Children across the globe will feel God's special care and His plan for their lives as they read about the loving design with which He created each one of them with special talents and gifts. Megan Gilbert's rich, textural, detailed renderings and multimedia illustrations flow with movement, color, and pattern beautifully echo Jane Meyer's text in a feast for the eyes as well as the ears. This might just become your child's most treasured bedtime story.

An insightful read, easy to understand, yet clearly requiring another read to process everything Father Freeman has pointed out to us. Highly recommended.

The story of a journey from the confusion of the multiplicity of Christian denominations to the faith taught and practiced by the apostles.

This is a beautiful book, as much a work of art as an expression of love for its readers. In today’s world, we are fed so many conflicting messages about ourselves, our children flooded with so many images from the now ubiquitous media, that the central message of this book shines all the brighter. What is that central message? Delivered through simple and direct language and expressed through exquisite art by the renowned artist, Megan Elizabeth Gilbert, the message in essence is that of the Gospel, and one which every child needs to hear on a daily basis: you are loved.

Excellent! Very helpful and inspiring!

Have truly never read anything like this. A must for all women, but especially Orthodox Christian ladies..

I have been following Rita's podcast fro a while --- very excited about the book!

i have no idea if they like it. it was a christmas gift

A ladder leading to what? You must answer that for yourself. Notice the group in the upper left. They are celestial beings -- angels and the like. See the group in the lower right. They are terrestrial beings. Who are they? Find out. Both groups are intensely interested in the progress of the climbers. They can help and do help. When you start up the ladder, plan on being yanked off by the devils. I know. I have been yanked off more than once, landed with a thud and said: What happened?

Good luck and God bless you.

I am buying a second copy of this book to have so that my original copy never has to leave my nightstand. This is an excellent book. It is organized according to the days of the calendar, each day there are a few paragraphs to read on a different topic. The topics are always relevant to real life applications that regular people deal with, relationships, negative thoughts, suffering, money, prayer, depression, bad habits etc. From reading this book, I feel that the Abbot is a loving and kind person that uses his wisdom to teach with love and humor. He says he began these daily posts online after being out in public and some college students commented that he looked like Gandolf from Lord of the Rings. The Abbot seemed to enjoy this comment and wanted to continue a relationship with the younger generation by providing spiritual guidance in the form of daily blog posts. This book is a collection of his daily blog posts.

While the content of this volume is worth contemplating for ones entire life, this specific Audio book does not do it a service, lacking both poetic rhythm, natural tone, and ease of listening. Very sorry to report this, but it is not enjoyable nor inspiring to listen to.

Just started this book and am completely enthralled. Thank you, Jonathan!

Wonderful book. Also a pleasure to listen to the Ancient Faith Radio podcasts by the same author.

I understand so many things much more clearly now. It's as though the missing piece(s) of the puzzle came from Freeman's hand, and the picture I had expected to be completed wasn't even close to what did appear...and thank God I was wrong. God in two storeys is an absolute travesty. God in one storey is reality. I pray this reality becomes clear to all who trust in God. Read this book.

Bought as a gift. Receiver loved it and sings it's praise. Intellectual and thought provoking

I am buying this book for two friends. I initially bought it because I was curious as to what a popular soap opera actor who converted to Orthodox Christianity had to say. I was blown away by this young man's intelligence, spiritual insight, and knowledge of Holy Scripture. My one friend is an artist who recently converted to Roman Catholicism from Judaism who would make a great iconographer. The other is an actor who is just starting to make it in Hollywood and talks a lot about the Zen of physical fitness on his Facebook page. This would make a great gift for anyone of any profession that is considered a calling or "art."

Every person who considers themselves Christian ought to read this book. It will change your thinking about your faith, as you retrace the spiritual travel of Fr. James.

This book is a fascinating page-turner. I had seen it advertised on Amazon and had read the two very distinct groups of comments, those who loved the book and those who seemed to really dislike it. But the subject matter: of the Romanovs, of Orthodoxy, of Russian history, of the tragedy of the Russian Revolution, and of the spiritual journey of a Westerner that was a witness to the events described, made such a book a real source of interest to me. When I saw the book on sale at a local Orthodox church, I quickly bought it, then came home and started to read. I could not put the book down! It weaves the story of Charles Sydney Gibbes (who later became Father Nicholas) in with the tragic story of Tsar Nikolai II and his family, whom Gibbes served as an English tutor. I was familiar with much of the material presented about the royal family themselves, much less so with the turmoil that came with the civil war between the Reds and the Whites.

To those who consider the book unsatisfying, I would point to the final chapter and especially the appendix as providing the real purpose of the book. It is true that Gibbes was not a believer at the time he served as tutor to the Romanov children. But the witness of their lives stayed with him in the subsequent turbulent years, and it was to their deeply-held Orthodox Christian faith that he turned after facing many trials, hardships and disappointments in his own life. The book points out that he sought to provide tribute to the Tsar and his family at a time in history when the Tsar's memory was reviled in most quarters. The appendix, "On the Tsar and Sainthood," provides the finest defense of the Tsar that I have read anywhere and likely comes closer to the real measure of the man than any other assessment that I have read.

This is a unique book but a powerful one, one that I am very happy to award five stars.

Thanks

I honestly had to force myself to put this book down. It is just so great and entertaining I could only preserve my time with it by forcing myself to take a break. 10/10 would (and probably will) read again!