It is in the shelter of each other that the people live.

Drawing on this Irish saying, poet, storyteller and theologian Pádraig Ó Tuama relates ideas of shelter and welcome to journeys of life, using poetry, story, biblical refelction and prose to open up gentle ways of living well in a troubled world.

The fourth gospel tells of Jesus arriving in the room where the disciples are gathered, full of fear, on Easter Sunday. He does not chide or admonish; instead he says 'Peace be with you', which, in the Aramaic of his day, was simply a greeting. To people locked in a room of fear he said 'Hello,' welcoming them to a place of deep encounter: encounter with themselves, with their fear, with each other and with the incarnate one in their midst.

Interweaving everyday stories with narrative theology, gospel reflections with mindfulness and Celtic spirituality with poetry, In the Shelter reveals the transformational power of welcome.

Yohanna Felix's family worked in a Kentucky coal mine and prospered until the mines got shut down for its high environmental impact. Their family's fortunes dwindled to what they could no longer survive on and they were forced to choose a new path, or stay working in the mines while their health suffered as a result.

But the visit of an elderly Christian missionary to his hometown, and a simple prayer with her, changed his vision—and complicated his options. He stood between the choice of God's blank check for a new, yet-unseen life, and towing the line of his family's expectation of finding work in another mine and possibly falling ill too.

Out of options and torn between both competing demands, will he tow the family line and stick with coal mining, or will Yohanna accept God's daring open door, leaping toward what could be an unprecedented breakthrough?