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Youth pastor Ken Barker''s theology doesn''t allow him to believe in omens. But his anxiety on the eve of leading First Church''s first week-long mission trip out of the country proves well-justified. Their travel agent, understandably confused by the names of two similar-sounding airports, sends him, a chaperone and nine youths to the wrong village. Their original destination is a village two hundred miles away, where they were to paint the local church and run a Vacation Bible School. Two churches (one evangelical, the other Catholic) in this second community are unprepared for these strangers but nevertheless take care of them. Ken cannot get a phone signal and let his pastor know where they are. Nor, because of local flooding, can they return to the airport to try and reach their original destination. Lacking any Spanish skills, the group is stranded and unequipped to do any meaningful ministry.Ken and his group increasingly realize how ill-prepared they are to do any good in San Pedro, practicing ""parachute"" mission work. The novel critiques and pokes fun at this approach, and how the aspiring helpers become ""the helped.""

In modern society it is often supposed that morality is outdated. Everybody should be free to do what they want, and become who they like. This often means lack of meaning and unstable wills. But the human being is a real person, and has to strive to get to know him or herself. This knowledge can only be obtained through truthfulness, true thoughts, and honest feelings. The person will develop when he or she fights to understand the good, to find beauty and truth, to see one''s own place in a greater connection, and to engage in reflective dialogue with other persons. Out of this come rules of life such as generosity, friendship, and love. This is a great challenge that will release the true person, and make the will healthy. It makes morality a necessary guide to reality.

Pastoral Reflections on Life and Ministry expresses my passion to look at life and ministry through the lens of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Whether it is theology, Christian fellowship, ecclesiology, or social issues, the gospel alone sheds the kind of light needed to see things from God''s perspective. These are reflections of a man, a husband, a father, a pastor, and a friend who continues to grow in God''s forgiving and transforming grace and in the superior, soul-satisfying knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. I offer these reflections not only for you to know how I think, but to challenge you to think and write and share your gospel-centered thoughts with others.

David Brooks wrote in The Second Mountain, ""A pilgrimage is a journey undertaken in response to a story."" My life story has been lived in response to God''s story revealed in the Bible. This book is about the highways I have traveled in obedience to the Voice of the Holy breaking into my successes and failures, desires and doubts, and leading me by the power of grace in ever merciful and transforming ways. If you are drawn to my story, it is because the same Voice is calling you to share the adventure of a lifetime in following Jesus as he set his face to go up to Jerusalem. Through my story may you hear Aslan''s (Christ''s) invitation, ""Come further in! Come further up!"" This story travels by way of the ""highways to Zion"" (Ps 84:5-7). Those highways become deeply paved in the hearts and minds of those who work for the healing of the world and who bring the blessings of the reign of God to barren, dry, and thirsty lands.

We sometimes wonder what God''s plan is for our short time on Earth. In this story, three people resurrected by the Son of God--Lazarus of Bethany, the daughter of Jarius, and the son of the widow from Nain--are stunned when the apostle Paul reveals that they are now immortal. Together they travel across the centuries, collecting and preserving the words of Jesus Christ. But it soon becomes clear that they must also become warriors for Christ as they elude a persistent group of zealots who are determined to permanently return them to the grave.