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It’s only thirty seconds of quiet inspiration, but no song in the world has transformed lives like “Amazing Grace.” The haunting message of just four simple lines sweeps away theologies and arguments and presents us with heaven’s one singular rescue mission: God’s grace that flows from Calvary. In these cheerful but poignant chapters, Dan and David Smith go line by line through John Newton’s classic gospel message. If grace could rescue him from his sordid, cynical hell of being captain of a slave ship, can it liberate men and women here in the 21st century? Yes, it can!

A cancer diagnosis robs the two Gray gentlemen – Big Ethan and Little Ethan – of a bride and beloved grandma. Unable to cope with Seattle’s jagged memories, Pastor Ethan gratefully embraces an invitation to move to Thailand and lead Bangkok Christian School's affiliate worship center, United Christian Church. Soon enough the story has a thumping soundtrack as Noah Charoenkul drafts the aging rocker to be his keyboardist for praise music at school and church.

This is a love story with a heartbreaking backdrop: a dangerous cult group that threatens the Body of Christ and the many courageous Christian churches throughout Bangkok. Truth be told, I have never experienced any sort of cult upheaval in Thailand. But years ago I had a role in a Mark Finley evangelistic adventure in Moscow, and a violent extremist group was regularly attacking our ministers. They were angry, they were violent, they were absolutely convinced that they and only they were right, that only they had God’s blessing, that only they were going to make it to heaven.

It takes adept multitasking for Ratana to thrive as a third-year med student who also does church concerts throughout Bangkok. Then one more thing threatens to explode her frantic schedule at Chulalongkorn U. His name is Jaidee: a heart-melting two-year-old orphan who needs a new mommy.

Vampires don't exist, do they? That is a question Private Detective Tony Mandolin finds himself pondering as the evidence piles up in a case involving a string of dead redheads and the usual dose of weirdness San Francisco has to offer. To complicate things, Mandolin has to deal with the perception that he has become the latest golden boy of the fog city's crime boss. Then there's his cross-dressing friend Frankie...just another day in San Francisco.

Trident Nottingham III had an idea that would change the world forever: a shipbrain designed to make interstellar flight less restrictive and reduce the amount of time one spent attempting to meet regulations. What he didn't expect was that the shipbrain would develop a mind of its own.

Resurrected Love is yet another dramatic love story set in exotic Thailand where Buddhist harmony and Christian miracles flow in co-existing streams. And sixth-grade kids the world over are very fond of teasing their beloved American teacher when they suspect Miss Giske has a new fan.

What do Bob Uecker and Sandy Koufax have to do with your success as a Christian? What on earth do Dodger Stadium and Boston’s “Green Monster” left-field wall have to do with heaven? And is Kirk Gibson’s miracle homer in the ’88 World Series–“High fly ball, into right field, she is . . . GONE!”–a foretaste of the joy we will experience at Jesus’ second coming? Bible writers often used the ordinary things of life to illuminate their lessons about eternal life. James spoke to us about ships’ rudders and olive trees. Paul wrote about soldiers’ armor and training hard for the OIympic Games.

They call it the “Death Zone” – 26,000 feet high, close to the roof of the world, where the planet’s rotation causes 140 mph winds. What makes alpine climbers risk fortunes and even their lives in order to stand for five minutes on the world’s highest peak? Mount Everest is also the wind-swept battlefield for personality conflicts, the unfolding of ego-driven dramas, and the sometimes unheralded stories of courage and sacrifice as one climber lays down his life for another.1996 marked a tragic climbing season in Nepal when icy storms blew in and left a number of climbers dead.

Sue Baines wins every lottery prize there is, except the one attached to a honeymoon suite. At 55 and still alone, she figures a quick stint as Bangkok Christian School’s substitute principal is just one more of God’s many missionary assignments. Can a gray-haired lady cross nine time zones flying to Thailand and meet her first credible love interest?

In his bestseller, “The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry,” John Mark Comer suggests that a Christian can best celebrate the joy of “Sabbath” in two delicious ways. First, the family must bake a foot-square chocolate-chip cookie, smother it with ice cream, then joyously devour said cookie. But I love Idea #2: curl up on Sabbath afternoon with a great novel. I assume he means winsome adventures where the protagonist has heaven as their ultimate goal, and the Body of Christ as their highest passion! Which is where these Bangkok love stories come into play.

Our beloved uncle, Morris Venden, regularly claimed in camp meeting sermons: “For sure I believe in ‘Once Saved, Almost Always Saved!’” The parable of the Prodigal Son promises assurance even to the confused and disaffected child. King David was not a lost soul even while committing the twin crimes of adultery and murder. What, then, would a rebel have to do in order to actually depart from God’s eternal kingdom anchored by Amazing Grace?

Can the people of God still hope for an imminent Second Coming of Jesus? Dan and David Smith are cheerful, hope-filled Adventist men with Venden DNA coursing through their souls! Together they posit a larger question: Who cares? When life is decently abundant down here, when a golden retirement looms and vaccines have chased the germs away, do we still urgently want Jesus Christ to come and take us to a faraway destination known mostly for harps and 24/7 prayer meetings?

Most of us who are Christians have an unstated pride in our resumé: it’s actually not bad! We’ve worshiped the Lord for decades and done a lot of good in the world. Okay, sure, we’re thankful for Calvary. But it’s not difficult to imagine hearty applause as we approach the front door of heaven. “You did good! Come right in!”Jesus went to a party where the church’s head elder felt exactly like that. And our Savior told him a quiet story about two men who needed forgiveness.

Here in "Of Fleeces and Faith," I have a great time exploring from the fascinating Old Testament story of Gideon and his tiny little band of 300 warriors. He asked for a sign; in fact, he asked for three of them! God said yes, but is that the best way for a follower of heaven to proceed? Always wanting more proof, more proof, more more more?

9/11 tragedies and Auschwitz can’t be overruled without the “butterfly effect” causing even greater havoc. When high school senior Jordan Wickam gets a mysterious bootleg iPod that flips back his calendar exactly seven days, he piles up a greedy fortune betting on horse-racing exactas. Then on the night of the senior prom, he’s abruptly forced to decide: Do I play God?

I have many dear friends whose youthful experience in the church was fraught with anxiety over “I’ll never be good enough” and the warning that nineteen out of twenty kids are doomed to stay forever out of heaven. Okay, you too? On the cusp of college graduation and my new gig as a teacher in an Adventist school, two rescuing lifeboats floated my way. I began reading stuff by C. S. Lewis and also a pastor named Morris Venden – ironically my mom’s cousin!

Katrina Saxby wasn’t even planning to trade her on-track academic life at Pacific Union College for a year in northern Thailand. But the call of God was clear and so she said yes. Now she’s got to teach English, start up a high school choir, launch the newsletter, be a substitute preacher when a bus breaks down, dispense dating advice to teenage girls, and fret about the growing reality that one of the Thai teachers might be falling in love with her.

Every Christmas, millions gather in cathedrals and concert halls for a spectacular tradition: the sing-along to the Messiah. It’s a celebration of one of music’s finest miracles, where a composer drafted the world’s perennially favorite oratorio in just 24 days. Choruses and solos range from stirring to dizzyingly complex, and together, the songs express the full significance of what Christ came to this scarred world to achieve on our behalf.

Despite her secular mindset, Rachel Marie’s cousin, Samantha Kidd, is drafted to join the Bangkok Christian School team to fill in for a semester teaching calculus. Recently divorced and seething with bitterness, she arrives with seven-year-old Paloma in tow, and struggles to meet the Thai cultural norm of soft-spoken tranquility. Not entirely sure she’s ready to embrace Christianity, Samantha soon begins to fall for Tommy Daggett, the school’s joke-loving choir director.