Kirjahaku

This is a collection of thirty-one beautifully written and wonderfully moving sermon-length reflections that read more like stories from Lake Wobegone. Wood weaves together history, legends, and references to popular culture seamlessly with biblical passages to create reflections that are both inspirational and educational."A modern Scheherezade, this gifted United Methodist preacher unspools a series of compelling stroies as he seeks to draw out the presence of God in the historical, the legendary, the ordinary, and the bizarre events of human life. . . . This debut collection has the potential to be a book for all seasons." --Publisher's Weekly

In News to Me: Gospel Stories for the Real World, Lawrence Wood brings together insights from Scripture with his own observations of the "real world" to create thirty-two moving reflections on the Christian life. Drawing from the wells of history, the lives of famous and not-so-famous people, and his own observations of popular culture, Wood combines Scripture with experience to offer a captivating view of the Gospels at work.

Every week, tens of thousands of people enter The New Yorker cartoon caption contest in hopes of seeing their name and winning caption in print. But only one person has taken the prize an astounding fifteen times and counting: Lawrence Wood, also known as the Ken Jennings of caption writing. What's Wood's secret? What makes a caption good or bad? How do you beat the crowd? And most importantly, what makes a caption funny? Packed with over 150 of the magazine's best cartoons and captions and featuring a foreword by the contest's creator Bob Mankoff, Your Caption Has Been Selected takes you behind the scenes of the contest, its history, the way judging works, and more. Lawrence divulges his own writing process and shows readers how to generate the perfect string of words to get a laugh. Zippy and practical, this book is perfect for fans of the contest, readers interested in how humour works, and anyone who dreams of the day they receive the letter that 'your caption has been selected.'