to the sky. From growing up in that trailer, where it rained just as hard inside as out and the smell of mildew hung thick in the air, Mary has known what it is to feel broken and disqualified because of the muddy scars leaving smudged fingerprints across our lives. Generations of her family lived and logged in those hauntingly treacherous woods, risking life and limb just to barely scrape by. And yet that very struggle became the redemption song God used to write a life she never dreamed of. Mixed with warmth, wit, and the bittersweet, sometimes achingly heartbreaking places we go when we dig in instead of give up, Dirt is a story of healing. With gut-wrenching honesty and hard-won wisdom, Mary shares her story for anyone who has ever walked into the world and felt like their scars were still on display, showing that you are braver, better, and more empathetic for what you have survived. Because God does his best work in the muddy, messy, and broken--if we'll only learn to dig in.

The struggles of an enslaved African woman and two emigrant German farmers generate a sweeping saga of oppression, estrangement, and redeemed memory that binds together America's "Trail of Tears," South Africa's "Great Trek," and our contemporary search for reconciliation.

Every significant event in the Bible happened because someone said yes to God. Start living the adventure of yes today! In this whimsical yet inspiring book, Shelene tells the stories of real-life paths God took her on to learn some simple truths that changed everything in her life—everything for the better. By loving how our Creator made us to love; skipping comfort and safety to help those who can never repay us; and taking a risk to jump into the epic journey God has for our lives, the reality is we are all just one yes away from changing everything. Don’t miss out on the incredible adventure God has for you. Say yes to God—love, skip, and jump your way to his plans for you!