John Claypool had been a pastor for almost two decades, ministering to others who suffered through the loss of loved ones, when the loss came home with the death of his eight-year-old daughter. This book is the story of Claypool's own journey through the darkness, written through four sermons. The first was delivered just eleven days after his daughter's diagnosis of leukemia, the second after her first major relapse nine months later, and the third weeks after her death. The final sermon--a reflection on the process of grieving--was preached three years later. "Job, who also struggled with God and found him, emerged twice the person he had been. And so can we. Though our journey will be uniquely our own when the time comes, and come it will if we love at all, Claypool has left tracks. Furthermore he has not erased those places where he faltered. They are honest tracks." --The Texas Churchman With more than a million copies sold, Tracks of a Fellow Struggler is once again available in a hardcover edition, perfect for gift-giving, or for anyone seeking God's comfort in difficult times to read and cherish.
Hope is to the human spirit what breath is to the physical body—the very fuel that animates our being. So says best-selling author John Claypool. But with hopefulness comes the possibility of disappointment. How can we hope and yet be realistic about what we hope for? What is a hope that doesn’t disappoint? In his inimitable pastoral and gentle way, Claypool explores biblically based avenues to hopefulness. Beginning with what we can and cannot know of God's promises, he discusses the value of humility in the face of the Great Mystery that is God. Claypool then examines what we can expect by letting God be God, and he looks at the place of forgiveness and second chances in seeking hope. His conclusion addresses the greatest hope, that of the life to come beyond the grave. This very personal book, written without theological jargon, will be a welcome companion to anyone who is struggling with disappointment, fear, or loss.
An examination of Jesus’s relationships with each of his first disciples other reveals ways to deepen our relationship with Him. One of the first things Jesus did in his ministry was to reach out to twelve individuals and draw them into his circle of close companionship with him. This series is about those twelve apostles, their relationships with Jesus and with each other, and what dynamics of that community can teach us. Jesus did not wait for people to be perfect in order to call them into the circle of God’s love. As we look at those who Jesus called, and consider ourselves as part of that ever enlarging circle, we gain not only a deeper sense of our reality, but also a deeper sense of how Christ wants to work with us. Based on talks given at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Birmingham, and more recently The Chautauqua Institute, these lectures have been edited by Ann W. Claypool in her husband’s memory.
God's goodness is bigger than all human badness," writes best-selling author John Claypool. "God's power and willingness to forgive are greater than our human capacity to sin." The Bible is often held up as a source of family values, but it is also full of families who falter and do so generation after generation. Few families have visited as much evil on each other as Abraham's descendants in Genesis. Using these stories, Claypool explores how God turns the "lead" of evil–like Jacob's theft of Esau's birthright, and Joseph's brothers selling him into slavery in Egypt–into the "gold" of abundant blessing, as alchemists were said to do in the past. God is always more interested in our future, according to Claypool, than in our pasts. In this book, as in his other books, Claypool explores the biblical texts carefully, and with a pastoral eye for the characters from Genesis and his contemporary readers. This book offers challenge and comfort to people who feel that their sins may be beyond God's concern and their lives beyond redemption.
God is an ingenious alchemist, with the capacity to take lead and make gold out of it. God can take evil and turn it into something that makes for growth and blessing. In the stories of Jacob - who stole his brother's birthright - and his family, and in the stories of contemporary people, Claypool shows us how God works through people even at their worst."-Page 4 of cover.
John Claypool had been a pastor for almost two decades, ministering to others who suffered through the loss of loved ones, when the loss came home with the death of his eight-year-old daughter. This book is the story of Claypool's own journey through the darkness, written through four sermons. The first was delivered just eleven days after his daughter's diagnosis of leukemia, the second after her first major relapse nine months later, and the third weeks after her death. The final sermon--a reflection on the process of grieving--was preached three years later. "Job, who also struggled with God and found him, emerged twice the person he had been. And so can we. Though our journey will be uniquely our own when the time comes, and come it will if we love at all, Claypool has left tracks. Furthermore he has not erased those places where he faltered. They are honest tracks." --The Texas Churchman With more than a million copies sold, Tracks of a Fellow Struggler is once again available in a hardcover edition, perfect for gift-giving, or for anyone seeking God's comfort in difficult times to read and cherish.
By studying those whom Jesus selected as apostles and what he did for them, to them, with them, and through them, we can learn much about how we experience the holy in our own day. This book is about those apostles, their relationships with Jesus and with each other and what the dynamics of that community can teach us.
Blasphemy? No, preacher John R. Claypool takes "amateur" in its original meaning-"one who acts out of love"-in order to help us explore the nature and being of God.
Soon after the angel Gabriel announced to Mary the astonishing news that she would bear the long-awaited Messiah, Mary went to visit her cousin Elizabeth, who was also expecting a child. As Mary greeted Elizabeth, the child in Elizabeth's womb (John the Baptist) leaped inside her. Elizabeth exclaimed to Mary, "God has blessed you among all women. Why do I have this honor, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?" Mary responded by singing a song of praise to God, commonly known as the Magnificat. Her song, recorded in Luke 1:46-55, was not a sweet lullaby sung in anticipation of the baby Jesus' birth, Stroman says. Instead, it was a message of deliverance and hope. Mary's song proclaimed deliverance and hope to a dark and fearful world. It continues to bring challenge and hope to us today. Singing Mary's Song provides scripture readings, meditations, and prayers for each day of Advent. Each week's readings focus on various lines of Mary's song. Reflection questions are included each week. This Advent study will give you new insight into the life of Mary. Listen closely to Mary's song and discover its message for you today. A great study for individuals or groups!
Hope is to the human spirit what breath is to the physical body. But with hopefulness comes the possibility of disappointment. How can we hope without being disappointed? Claypool's wise answers will help anyone who is struggling.
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