The Magnificent Journey

We are told, 'Look out for yourself first' and 'Nice guys finish last.' But following that path leaves us feeling isolated and anxious, and can even take us to a place of ruin. This is not a magnificent journey.There is a road to life in the unshakeable kingdom of God, but it's not an easy journey. 'We cannot enter into the kingdom unless we take our cross and die to ourselves,' writes author James Bryan Smith. 'We often assume that this will be painful. And of course it is. But what is the alternative? I can, for example, choose to navigate my life, choose to live as I want, and aim at fulfilling all of my desires. This will result in that despair Kierkegaard wrote of, the sickness unto death. . . . The wisest choice, then, is to surrender.'In The Magnificent Journey, the author shows us the better road, the road less travelled, but the road full of riches. Along the way he introduces us to new spiritual practices that will provide the sustenance we need for the deepest, most joy-filled journey of our lives-the journey into the heart of God.

James Bryan Smith is a theology professor at Friends University in Wichita, Kansas. He is a founding board member of RENOVARÉ and frequently speaks at RENOVARÉ conferences. Jim is also the author of A Spiritual Formation Workbook, Devotional Classics (with Richard Foster), Embracing the Love of God, Rich Mullins: An Arrow Pointing to Heaven, which hit the New York Times bestseller list, and Room of Marvels.