"In later years, Ruth couldn't have explained why the swallows had become a symbol. But she was afraid that the moment her father knocked down their nest, leaving one baby bird at the bottom, that act had become her symbol in her mind for her father." Set in the 1950s in rural British Columbia, Patterns of Swallows follows the fictional life of Ruth Chavinski. Ruth's father deserted her and her mother when Ruth was scarcely old enough to remember him. That event set the pattern for a life of loss and seeming-tragedy. Yet, on a deeper level, her life's pattern was woven on a loom of unfailing...

A story for puzzle-lovers...or a puzzle for story-lovers "IF YOU NEED IT, WE CAN FIND IT. Specializing in wooden figurines. Prices negotiable. Direct all inquiries to 'The Finders'..." ...the advertisement in the newspaper read. When she saw it, Clorrie believed her luck might be changing for the better. How odd that the advertisement should appear on the very day she happened to be looking for one particular wooden figurine But things that appear to be coincidence often aren't, and what Clorrie found with The Finders was an adventure she never could have imagined. Eleven mysterious...

..".Instead of being nice and neat and square, reality is as awkward and messy and as full of jigs and jags as the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle scattered all over the table...But as I'm crawling around on my piece or two of jigged, jagged reality, every once in awhile, I'll crawl across a piece with a straight edge..." STRAIGHT EDGES takes the reader for a philosophical walk through different pieces of our reality to follow the evidence wherever it leads. At first glance, our reality is "awkward and messy," but after closer examination, the "straight edges" of meaning, order, and purpose begin...

..".If we could catch a peek at the score on the Conductor's stand, we would be amazed to see that those mistakes that we make, those false notes and counter-melodies, have been written into the score and have been turned by the all-knowing Composer into the melody He planned from the beginning. He can take all our various dissonances and resolve them, but we won't hear how every part works into it until the Grande Finale. It's the picture that comes to mind when I try to come to terms with it all. Not solve it, just live at peace with it..."

This won't come as a surprise to anyone who's read it, but the Bible says some very unpopular things. It takes definite counter-cultural positions on certain hot-button controversies. 10 THORNS tackles ten of these "thorny" topics to see what the Bible does, in fact, say about them and to face them head-on; topics, such as: intolerance, sex and sexism, homosexuality and abortion. Culture's issues with the God the Bible portrays are also addressed. 10 THORNS was written for the person wondering how anyone can believe the Bible, given its difficult teachings. It was also written for the person...

COOKVILLE KIDS, PRIVATE INVESTIGATORS Meet the Cookville Kids, Private Investigators, seven neighbourhood friends with a talent for solving mysteries, large and small. Although Cookville appears to be a sleepy, little town, the Cookville Kids, Private Investigators find plenty of mystery and mayhem to keep them busy. The clues are right there, just waiting to be found, and if you can spot them, you can join the Cookville Kids in the race to be the first to catch the bad guys. Some cases will be "elementary, my dear Watson," and some will challenge even the most observant of private eyes. So...

"If God is supposed to be so good and so loving, why does the world look the way it does?" It's a question that must be faced by every believer in a good and loving God. The question will accost us on an intellectual level, and there are some solid intellectual answers. But when the question accosts us on a heart-wrenching, emotional level, there are seldom any answers. Humanly-speaking. And from God, the questioner often hears only a resounding silence. The author has wrestled with the emotional aspect of this question (and with the good and loving God it questions) through six years of...