Recent Posts

  • What Is a Poem?

    1. What Is a Poem? An ordering of words arranged in a certain pattern (determined by the will of its creator), which fulfils the basic function of language. For ages now attempts have been made to determine the certain characteristics that distinguish the language of poetry from the language of,

  • No More Tears to Cry

    At church recently, a young missionary spoke about a woman whose life had been marked by tragedy. Hardship in a third-world country had been followed by years of further suffering—the deaths of her husband and son among them. The woman stoically told the missionary, I have no more tears to

  • A Fountain of Life

    A Fountain of Life By Stephen Rankin   “The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, so that one may avoid the snares of death.” Proverbs 13:14   Across the years, I have benefitted tremendously from people who gave me their time, attention, and perspectives on life. As

  • Wisdom’s Otherness: The Lessons of Gabriel Marcel

    The esteemed historian H. Stuart Hughes once argued that Gabriel Marcel—the father of Christian existentialism (a category that Marcel ironically rejected) and decorated author of more than one hundred plays, books, and essays—represented the pinnacle of Catholic thought in twentieth-century France. Marcel’s works, The Mystery of Being, The Existential Background

  • Accounts of Premortality?

    The following originally appeared on Sic et Non. CLICK HERE to read more.  Here are a few more passages that I marked while reading P.M.H. Atwater, The Big Book of Near-Death Experiences: The Ultimate Guide to What Happens When We Die (Charlottesville, VA: Hampton Roads Publishing Company, 2007).   As

  • Friends We Can’t Do Without

    Friends We Can’t Do Without by Mike Powers Recently, I was texting with four friends I have known since the mid-1970’s when I became the youth director in their church. Separated by miles we often text back and forth with running commentary during games involving our favorite teams. We love