Where was God in Sandy Hook?

Posted by on Dec 24, 2012 in Articles, Exhortations, Meditations | 1 comment I grow so tired of the question, “Where was God in Sandy Hook?” Where was God in Sandy Hook? He was there in every single closet and cupboard and bathroom, standing with those poor children, just as He shall the rest of their unfathomably traumatized lives. He will comfort and heal, long after we forget this terrible, dark day. Where was He? He was standing beside those brave...
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A World Aflame with Words

Posted by on May 22, 2012 in Articles, Exhortations, Links, Meditations, Poetry, Questions | 49 comments A World Aflame with Words: Musing on Malcolm Guite’s “On being told my poetry was found in a broken photo-copier” Note: By day, I work as a high school English teacher, regularly cajoling, threatening, wooing, enticing, bribing, and even tricking teenagers into reading thoroughly and, if and when at all possible, enjoying their reading, especially poetry. As such, I covet such kind thoughts...
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Some Time Still

Posted by on Apr 18, 2012 in Articles, Exhortations, Meditations, Poetry, Uncategorized | 251 comments Many thanks again, both to Kelly Belmonte for prodding me to guest post, and to Holly Ordway for indefatigable help in editing a half a dozen drafts of this! Some Time Still Emily Dickinson says: The soul selects her own society, Then shuts the door; On her divine majority Obtrude no more. Unmoved, she notes the chariot’s pausing At her low gate; Unmoved, an emperor is kneeling Upon her...
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In the Face of What Devils May Do: C. S. Lewis’ Re-Adjustment and the Defeat of Despair

Posted by on Mar 19, 2012 in Articles, Exhortations, Meditations, Poetry, Questions | 115 comments Many thanks to Kelly Belmonte for her offer to guest for her fantastic, intrigiuing, and very redemptively challenging blog All Nine.  Here’s what I wrote for her: I have been grappling recently with a cycle of unpublished sonnets by Joy Davidman, Lewis’ future wife, and in so doing have delved back again into Lewis’ sometimes troubling, sometimes transcendent poetry. When her kind...
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Diabolical Devotions: Subverted Spirituality in The Screwtape Letters

Posted by on Jan 23, 2012 in Articles, Exhortations | 1,956 comments   On 22 January 2012, I enjoyed the privilege of speaking to a fine group of folks who gathered at Spring Branch Presbyterian Church.  Many thanks to Nina Rach for the invitation, Lori Tischler for the help and enthusiasm, to Heather Hughes for asking for audio, to Jackie Ballesteros for the support in making all the arrangements, to Pastor Laurey...
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On Hope

Posted by on Jan 11, 2012 in Articles, Exhortations, Meditations, Uncategorized | 1,656 comments I have this rather vexed relationship with hope. I’m the kid who always wished on falling stars, who screwed his eyes up tight on birthdays thinking that might help the wishes to come true. The one who pulled up dandelions at every chance I got and took the deepest breath I could so I might blow off every seed and see what I most hope for come true. I aspire. The Latin has this just right:...
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