(in)Visible: From Obscure to Valuable. This item is unavailable.(in)Visible: From Obscure to Valuable

We live in a society where the value of an individual is distilled into impersonal numbers, reduced to a mere target for marketing campaigns and newsflashes that scroll across our screens or are texted to thousands. The individual may be discarded just as quickly, disappearing into a morass of numbers to be instantaneously replaced. The Apostle Paul saw things differently in his letter to Philemon. He overcame spiritual, sociological, and status differences to restore the personal value of one runaway slave called Onesimus. This book is about how easily we can overlook a person, even one who is close to us and valued by God. It is about God giving us the honor of participating in someone's life, even if only for a moment, to become part of a discovery that will forever alter that person's direction-and perhaps our own. This story teaches us to never minimize the significance of any individual, look negatively at our own circumstances, or trivialize opportunities placed in our path during life's journey. God has individuals for us all to meet, however briefly, to engage in mutual discovery of our human value. (In)Visible shows how Jesus leads us to discover people who are of value to him so they might be transformed and "returned" to others, and to God, as better for having met us.

Arthur J. Ammann is Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center. He is the founder of Global Strategies for HIV Prevention. Ammann became interested in HIV when it was discovered in 1981. Throughout the world, and particularly in resource-poor countries, he has conducted research and directed programs for women and children on HIV prevention and care. Ammann has published numerous articles and essays on these subjects. He is the coeditor (with Arye Rubinstein) of Prevention and Treatment of HIV Infection in Infants and Children.

Barbara McLennan was born and raised in Chicago, IL, and attended St. Olaf College and Wheaton College. As an artist and a writer, Barbara speaks and writes on the intersection of faith, creativity, and everyday life. Before collaborating with Dr. Ammann, Barbara edited The Season for Reflection: Stories from Bill Starr's Life.