A Field Guide to God: A Seeker's Manual

by Kirk, Patty

• ISBN13: 9780824947927
• ISBN10: 0824947924
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-02-15
• Publisher: Guideposts Kids

Summary

We are Born Expecting not only food and protection from the elements, but comfort and love: to be held, touched, even spoken to, however, meaninglessly at first. That expectation of love, I would argue, is the source of our longing for God. We seek God later in life because our battered bodies and spirits remember-if only dimly, in a past obscured by lesser consolations and perhaps considerable unpleasantness-what it was like to be fully encompassed by a dependable source of sustenance, protection, and love. In longing for God's presence, we unthinkingly long for something we all once had: a fetus's creaturely confidence that it will be taken care of. When we discover God for the first time-when, even as adults, we recognize Gods presence in our lives-we are grasping at that remote memory of true happiness. Book jacket.

Table of Contents

Prologue: Losing Track of God	p. 1
The Frustrating Truth about God: For Most of Us, God Is Invisible, Inaudible, and Intangible Much or All of the Time	p. 11
Separation Anxiety	p. 22
The Evidence of Things Seen	p. 37
Inattentional Blindness-Or, Noticing: The Skill We Lose As We Age	p. 47
Scriptural Evidence of God's Presence, Part I: What, Exactly, is the Bible?	p. 64
Scriptural Evidence of God's Presence, Part 2: A New Way to Read the Bible	p. 77
Coincidental Connections	p. 87
Memory	p. 97
The Faith Stories of Others	p. 112
Indirect Messages from God	p. 130
God's Presence in Prayer	p. 149
Miracles, Gifts, and Other Good Things	p. 165
God with Us-Visibly, Audibly, Tangibly	p. 184
My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me?	p. 198
Could God Actually Be Absent?	p. 218
Embracing Hope	p. 232
Notes	p. 243
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