The book presents the best of the first year of Today at the Mission. It is very much like the blog - a record of an emotional and spiritual journey undertaken in the kitchen of an anonymous homeless shelter that could be anywhere, or everywhere. It's not always 'light' reading but it's every bit as real as it is honest. This book captures a few miles of the journey I've been on, and I hope you'll join me along the way.
Buy the book here: Lulu.com
And yes - every cent of the profit goes to the Mission.
Tells the stories of those ensared by pron,and one pastor's work to make a difference, told with sensitivity and grace.
Claiborne and Haw collaborate for the Magnus Opus of Social Justice. Whimsical, delightful, profound.
This self-published book has become wildly popular among Christian readers and with good reason - Young draws you into an encounter with the Trinity that is simply extraordinary.
Angie is clearly the best singer-songwriter I've heard in a decade - or two. Lyrical, haunting, beautiful.
Jim's journey from mega-pastor to Jesus follower. Every chapter is a great story that carries you along on a beautiful journey.
Mike Yaconelli was a true original. I never met him, but I read this book, and loved him like a brother. You will too.
Sara stretched my thinking and my understanding of the Kingdom of God, and I'm grateful. We all hunger for god, for friendship and for food. The dinner table is the only place these three needs can be met simultaneuously. I should have known that, but didn't. I learned it from Sara. She rocks.
Donald Miller started me on a journey, mostly because this book made me realize I wasn't crazy. When I first read this book I realized I wasn't the only one that thought this way. You have no idea. If you haven't read this - you must. That's all I can say - you must!
This is the story of a minvan-driving family man who encounters Jesus on a Harley. Is he safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he is good. Buy this book - your inner wildness will thank you.
Greg Paul sees the bible come to life in the men and women of the homeless sanctuary he operates. You'll be amazed and in awe. Trust me. Amazed and in awe.
It's already a must-read classic. All my horizons got pushed back after reading this book.
October 19, 2007 How do you know you have a soul?
Seriously... besides the stock answers - like "because the bible says so," and "somebody told me I did," how do you know you have a soul?
View Printer Friendly Version
Email Article to Friend
Reader Comments (12)
How do I know I have a soul? Well, I personally have longings for things I can't explain (like wanting to see the face of God) or moments that catch me by surprise emotionally (like where I have an emotional reaction to something so powerful that I want to fall to the floor face down before God and never get back up again.)
These are not MY typical feelings or wonders - they come from some place else - some place that wants more than what a human being would want to know or experience.
So why then? Why feel or think or wonder in these ways? Because there must be something more inside of me that has desires and needs, too - only they are spiritual in nature instead of "of this world."
Not sure I explained it well but I know it when I feel it. It's that part of you that goes where you're too afraid to go alone. It pulls you into desiring a relationship with God when the human you knows you are not worthy. The soul tugs and tugs at you to "open your eyes, man! Look what else is here! It's true! There's MORE! There's GOD!"
Okay, I'll go take my medication now...
how do the fish know where to lay their eggs
how does the seed know how to grow
HeyJules - Great answer!
Howard - You raise a good point - how could we question the existence of something that didn't exist? If it truly was beyond the realm of possiblitiy / imagination then.... how could we even begin to ask if it existed? (don't know if that makes sense)
nancy - In the town where I grew up is a tree, out on the train tracks past the town, at the edge of a cliff overlooking Lake Ontario. Every year thousands of Monarch butterflies congregate on that tree - clouds of them! - before migrating across the lake. How do they all find the same tree? At the same time..?
Can't wait to hear what everyone else has to say!
There have been other times like this. Often when I go to confession (do non-Catholics ever do something like that?), I discover that I'm smiling afterwards. Once I went when I was in a really nasty mood; afterwards, I was still having nasty thoughts in my mind but I was smiling anyways. It was clear to me then the difference between my spirit/soul and my mind.
Generally this smiling thing happens when the Holy Spirit is acting in some way. Once it happened when someone who I believe has the charism of healing prayed for my husband's healing.
Sometimes I experience a certain... lightness, I guess. It's not really a mental or physical lightness; I think it's a spiritual lightness.
Other than that, I would answer along the lines of HeyJules'. All the wealth or chemically-induced happiness can't bring us peace or joy or true satisfaction. If we didn't have something in us that was beyond our physical or psychological selves, then we would be satisfied by filling our physical or psychological needs. But we aren't. Our deepest need is love. And the spiritual life is all about love.
Joanee - Of course, you're right. For me too it's the experience of the Holy Spirit "speaking" that tells me there's something more to me than my extraordinary good looks.
Anna - A similar thing happened to me when I was baptized. (I was in my mid thirties - it was a Baptist church and they do things different than your Catholic church might) Anyways... just before it happened there was an inexplicable lightness and laughter in my heart - right in the center of my chest, in the centre of my being. The only way I can describe it is as 'light' and 'laughter'. It was like the purest joy, leaping inside of me, and it was really something quite apart from myself. You brought a wonderful memory back to me today - thank you!
It's easier to see the soul in someone else than in myself. Maybe because I can't look myself in the eye. But still, I know I'm here.