A flower by any other name If you were to walk around Toad Hall in the summer you’d notice that though the city lot…
Denis Haack
![Denis](https://ransomfellowship.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/denis-150x150.jpg)
On Being Misunderstood
Faith / Scripture / Spirituality
I’m just a soul whose intentions are good Oh Lord please don’t let me be misunderstood [Elvis Costello] Being misunderstood, especially by somebody you…
Discernment Exercise: Internalizing the Scriptures
Internalizing the Scriptures The Christian tradition has always stressed the importance of Scripture, for knowing God, for attaining salvation, for a penetratingly realistic view…
The Imperfectionists (Tom Rachman, 2010)
Lives barely connected, unwinding I doubt The Imperfectionists will be remembered as the defining novel of the early 21st century. It is, however, a…
A Beautiful Woman
Maturity and Flourishing / Spirituality
A beautiful woman Yesterday afternoon we drove 90 minutes north from Toad Hall to an old theater in the heart of Minneapolis. We parked…
Discernment Exercise: God, Jehovah, and Allah
God, Jehovah, and Allah: an exercise in discernment There are some things we don’t have to plan for while living in a pluralistic world,…
Alison Krauss, Paper Airplane (2011)
At the dimming of the day I am not a musicologist nor am I a musician, so this is just a wild guess but…
On Keeping On
One of the summer thunderstorms famous in the upper Midwest just blew through. Rain poured so steadily the streets outside Toad Hall filled briefly…
The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick, 2011)
Raw beauty, seeking grace Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life is not, as a piece of cinematic art, very subtle. Nor does he allow…
Learning to Die in Miami: Confessions of a Refugee Boy (Carlos Eire, 2010)
The cruelties of the Nazis are well known, and it is just as well since they must never be repeated. The cruelties of the…