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Those who are unemployed, unhappy with work, retired and restless, or finishing high school and college will find sound advice.

TO FLY AGAIN: Surviving the Tailspins of Life
Gracia Burnham with Dean Merrill
Tyndale House,
224 pp., $19.99

In her follow-up to In the Presence of My Enemies, former missionary hostage Gracia Burnham offers short homilies on living the Christian life in the face of difficult circumstances. "The truth is, trials and trouble and tribulation come to us all," Burnham writes.

She draws on Scripture, flashbacks to her 376-day ordeal in the jungle, and especially anecdotes from her childhood and post-hostage days. Her martyred husband Martin's survival kit reminds her of God's "spiritual survival kit," the promise that we can manage any situation with his help. After wrecking her teenage son's car, she muses over our need for grace. The welcome surprise of receiving a can of Coca-Cola in the jungle leads to talk about praise.

Burnham's suffering and loss give added weight to her writing about joy, gratitude, anger, and eschewing revenge. "The times when life seems unmanageable to us are the times when we find that our God is truly good," Burnham writes. "His goodness shines through in the times when we are uncomfortable, when all of life seems to have gone crazy."

Cindy Crosby is the author of By Willoway Brook: Exploring the Landscape of Prayer (Paraclete, 2003).

Copyright © 2005 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

A Resilient Life is available from Christianbook.com and other book retailers.

Author Gordon MacDonald is an editor at large and regular contributor to our sister publication, Leadership.

More information is available from the publisher.

Three Views on Eastern Orthodoxy and Evangelicalism is available from Christianbook.com and other book retailers.

More information is available from the publisher.

48 Days To The Work You Love is available from Christianbook.com and other book retailers.

More information, including a sample chapter, is available from the publisher.

More about the author and his message is available from his website.

To Fly Again is available from Christianbook.com and other book retailers.

More information, including a sample chapter, is available from the publisher.

Our full coverage of Gracia Burnham's earlier book and her captivity is available on our website.

For more books, our Books & Culture Corner weekly reviews books. More reviews and interviews are available from our Book page, as well as our 2004 Book Awards page.

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April 2005, Vol. 49, No. 4