2. Have you ever experienced a tragedy that made you doubt G.o.d or feel angry toward G.o.d? Explain.
3. Alex"s father wanted him to have a firm understanding of John 16:33 - In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. What do you think Alex"s father wanted him to get from that verse? What might have been his father"s concerns for Alex?
4. How has that Scripture applied in your life? Tell about a time when you might"ve relied on that truth to get you through a certain situation.
5. Explain why Holly was still in LA years after she"d been turned away by Alex. What signs made it clear she hadn"t forgotten him?
6. Was there a time in your life when you were stuck in a certain phase, unable to move forward? Tell about that time and why it left you feeling stuck.
7. What did you learn about ecoterrorists in Remember Tuesday Morning? Share your thoughts on this new criminal phenomenon.
8. Dave Jacobs was a developer, but he was also a bird-watcher and a generous friend to the homeless population in Los Angeles. What did the members of the REA probably think about Dave Jacobs? Why is it important not to view builders, environmentalists, or anyone else only as stereotypes?
9. Jamie wanted desperately to fix the problems in Alex"s heart. What did she finally have to do in order to see that happen?
10. Are there people in your life who you"d love to step in and help? Is G.o.d giving you direction on how you can do that? What do you feel He wants you to do? Share the situation, if possible.
11. What did Clay mean when he explained the difference between the evil outside a person, and the evil within?
12. Read John, chapter 16, and discuss what the Bible says about the evil within and without. What is Christ"s plan for his people in regards to this issue?
13. Police dogs exhibit a very great loyalty and sense of courage and protection. Do you know anyone who has worked with a police dog? Tell about their experience.
14. In what ways is our relationship with Jesus like that of Alex"s relationship with Bo?
15. A lot of people were praying for Alex as he traveled this difficult and challenging time in his life. What people"s prayers stood out as making a difference?
16. Who are you praying for right now? What can you focus on so that you"ll be encouraged to continue to pray? Tell about a time when a prayer in your life was answered after someone spent time praying for you.
17. The tragedy of September 11 is more of a distant memory for many Americans. Kids in high school today were in grade school when the terrorist attacks happened. What must we, as a nation, do to never forget the losses experienced that day?
18. The loss of his father will always be difficult for Alex. But as he marries Holly he realizes he will no longer be weighed down by that grief on an hourly basis. Instead he decides to allow himself to feel the pain only every now and then. What situation in your life are you better off visiting only every now and then?
19. Holly"s mother told her that real love takes work, that it didn"t come at a person all at once like a blazing rainbow across an otherwise dreary sky. How do you feel about love?
20. Many different types of love were ill.u.s.trated in this book. Talk about a few of them and explain what types of love are ill.u.s.trated in your life.
9/11 SERIES.
One Tuesday Morning Karen Kingsbury The last thing Jake Bryan knew was the roar of the World Trade Center collapsing on top of him and his fellow firefighters. The man in the hospital bed remembers nothing. Not rushing with his teammates up the stairway of the South Tower to help trapped victims. Not being blasted from the building. And not the woman sitting by his bedside who says she is his wife.
Jamie Bryan will do anything to help her beloved husband regain his memory. But that means helping Jake rediscover the one thing Jamie has never shared with him: his deep faith in G.o.d.
Beyond Tuesday Morning Karen Kingsbury Winner of the Silver
Medallion book Award
Determined to find meaning in her grief three years after the terrorist attacks on New York City, FDNY widow Jamie Bryan pours her life into volunteer work at a small memorial chapel across from where the Twin Towers once stood. There, unsure and feeling somehow guilty, Jamie opens herself to the possibility of love again.
But in the face of a staggering revelation, only the persistence of a tenacious man, the questions from Jamie"s curious young daughter, and the words from her dead husband"s journal can move Jamie beyond one Tuesday morning ... toward life.
BAILEY FLANIGAN SERIES.
Leaving Karen Kingsbury,
New York Times Bestselling Author
The Bailey Flanigan Series begins with Bailey leaving Bloomington for the adventure of a lifetime. She has won an audition for the ensemble of a Broadway musical in New York City. She"s determined to take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but is she really ready to leave family and friends for the loneliness of the city? And what of Cody? His disappearance has her worried about their future and praying that their love can survive.
In order to be closer to his mother in jail, Cody takes a coaching job in a small community outside Indianapolis. New friends, distance, and circ.u.mstances expose cracks in his relationship with Bailey Flanigan.
Love, loneliness, big opportunities, and even bigger decisions highlight the first book in the new Bailey Flanigan Series that features members of the popular Baxter family and finally completes the Bailey Flanigan/Cody Coleman story.
BAILEY FLANIGAN SERIES.
Learning Karen Kingsbury,
New York Times Bestselling Author
Learning, book two in the Bailey Flanigan Series, picks up where Leaving ended. Bailey Flanigan and Cody Coleman are not only separated by physical distance, they are also faced with great emotional distance. While Bailey grows closer to her dream to be an actress and dancer in New York, Cody coaches a small high school football team ... on and off the field. But neither feels complete without the chance to share their dreams with one other.
Can distance truly make the heart grow fonder? Or will Cody learn to turn to others to share in his happiness? And in the face of tragedy, who will be there to provide comfort?
As Cody"s past catches up with him, he must learn to reach out for help or risk withdrawing permanently inside himself. Both Bailey and Cody find themselves learning significant life lessons in this poignant love story, featuring members from Karen Kingsbury"s popular Baxter family.
ABOVE THE LINE SERIES.
The four novels of the bestselling Above the Line Series follow dedicated Hollywood producers, as they seek to transform the culture through their film. The books also feature characters from the much-loved Baxter Family. Follow Chase Ryan and Keith Ellison as they journey through the world of moviemaking and learn all that glitters is not gold, and that success could cost them everything - their relationships and their ideals. Each book in the series focuses on a different part of the process and the various struggles they face to reach their goals of making a movie that changes lives.
Unlocked A Love Story Karen Kingsbury,
New York Times Bestselling Author
Before You Take a Stand ... You"ve Got to Take a Chance.
Holden Harris is an eighteen-year-old locked in a prison of autism. Despite his quiet ways and quirky behaviors, Holden is very happy and socially normal - on the inside, in a private world all his own. In reality, he is bullied at school by kids who only see that he is very different.
Ella Reynolds is part of the "in" crowd. A cheerleader and star of the high school drama production, her life seems perfect. When she catches Holden listening to her rehea.r.s.e for the school play, she is drawn to him ... the way he is drawn to the music. Then, Ella makes a dramatic discovery - she and Holden were best friends as children.
Frustrated by the way Holden is bullied, and horrified at the indifference of her peers, Ella decides to take a stand against the most privileged and popular kids at school. Including her boyfriend, Jake.
Ella believes miracles can happen in the unlikeliest places, and that just maybe an entire community might celebrate from the sidelines. But will Holden"s praying mother and the efforts of Ella and a cast of theater kids be enough to unlock the prison that contains Holden?
This time, friendship, faith, and the power of a song must be strong enough to open the doors to the miracle Holden needs.
LOST LOVE SERIES.
Even Now Karen Kingsbury Sometimes hope for the future is found in the ashes of yesterday.
A young woman seeking answers to her heart"s deepest questions. A man and woman driven apart by lies and years of separation ... who have never forgotten each other.
With hallmark tenderness and power, Karen Kingsbury weaves a tapestry of lives, losses, love, and faith - and the miracle of resurrection.
Ever After Karen Kingsbury 2007 Christian book of the Year Two couples torn apart - one by war between countries, and one by a war within.
In this moving sequel to Even Now, Emily Anderson, now twenty, meets the man who changes everything for her: Army reservist Justin Baker. Their tender relationship, founded on a mutual faith in G.o.d and nurtured by their trust and love for each other, proves to be a shining inspiration to everyone they know, especially Emily"s reunited birth parents.
But Lauren and Shane still struggle to move past their opposing beliefs about war, politics, and faith. When tragedy strikes, can they set aside their opposing views so that love - G.o.d"s love - might win, no matter how great the odds?
Shades of Blue Karen Kingsbury.
New York Times Bestselling Author.
In between a checkered past and a fairytale future, a decision awaits.
Brad Cutler, twenty-eight, is a rising star at his New York ad agency, about to marry the girl of his dreams. Anyone would agree he has it all - a great career, a beautiful and loving fiancee, and a fairy tale life ahead of him ... when memories of a high school girlfriend begin to torment him. Lost innocence and one very difficult choice flood his conscience, and he is no longer sure what the future will bring except for this: He must go back to the sh.o.r.es of Holden Beach in search of his first love, and a forgiveness neither of them has ever known.
Three people must work through the repercussions of a decision made long ago before any of them can look toward a new future.
Between Sundays.
Karen Kingsbury.
New York Times Bestselling Author.
Aaron Hill has it all - athletic good looks and the many privileges of a star quarterback. His Sundays are spent playing NFL football in front of a televised audience of millions. But Aaron"s about to receive an unexpected handoff, one that will give him a whole new view of his self-centered life.
Derrick Anderson is a family man who volunteers his time with foster kids while sustaining a long career as a pro football player. But now he"s looking for a miracle. He must act as team mentor while still striving for the one thing that matters most this season - keeping a promise he made years ago.
Megan Gunn works two jobs and spends her spare time helping at the youth center. Much of what she does, she does for the one boy for whom she is everything - a foster child whose dying mother left him in Megan"s care. Now she wants to adopt him, but one obstacle stands in the way. Her foster son, Cory, is convinced that 49ers quarterback Aaron Hill is his father.
Two men and the game they love. A woman with a heart for the lonely and lost, and a boy who believes the impossible. Thrown together in a season of self-discovery, they"re about to learn lessons in character and grace, love and sacrifice.
Because in the end, life isn"t defined by what takes place on the first day of the week, but how we live it between Sundays.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.
One night when I was putting the finishing touches on this book, Austin crawled into bed next to me and stared at my laptop screen. "You know, Mom," he said, "I"ve been meaning to ask you about writing books. I have a couple questions." I smiled at him and asked him what he wanted to know. "Well," he said, "you know those beautiful covers on your books? They"re so nice, with just the right colors and pictures. So, do you do those? Do you make the covers?"
I shook my head. "No, buddy. I don"t have anything to do with the covers, really. The publisher has these wonderful designers. They take care of coming up with a cover."
He seemed a little disappointed for a few seconds. Then his eyes lit up. "I know, how about the design inside the book, the way the letters line up just so, and those little swirly things that make the first page of every chapter so nice?" He scrunched up his face, slightly baffled. "Do you do that part?"
Again I shook my head. "No, honey. Actually, there are designers at the publisher that make sure the book looks nice on the inside." My smile turned a little sheepish. "They"re the ones who do that."
His shoulders sank, and after a slight pause, his brow raised, hopeful once more. "I know, how about the bookstores! Are you the one who gets all those books to the bookstores, so they can be there on the shelves for the people?"
Feeling the clear sense that I was disappointing him, I shook my head and managed a weak smile. "No, Aus, I don"t do that either. The publisher has a sales staff who handles getting the books to the bookstores. After that, other people at the bookstores open the boxes of books and put them on the shelves. I don"t have anything to do with that."
"Wow." He climbed back down, but before he ran off he shrugged his shoulders. "You don"t really do that much, do you?"
Austin had a point. No book comes together without a great and talented team of people making it happen. For that reason, a special thanks to my friends at Zondervan Publishing who combined efforts to make Remember Tuesday Morning all it could be. A special thanks to my dedicated editor, Sue Brower, and to my brilliant publicist Karen Campbell, and to Karwyn Bursma, whose creative marketing is unrivaled in the publishing business.