"Tears as a spark of fire" an excerpt from “Apologetic Communication” by Zack Eswine in Firstfruits of a New Creation: Essays Honoring Jerram Barrs…
Poetry: Advent Reflection
Advent Reflection It is said, the end of a thing is in the beginning. There were angels in both places: at first they frightened…
Poetry: Awakenings
The sky held a smokelike hue as the simmering substance of fire began to arise, sculpting away vagueness, uncloaking ambiguities, gathering the world to…
A Gentleman in Moscow (Amor Towles, 2016)
Faithfulness in exile - a review of the novel A Gentleman in Moscow The year is 1922. Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov, a 32-year old Russian…
Amazing Grace (Alan Elliot & Sydney Pollack, 2018)
The power of gospel The gospel music tradition has its roots in the 17th century with Christian hymns and spirituals sung in black churches,…
Between Two Millstones (Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, 2018)
Misunderstanding one’s own time During a time of political turmoil in ancient Israel the tribe of Issachar contained “men who had understanding of the…
The Guarded Gate (Daniel Okrent, 2019)
Restricting immigration The effort to limit immigration has a long history in America. Beginning in the late 19th century the reasons given were based…
The Mosquito (Timothy Winegard, 2019)
The perilous pesky bug The mosquito has preyed on the human race from the beginning, and the toll has been immense. “The mosquito has…
Strangers in Their Own Land (Hochschild, 2016)
Listening across the political split A progressive sociologist, concerned about the growing tribal divisions in American society and politics, travels to the Louisiana bayou…
Good Omens (Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett, 2019)
Responding to satire I came to appreciate Neil Gaiman as a storyteller and fantasy author by reading his 2001 novel American Gods. In it…