The Eclipse

The moon, a relatively small, spherical rock, makes its appointed monthly rounds, circling the earth. But this time, catastrophe accompanies it.

Backyard Trinity

The five-note, other-worldly riff of film composer John Williams' Close Encounters tune would not yet reverberate for another decade– but the "Exeter Incident" had already captured the public's imagination with recent headlines.

God of the Compost, Conclusion

From Glory To Glory

The things I have described in this series of articles are glimpses of the glory of a God Who has not abandoned His creation to the dust of history. These small illustrations hint at the deeper and grander work He has taken on of reclaiming and remaking His human creation.

God of the Compost, Part 3

The Miracle of Fermentation

A process, parallel to that of composting, takes place in the production of another near-miraculous substance– one held in much higher regard than compost– wine. While the growing of grapes (and any other fruit for that matter) stands as a worthy story in its own right, the transformation of fresh grape juice into the remarkable liquid sought by both prince and poet is astounding.

God of the Compost, Part 2

Life From Decay

My wife and I have enjoyed the wonders of growing plants, both edible and ornamental, for many years. One of the early revelations we received in this pursuit concerned the power of the compost pile.

God of the Compost, Part 1

Beauty For Ashes 

The unearthly scene immersed us. On both sides of the road a deep and uniform blanket of light gray covered the ground and everything on it– clear to the horizon.

Beginning of Wisdom

A wrist-worn clock is a remarkable invention and a marvel of manufacturing. The first common availability of wristwatches appeared about a century ago, when we still moved about the earth under steam power, and we performed calculations on paper using nothing more than a pencil and the mind. 

Fragile Treasure

As the school bus rounded the far curve of the street we called "The Horseshoe," the  boy sitting next to me near the back of the bus leaned closer and whispered in my ear– "You wanna see somethin' really amazing?" Though we were both in the third grade (different classrooms) and lived only a few blocks apart, I didn't know his name. And while I was painfully shy in the presence of people I didn't know, something in his voice, and on his face, intrigued me and drew me out of my protected space. I managed a tentative "OK." 

Arc of Mystery

On a warm, still, fall afternoon in the early 1990s, I emerged from our house onto the side porch which faced the western sky. I can't recall where I headed, or to what end, but I was determined to accomplish some personal agenda. In my rush to leave the house, something derailed my attention and I stopped, pausing for a moment on the porch.

Memory Metal

A nearly occluded carotid artery slowly squeezes off the flow of blood to a woman's brain. Her brain's supply of oxygen and glucose drops dangerously and she slips closer toward a deadly encounter with a stroke.

Remembering the Future

Remembering calls up our internal record of something now existing only in the past. A memory echoes reality, reverberating forward within our minds.

The Gift of Pain

Human language struggles to express the experience of pain, but falters and fails. We cannot help but make circular reference as we attempt to describe it– "it burns like fire," "it pierces like an ice-pick," or "it pounds relentlessly." When it catches us off-guard we blurt out "Ow!" or "Ouch!," and when it takes us beyond all endurance we groan and cry out with inhuman screams.

A Peculiar Name

The word "peculiar" holds me in its fascination. In common usage we connote "peculiar" as "odd" or "weird." I like those terms as well. And the word– peculiar– even sounds odd. Say it aloud, ten times repetitively, and a strange feeling coats your tongue and palate.

The Fatal Fall

I grew up in a household of mostly boys. Constantly looking for ways to entertain ourselves, we three brothers invented countless curious psychological games. The way the brain works, and how it connects with the real, objective world constituted for us an endless source of fascination.

This Is Not a Rose

Thinkers and artists of much greater light than I have commented for centuries on the significance of the name. Shakespeare puts the deep question– "...what's in a name?"– in the mouth of his heroine Juliet. While I won't add my own tuppence here concerning this dialogue, the readers of these articles deserve some insight into the shift in my title for this collection.

In the Belly of Sheol

Death and taxes—the inevitability of these two provoke the cliche. And while the forcible extraction of citizens' finances generates endless debate, the ending of life enjoys no such conversational popularity.

The Body

The label seems nearly trite– The Body of Christ. How often the phrase is thrown out in conversation referring to the Church, the Called Out Ones, the Believers in The Lord Jesus– the Body of Christ. But despite our too familiar and casual usage of the term, the profound depth of its meaning remains. 

Separation

Sin? No one "sins" these days, or has "sin" in them. We have dumped "sin" into the ashcan of obsolete English words. We may possess "weaknesses," and we may "make mistakes" (it amuses me when I hear the popular "I mis-spoke" used seriously in public discourse), but "sin?"– what kind of Neanderthal creature would use such an archaic, judgmental, and demeaning word?

Give Thanks

Matthew records the iconic scene of Jesus of Nazareth's "last supper" with his friends before He is executed the following day. As the meal progressed, He initiated some things that have since become enshrined in the lives of Christian believers, and which the Body of Christ has established as sacraments. Though powerfully familiar to readers of the New Testament, the passage also hints at details of the event which remain a mystery to many Gentiles.

Playing With Fire

Walking over the nearly vacant concrete slab sobered my thoughts– its pattern of linoleum tiles now open to the sky and mostly covered with ash. In the center of the slab crouched a twisted tangle of steel that less than twenty-four hours ago led to a second floor. This distorted and crumpled spiral staircase stood as the lone remnant of what had recently been home to a dozen-plus college students. Nearly all of their personal possessions now existed only in the past, and they were desperately searching for new living accommodations.

The Starry Night

In the east the Sun rises,
dawn of his existence,
his life in a cosmos of his making.
Barely visible, he mounts the horizon,
climbing higher, farther in the sky,
knowing his path,
knowing his end.
His arc is toward noon,
his light and warmth expanding.
Now more than visible,
he is prominent,
undeniable in the zenith.

Two Like Three?

"Then God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."   (Genesis 1:26, NASB)

A first-time reading (or hearing) of this narrative can easily give one pause, and perhaps prompt the unsettling thought– "Did I read that right?

Only Celebration

The early morning sun rose over the cemetery, and the long shadows cast by hundreds of gravestones shortened. Though the day was young, sweat already trickled down my forehead. Like a pack-mule, I carried my year-old daughter in a carrier on my back, and the walk to the graveside service was long. A couple of decades had passed since, as a boy, I last attended a funeral, and this was my first since fully arriving at adulthood. Uncertain emotions flooded my soul.

Transfusion

A calloused hand grasped the handle of an earthen pitcher, tilting it. Cool water tumbled out of the spout, falling in a twisting, twining stream, making its way downward, earthward.

Much earlier in the day, the Rabbi sent two of his students ahead of him to prepare the Passover meal. When they inquired how they could know the place in which to make preparations, he responded that–

Dew of Hermon

Inexplicably, a man and a woman find themselves wandering a street in a large city. But for the two, the streets are devoid of all life. No one else walks the sidewalks, no cars patrol the streets, no dogs wander here and there looking for either mates or morsels of food in garbage cans.

Two Cries

Two profound "cries" stand as boundary stones of the Incarnation– the cry of the Child as He entered this cold, rough world of pain and drew His first breath, and the cry of the Man as He suffered the pain of torture and experienced death for the punishment of this world's sin.

Stripped To Be Clothed

We struggle mightily much of our lives to avoid revealing our true selves. Dark, secret places crouch within our souls and we take great pains to avoid entering them. We possess ugly deformities, horrible scars, and shameful memories which we hope will never see the light of day, which we dearly hope none will ever see. If anyone saw us truly and fully, it would force us to either double down on our efforts to hide these defects and flaws, or we would simply shun life and finish our days lurking in the shadows.

Waiting...

Waiting is a beautiful thing. However, a time of waiting typically compels us to feel tense, upset, even angry. Despite our common reactions, waiting remains a profoundly lovely and refreshing time.

Tale of Two Miracles

There is the dark, hidden, and mysterious miracle— one done out of sight, beyond prying eyes, in the "black box." And then, there is the more astounding miracle— one done in plain sight, before the eyes of the skeptic, in the glare of the noonday sun.

I'm Sorry

Few understand anymore the full significance of the phrase– "I'm sorry."

By this, we usually mean to indicate– "I feel bad about what I've done to you."  Or, if we expressed it more honestly– "I feel bad that I've been caught doing something I know I shouldn't have." We commonly believe "being sorry" is a feeling.

Let Every Heart

Having recently been duly filled with the lovely songs and music of Christmas, I couldn't help feeling overwhelmed by the wonder that the Season celebrates– the amazing and inconceivable fact of the entrance of the Lord of All, the Creator of everything that is, into the confines of this lowly and broken universe. And the song that caps it for me

Fraternal Twins

There are two rays of God's light that pour continuously into our lives. They seem to compete, with one racing ahead of the other, then the other outpacing its rival. Back and forth they tug for predominance in our lives.