Salt Light

Most of our waking hours are spent at work. For many, we spend more time in the office than we spend with family and loved ones. But we don't stop being a Christian when we clock in at work; we've all faced the challenge of living out our beliefs amid the often-competing demands of our...

Are you turned off by religion? You're not alone. Jesus was no fan either. In his seminal sermon, Jesus addresses life in the Kingdom of God. Jesus paints a picture that looks starkly different from how many perceive today's American church. Salt and Light: Meditations on the Sermon on the Mount is a 43-day journey through Jesus' best-known sermon. It explores how the entirety of scripture shines a light on Jesus' words, and how the culture, environment, and circumstances of Christ's world reveal clues as to their meaning.

My name is Bird Howsley, and I'm a beautiful disaster. Okay, "beautiful" is probably being generous. But the "disaster" part is right. In a brutal dystopian waterworld, where survival depends on skill and smarts, I'm pretty much always one bad decision away from watching my life go completely down the drain. Luckily, I have a lifeline: my cute, level-headed sailing teacher, Sargo Paz. Did I say cute? I didn't mean cute. He's just a friend. I definitely don't have weird sex dreams about him.

Salt and Light offers a fresh perspective on the Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes, showing how these two pillars of Christian moral teaching complement each other. The Ten Commandments are the "ground floor," providing the bare minimum contours of the moral life. The Beatitudes, by contrast, point us to a way we can live our lives as creatures intended to share in the life of God.

The author of Cod and The Basque History of the World takes an extraordinary look at an ordinary substance — salt, the only rock humans eat — and how it has shaped civilization from the very beginning. Mark Kurlansky has produced a kaleidoscope of history, a multi-layered masterpiece that blends economic, scientific, political, religious, and culinary records into a rich and memorable tale.

At eight, he gave me roses. At fifteen, he gave me butterflies, and at seventeen, he gave me sanctuary. I wasn't a damsel in distress. He wasn't Prince Charming waiting to whisk me off my feet. We didn't meet by chance. He's been part of my life for years, and for most of that time, I've been under his spell.

When Chris Lawler is left adrift by the sudden loss of her partner, she heads west on a cross-country road trip—but no GPS can navigate her loneliness or the guilt over her part in Sally’s accident. Struggling to find belonging among Utah’s red rocks and in the Texas Hill Country, she meets two remarkably different people who begin to kindle her healing. She is smitten by one of them, but past rejection renders her insecure and awkward. Adding to her isolation, her judgmental kin in Texas rebuff her attempts to reconcile.

Raising kids today is more challenging than it has ever been. Technology, social media, and the ever-shifting standards of what is right and wrong can make parenting in modern-day culture difficult to navigate. If we want to win the battle as parents, we need to have the desire to truly parent well.

The Western world's growth started its first major developmental boom in the early 1800s. We all know the typical story: 1803, The Louisiana Purchase; 1845, Texas joins the Union; 1860, The Civil War; 1865, The abolishment of slavery in the US. Seems like the average 2006 class history lesson right? Of course, it does! While these things did happen, there are things that the government keeps out of textbooks, due to fear of civil unrest. Fear of the truth. A truth that is hard to digest.