Description
Life is about the questions you ask and the discoveries you make.
The Breakthrough is the story of a father and his family’s search for meaning in life. It is a captivating parable for those looking for the true meaning of faith, love and acceptance. The Breakthrough is a beautifully bound hardcover book that can be given to friends, co-workers or others that cross your paths.
It doesn’t matter if we live in the United States or Canada, in Sweden or France, in China or the Philippines, in Mexico or Brazil, or in Russia or South Africa. We all ask similar questions…from the very simple—”What are we having for dinner?” —to the very profound—”How can I make my life count for more? How can I experience the best that life can offer me?”
But there’s more to it than that. Most of us, if we are completely honest with ourselves, want to know what’s in our future. We want to know if we’ll find a life partner, if we’ll have children, if we’ll find a career we love, and if we’ll retire in comfort. We want to know if we’ll be healthy and happy, or if something as awful as cancer is lurking around the corner. This “future interest” explains why there are astrologers, tarot card readers, palm and tea leaf readers…and even financial planners.
THE BREAKTHROUGH is a simple story about people who have an abundance of real questions. In the course of the story, these diverse characters attempt to answer some of the complex questions we all ask—and they discover some simple truths.
If your mind is impartial…and your heart is open…you may come upon the very answers that Dr. David Heeley, a cardiologist living in Evanston, Illinois, discovered with his family and friends.
And you might personally experience the most significant, life-changing breakthrough of your life!
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The Breakthrough is an ideal tool to start a spiritual conversation with a family member, friend, neighbor, work colleague or someone you meet in life such as your barber or hairdresser. Give The Breakthrough as a gift and ask the person to read it and then arrange to have coffee because you want to hear what they think. The parable is written with a view to the reader thinking: Maybe there is more to life than I’m seeing? Maybe there is a heaven and a hell? Maybe how I’m living my life is hurting other people! |
Pastors and Group Leaders: The Breakthrough is an ideal tool to help members of your group or church to connect and start a spiritual conversation with their family, friends, neighbors, work colleagues and others. The Breakthrough goes with the Awakening to God book and workbook as a means to follow up on connections with family, friends, neighbors and others. Your church could purchase multiple copies of this book and ask church members to give a copy to a family member or neighbor. Ask them to read the book and then arrange a coffee or other meeting afterwards to get their thoughts. The natural follow on would be to invite the person to an Easter, Christmas or other service.
Gerard Long: After a successful collegiate track career, Gerard went to work for HSBC London (one of the world’s largest banks), eventually rising to the office of senior vice president, corporate marketing. In 1980, Gerard had a dramatic encounter with God and felt called to serve in a church in North London where he served as a pastor for 17 years. During this time Gerard continued to work in the banking and finance industry which took him around the world and included some fascinating roles, including director of the Year 2000 program for the UK and Europe. In 2001, Gerard and his family moved to New York, where he was asked to launch a global product for HSBC, and then on to Chicago in 2003, where he led the integration of HSBC and Household International. Throughout his banking career, Gerard sought to introduce his colleagues to Jesus Christ and while serving in the City of London he was Chairman of Christians in Finance (which was founded in 1875). Gerard and his wife Jeannie went through a period of intense brokenness, following the suicide of their seventeen year old son Alex in 2005. During this period, Gerard received a revelation of eternity which helped him to journey through a season of terrible pain and suffering. At the end of 2006, Gerard retired from HSBC and joined Alpha USA (Alpha helps churches to make more disciples of Jesus Christ, it operates in more than 169 countries, and more than 24 million people have experienced Alpha, including 3 million in the US). Gerard served as the CEO of Alpha USA for seven years, during which time the ministry grew by over 300%. In 2014, another terrible tragedy struck when Gerard and Jeannie’s beautiful adult daughter, Rebecca, slipped and fell into the frigid waters of Lake Michigan and drowned. There are no words to describe the pain and the suffering but, in the midst of it, God has fellowshipped with them giving them a supernatural story of His grace and glory. In obedience to an unequivocal call from God, Gerard resigned from Alpha at the end of 2014 and with Jeannie is now testifying to God’s amazing grace through their ministry AwakeningtoGod.org. In particular, sharing how God, through the Cross, can take the worst things that happen to us and, if we let Him, turn them for good as part of His eternal plan and purpose.
The communities we live in expect us to turn to one another and say that things are great, kids are great…love my job. But, are we really doing ‘great’? This little story really drills down into that façade we so readily put up for others to admire. I think THE BREAKTHROUGH pushes one to rethink the way most of us are living our lives. LOUIS GIULIANO, FORMER CHAIRMAN, PRESIDENT, AND CEO OF ITT CORP.
With the recent financial collapse, many in the marketplace are hurting. Promotions are gone, bonuses are gone…many are searching for something more… something everlasting. No matter how skeptical you may be, I urge you to approach THE BREAKTHROUGH with an open mind. You just might discover the secrets to everlasting peace, joy, and happiness. MARK LINSZ, CORPORATE TREASURER, BANK OF AMERICA
How we view the world and live our lives has a huge impact not only on us, but also on our loved ones, our communities, and even our culture. THE BREAKTHROUGH is a powerful parable and presents an excellent opportunity for people to consider whether there might be a better way of understanding life. CHUCK COLSON, FOUNDER, THE CHUCK COLSON CENTER FOR CHRISTIAN WORLDVIEW; FOUNDER, PRISON FELLOWSHIP
Gerard Long’s THE BREAKTHROUGH helps to give purpose, meaning, and understanding to life’s biggest questions. Long writes in an honest, straight-forward fashion—helping one see the pathway to getting the most out of life. BOB MILLIGAN, FOUNDER AND CHAIRMAN, M.I. INDUSTRIES AND NATURE’S VARIETY, INC.; IMMEDIATE PAST CHAIRMAN, U. S. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
Gerard Long has written a wonderful book that will appeal to Christians and non-Christians alike. The Alpha Course has been successful worldwide and has appeal to churches of varying denominations. This book will be of great interest to all, as it addresses important questions all of us must confront in our lives. PHILIP F. ANSCHUTZ, CHAIRMAN AND CEO, THE ANSCHUTZ CORPORATION, PARENT COMPANY OF WALDEN MEDIA, WHICH PRODUCED “THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE.”
Introduction
If life were meant to be perfect, it would be. And it would be perfect in every way. Everyone would be happy, healthy, and wealthy. There would be no sickness, no accidents, no pain, no death. There would be no strain in relationships, no divorce, no great divide between husbands and wives, between parents and children, or between management and staff. There would be no form of racism or bigotry—and no war, crime, or prisons.
Of course, the obvious truth is that sickness, poverty, war, conflict, and death have proven themselves to be part of the human experience ever since we began keeping track of such things.
But this was not the way it was supposed to be. Life was meant to be perfect. Life was supposed to be a man and a woman—or men and women-—enjoying nature to its magnificent fullness, giving birth without pain, and living without end.
“That’s absurd!” you exclaim. “How could that ever be?” you ask.
The answer is straightforward, yet mystifying. To discover it, you will be asked to do something very challenging. You will be asked—while exploring the pages of this book—to “suspend your disbelief.” To open your mind to the possibility that there is more than one kind of life. To understand and accept both the temporal and the eternal.
Are you up to the challenge? Are you an intellectually honest person? I sincerely hope you are.
The good news for you is that in the midst of all of life’s problems—as inevitable as they are—you can experience a breakthrough.
My goal in this book is to guide you along that exciting path! Please join me.
Contents:
- A Perfect Life
- Babies Change Things
- A Shocking Truth
- Life Minus One
- A Reason for Thanksgiving
- A “Winter Break” to Remember
- Alpha—from the Beginning!
- More Questions than Answers
- The Next Steps for Everyone!
- The Decision
- A Storm on the Radar
- Another 180 Degree Turn
eBook Instant PDF Download: 130 pages
eBook PDF ISBN: 9781570520372
Print Book ISBN: 9781934564462
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