cron

Chasing Francis: A Pilgrim's Tale
$12.99
Ian Cron's "Chasing Francis: A Pilgrim's Tale" is the story of a pastor having a spiritual crisis, an evangelical pastor who's led to try to find Francis of Assisi. But it is also something far more than that - a short novel with a big idea.

The big idea: Francis of Assisi might - just might - offer a way to revitalize and transform the church - the evangelical church in particular and the larger church of God more generally.

Francis of Assisi? St. Francis who lived 800 years ago? St. Francis the Catholic?

Yep, that St. Francis. The aristocrat who renounced his fortune, gave it all away (to the point of stripping himself naked in public so that it was clear he owned nothing), and lived a radically different vision of faith.

The spiritually-at-sea pastor is named Chase Falson (pay attention to names here), and he enters into a kind of pilgrimage to find Francis, specially, to learn what Francis might have to teach him. Falson reads book and biographies; he visits churches and monasteries associated with Francis and the Franciscan order; and he consumes large amounts of Italian food and beverages (i.e., gelato and expresso). And helped by his uncle, a Franciscan priest, and several others of the order, Falson begins to find what he's looking for - which turns out to be less about Francis and more about his own spiritual struggle. And there's a larger story here, too. Perhaps faith and the church should be less about theology and head knowledge and the appeal to the "rational" (a modern notion, that), and more about hearts, and deliberately seeking to encounter God.

Falson, and by extension the reader, comes to examine five aspects of the faith of St. Francis: transcendence (encounters with God), community, beauty, dignity and meaning. The summary speech the minister makes at the end to a meeting of his church explores it all - but you need to read everything that leads up to it.

So perhaps with all the ferment that is the church today, and especially the church in America - emergent vs. traditional; house church vs. "church church;" physical church vs. online church; the music wars; seeker orientation vs. edifying believers; the cultural relevance debates - perhaps all of this is a distraction, the noise drowning out God speaking to our hearts.

Cron is up to simple stuff here - simple, radical stuff, like the transformation of the church. If you doubt that, check out the study guide at the end of the novel. A lot of Christian novels had study and discussion guides today; it's almost standard operating procedure. But this one is detailed, goes chapter by chapter, and it's 40 long. This is no ordinary discussion guide at the end of the novel for book discussion groups to use.

That's serious. And like the novel itself, just possibly convincing.

Flowering Plants Cron Spurrey Knotted Spurrey Print
$9.88
Flowering plants cron spurrey knotted spurrey print plate from flowering plants and ferns of great britian. By anne pratt c1880. Size of each page measures approx 9 x 6 inches ( 230 x 150 ).. all are genuine antique 100+ years old and not modern reproductions . . . Selling at your price. .

Running Brave [VHS]
$19.95
The VHS tape arrived quickly and in the condition I expected. I'd order again from this company. I was very happy to find a copy of this movie.

Dalrymple's Sales Management: Concepts and Cases
$100.00
The projects are very realistic. All though some of the cases are long and they have unecesary scenes, they give you the big picture of a sales manager's every day life situations.