When God Interrupts

Our lives are constantly changing. It's hard to keep up, to keep our balance. It's hard to keep trusting in God. And it's especially difficult when the changes we're faced with are unwanted: the death of a loved one, a child leaving home, an illness, a frustrated dream. Craig Barnes knows the dark side of change. As a pastor, he has counseled many Christians through tough times of transition. And he has been challenged by unwanted changes--interruptions--in his own life. At times it seems as though God has moved far, far away. But Barnes has discovered that just the opposite is true: during times of change and seeming abandonment, God is right at our side offering to lead us in a new direction, offering us new life. He writes, "A young widow can outlive her grief and decide her life may never be the same but is far from over. A lost job can become the beginning of a new vocation." Here is the book for all who have known disappointment, bereavement or the shattering of faith, a book all the more valuable because it promises hope without denying despair. In When God Interrupts a sensitive, insightful pastor shows us how we can be found by God in the middle of unwanted change.

M. Craig Barnes (PhD, University of Chicago) is Meneilly Professor of Leadership and Ministry at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and senior pastor at Shadyside Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is a former senior pastor of the National Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. His books include Searching for Home: Spirituality for Restless Souls, An Extravagant Mercy: Reflections on Ordinary Things, Sacred Thirst: Finding God in the Desert of Our Longings and Hustling God: Why We Work So Hard for What God Wants to Give . Barnes is also the author of numerous published articles and is a speaker at seminary and church events.