Bøger udgivet af Phoenix Press

What's it really like to serve as a minister? Is it just one long round of piety, prayer, Bible study, ladies' luncheons and holy living? Who and what does one come across if one seeks to meet people where they are? These are the real, unsanitized and unhomogenized, stories of over twenty years of ministry in meeting people where they are. In these pages you will meet: street hustlers the innocent trying to find their way in sometimes painful circumstances party girls odd people satisfied with their oddities misfits outcasts drama/suffering addicts church powerbrokers who make Dostoevsky's Grand Inquisitor look like a marshmallow Saint Nicholas impersonators and funeral parlor dates. The author tries to navigate each of these situations with as much grace and skill, tact and effectiveness as he can. The reader is invited to accompany the writer as he walks the narrow way that is high and lifted up like a tightrope. Sometimes, the author comes crashing to the earth counting only on grace to catch him. In other stories, the author titters on the edge of losing his balance and the reader catches his or her breath as the author keeps on the high, narrow path by the tiniest of margins. Those who like all of their stories with happy and neatly tied up endings may be discomforted by the realities of the human conditions shared here. Respectability and genuine, authentic human living do not always go together. Searching for an alcoholic parishioner in a brothel at 3:30 in the morning is not likely to be a good career move. Climbing out of a warm bed n the wee hours of the morning to go visit the street person who is in jail for breaking into and trying to burn down the very church that helped him, is not something one can sum up on a resume. In all these stories, the author's openness to the varieties of human experience comes through. He may not always have the best options, but he manages to find some options in every circumstance. Pastoral counselors, clergy, people interested in real stories as opposed to the predigested ones we see in the movies and on television and those who like spiritual memoir and autobiography will find much to identify with and, perhaps, a little to learn from this book. The author, Keith A. Rasey, M. Div., LNHA, is a graduate of Eastern Michigan, Yale and Kent State Universities. He has worked as a babysitter, a lawnmower, a gas station attendant, a lumber salesman, a factory worker, a union organizer, a business owner, a marketing strategist, a security guard, a minister and as a hospice chaplain. Keith has nearly 25 years of experience in ministry. He lives with his wife and partner, Diane, and their two canine children, Sunshine and Benny, in Medina, Ohio. For relaxation, he runs a five mile route with his children through a local cemetery.

What do you say that is helpful to those at the end of life? Are you an end of life caregiver and want to be more certain your interactions are helpful and relevent to those you care for? This book overs a science based method of understanding what people and their families at the end of life are experiencing. It offers an approach to caregiving that individualizes care so those at the end of life know they are not alone and that the caregiver understands what is being felt and thought. Those who work with the dying have informal understandings of the ideational worlds in which their patients and families live. We know those who have a fervent belief in a life to come and rely upon that for comfort and sustenance in their transition and we know those who are more matter of fact about death being a part of life. Formalizing these understandings can give us a more exact picture of the ideational and emotional landscapes our patients are traveling through. This assists caregivers in more precisely targeting their interactions and interventions in ways that help the patient know they are not alone and their journey is understood. Caregivers are then equipped to use the patient's own resources and ideations to assist them in their journey and transition. This book uses a psychological assessment tool, Death Attitude Profile-Revised, to understand these distinctive landscapes and offers resources to creatively individualize care in each of the five specific death "domains." Robert Kastenbaum in, "The Psychology of Death," has noted that post mortem case studies have indicated that knowing the patient a little better would have resulted in better care. This book offers a way to know the patient and this/her worldview and self-concepts vis a vis death and dying better so that they will know we are accompanying them on their journey and they are not alone. The five death domains, Approach Acceptance, Escape Acceptance, Neutral Acceptance, Fear of Death and Death Avoidance are explained and explored. A heuristic is offered, based on how closely the statements that comprise each domain are related, that makes this easy to use in clinical practice. Prayers, hymns, scriptures, readings and songs are suggested for each "landscape" aka domain. With quality indicators being increasingly used by the Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services, this book offers a way to marry narrative with data. Each patient's landscape can be assessed at admission and, through interviews with family and loved ones, after death, a post mortem assessment can be devised which uses both numerical and narrative information. Keith A. Rasey, M.Div., LNHA, is a graduate of Eastern Michigan University, Yale Divinity School and Kent State University. He has over 25 years of experience in working with patients and their loved ones at the end of life. The very first patient to die at home while receiving hospice care in the United States on May 25, 1977 was a member of the parish he served as minister in New Haven, Connecticut. Some have called him a pioneer in the hospice movement as he was one of the thousands of nameless volunteers who provided care, education and lobbying of the government to pay for hospice care.

A shadow covers the Lands of the Light. Having survived the initial barbarian incursion, the Secundan war host leads the combined nations that make up the Lands of the Light in their bloody efforts to recapture the White Frontier. Uthiel Caellar, the hero who slew the warlord, marches north to the desert realm of Imonetia to cleanse the lost lands of the sand lords. Leaving his pregnant partner in the hands of a warrior-priest from his childhood, Uthiel finds himself in a fight not just to cleanse the realm of the Black Wolf taint, but to discover what truly lays hidden in the hearts of the glorious heroes who lead the Lands of the Light to war.

The White Frontier has fallen. Four centuries have passed since the Secundan Empire was all but destroyed. Now Secunda's people are threatened once more. This time, with their backs to the mountains, they have nowhere left to run. Uthiel Caellar and his young brothers don their knight's plate and mail and go to war with the greatest heroes of the land, their youthful lust for glory to be brutally pitted against the horribly harsh reality of all-out war. As Secunda's sons start to fall to the horde and a fell god who feeds on the weakness of the proud and strong, can Uthiel and his brothers survive the bloodshed?

Karma Mason is a woman with a broken heart. Mark Strong was everything she ever wanted in a man...until he drove out of her life last summer. Now she must learn to live without him, or to at least compartmentalize her feelings so she can move on. Eventually, she takes another chance on the dating scene and meets Brad, a handsome divorcé. Maybe he doesn't curl her toes the way Mark did, but unlike Mark, Brad has no aversion to commitment. Within months, they're engaged, and Karma feels she's finally put Mark behind her. After being left at the altar seven years ago, Mark swore he would never fall in love again. Then he met Karma, who found a way inside his heart. But after spending four enchanting months with her, Mark succumbed to old fears and ended their affair before returning to Chicago. Now, he can't stop thinking about her. He desperately wants her back, but can he give her the commitment she deserves? Torn between his heart and his mind, Mark leaves the decision to fate. If he and Karma are meant to be together, fate will bring her back to him. But fate is a cruel mistress. When Mark is offered a job at the company where Karma works, he thinks fate has finally come through. But the ring on her finger, as well as her angry reception, aren't what he expected. Unless Mark can convince Karma he's back for good-for her-he will lose her forever.

Bashful Karma Mason has been too concerned with college-and now work-to embrace her sexuality. Bullied as a child, she hides behind an unremarkable wardrobe and relegates herself to the shadows. But when her best friend convinces her to attend a charity benefit in Chicago wearing a stunning red dress that catches the eye of every man in the room, she discovers a surprising side to her personality. One that adores the spotlight but has no idea how to handle the attention. Mark Strong, a wealthy Chicago businessman, is brimming with confidence. He's in total control. Nothing-and no one-escapes his notice. However, Mark carries a heavy, painful burden. After finding his fiancé with another man six years ago, he's erected a fortress around his heart, unwilling to let himself fall in love again. But when enchanting Karma snares his gaze from across the room, he has no idea she will shatter his carefully ordered life. What starts out as a casual flirtation takes a series of surprising turns as Mark and Karma embark on a sensual journey destined by fate. Mark is driven to know Karma, understand her...educate her, and Karma is his willing student, eager to experience the pleasure he promises. But when the student becomes the teacher, Mark has to make a choice between taking another chance on love or a future alone.