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What would be the opposite thing of a “Bucket List”? For me, signing up to run in the Los Angeles Marathon would make the Top Three for sure. I’m not a runner and don’t think I’m a nut. Why would I sign up for such a lunatic adventure? I’m still not sure how it happened, but I trained for a year, then actually lined up with 20,000 other demented men and women to stagger through 26.2 miles in a cold, driving rain. Did David B. Smith’s debut on the marathon course go well? You’ll have to listen to this book to find out! Hint: the answer is a muscle-shredding, red-faced, ego-deflating no.

Sweet! It’s good news that the grade-school kids at Bangkok Christian School are joining a brand new soccer league. Go Pythons! Even though she’s two grades behind all the guys, they pick Maddy Cey as their unstoppable goalie. Oops. Don’t count on trophies just yet. Across town, the brand new Lions team has a monster boy named Suchart who’s six inches taller than anybody else . . . and scary fast. No one else is gonna have a chance to win games unless they can figure out a way to stop this guy.

It’s sure a fun place to be a kid! There’s swim parties and Sunday afternoons at the park and crazy rides on tuk tuks and weekend excursions to exotic Phuket Island. And oh yeah, did we mention the world’s sweetest pineapple? But the best part of life in Thailand is that Gage and Jaidee and Maddy and all their pals are part of Bangkok Christian School. The teachers are great, Mr. Noah does rockin’ chapel programs, and there’s a ton of kids flowing through the place who haven’t yet heard how Jesus can be their best friend.

Social media sites are suddenly flooded with nostalgic photos of a freckled kid named Alfalfa and his chubby partner in mayhem, Spanky McFarland. Often in the same frame is one of Hollywood’s cutest femme fatales: Darla Hood. Rounding out the “Our Gang” quartet of pint-sized superstars is the brilliant Buckwheat and his drooping Afro. I always feel a surge of pride that my dad was best friends with Alfalfa Switzer and actually enjoyed a childish romance with Darla. That’s a true story.

A STRUGGLING SINNER COMES INTO GOD’S FAMILY. Can he or she know they can stay? Under what circumstances would our heavenly Father undo His promised protection? Back to the orphanage! Begone! Originally aired as a five-week Voice of Prophecy radio series, "The Perfect Adoption" explores the healing metaphor of adoption as an ideal way of understanding our salvation.

How do we cope when faith threatens to slip away? The most durable of Christian heroes often succumb to the numb specter of doubt. "Are the things I once believed still true?" Pillars like John the Baptist, Mother Teresa, and Billy Graham have confessed that there were times in their walk with God where atheism and an empty universe seemed increasingly probable scenarios. The author refers to a recent media exchange between liberal provocateur Bill Maher and the late Charlie Kirk. Both men confessed that their chosen life philosophy brought unanswerable questions, chasms of logic.

Nattaporn has a new teaching credential in hand, but also an abrupt break-up letter to absorb. She’s embarrassed but grateful by her brother Khemkaeng’s graduation gift: the offer of a gig at Bangkok Christian School. Even though she’s still just a nominal Buddhist, not a Christian like the rest of the teaching staff. Okay. But after a fainting spell on her first day puts her in the hospital, it looks like God’s providence when amateur chaplain Gino Carington pays her a visit.

Is a decade enough time to heal the jagged soul scars of Pattaya Beach? Pranom was just 13 when a greedy uncle forced her into Thailand’s infamous sex trade (And a Happy New You). Now a college graduate secure in the love of her adopted Portland family, she might actually dare to spend a year back at Bangkok Christian School as the new calculus teacher. On one condition: her kid sister Paloma comes along to be the only blond senior in the entire school. Back in Asia, the kids are great. Her new church is great. Auntie Rachel and Uncle Khemkaeng are great.

It amazes me that, even though some of Hollywood's classic films are half a century old, most of the college students I teach have seen the best of the best! Steven Spielberg's wonderfully inventive Back to the Future came out in 1985, but just about everybody has seen Marty McFly rev the DeLorean up to 88 mph and jet his way back to Mill Valley High where his mom and dad need his help in order to fall in love.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

The journey may be difficult, but if you go to this Healer, there can be but one outcome! It’s the most colorful of Jesus’ amazing miracle healings. A man desperate for help has friends let him down through the roof and right into the Savior’s lap! And this one gossiped-about infusion of divine power speaks volumes to us today. Because a caring Friend is anxious to bless and heal us too!

It’s Bucky’s senior year of high school and his last chance to play baseball. But Coach Brayshaw’s history now. And the new coach doesn’t think devout Jesus-freak Christians like Bucky and Dan have the competitive juices necessary to compete on the varsity level. Bucky wants every opportunity to share his faith before leaving for college. And leading the Panthers to victory would open that door. Especially if his newly discovered fastball becomes a weapon for the home team. Will he get the chance to prove his love for the game and his even greater loyalty to God?