Leo Tolstoy: A Modern Ecclesiastes
A traveller walking through the desert suddenly finds himself encountering a raging beast. In a panic, the traveller leaps into a nearby dried-up well to hide. He hangs onto a small bush that grows out of the crevice till the coast is clear. He is safe, for now. But, to his horror, the man hears…
Get Married: Surprising Statistics
Everyone knows that getting married means surrendering your freedom, losing independence, and dooming yourself to a life of limited career options, unsatisfying sex, and monotonous doldrums, right? Don’t most marriages end in divorce anyways? Why suffer the institution of a bygone era that cements you into a legal relationship? Well, Brad Wilcox, a Professor of…
The Elixir by George Herbert
Teach me, my God and King, In all things Thee to see, And what I do in anything To do it as for Thee. Not rudely, as a beast, To run into an action; But still to make Thee prepossest, And give it his perfection. A man that looks on glass, On it may stay…
My Favorite Books of 2023
It is always fun to compile a list of favorite books at the end of a year. These aren’t books that were published this year, only books I read this year. This year, I’m going to section my favorites into different categories. Devotional Christian Non-Fiction Memoir Fiction Non-Fiction Honorable Mention:
Lead Us, Evolution, Lead Us!
Lead us, Evolution, lead usUp the future’s endless stair;Chop us, change us, prod us, weed us.For stagnation is despair:Groping, guessing, yet progressing,Lead us nobody knows where. Wrong or justice, joy or sorrow,In the present what are theywhile there’s always jam-tomorrow,While we tread the onward way?Never knowing where we’re going,We can never go astray. To whatever…
On Time by John Milton
Fly envious Time, till thou run out thy race, Call on the lazy leaden-stepping hours, Whose speed is but the heavy Plummets pace; And glut thy self with what thy womb devours, Which is no more then what is false and vain, And meerly mortal dross; So little is our loss, So little is thy gain. For when as each thing bad thou…
Break, Blow, Burn and Make Me New
Batter my heart, three-person’d God, for youAs yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend;That I may rise and stand, o’erthrow me, and bendYour force to break, blow, burn, and make me new.I, like an usurp’d town to another due,Labor to admit you, but oh, to no end;Reason, your viceroy in me, me should…
“Friday Morning” by Sydney Carter
1 It was on a Friday morning That they took me from the cell, And I saw they had a carpenter To crucify as well. You can blame it on to Pilate, You can blame it on the Jews, You can blame it on the Devil, It’s God I accuse. It’s God they ought to…
“Christ’s Nativity” by Henry Vaughan
Awake, glad heart! get up and sing! It is the birth-day of thy King. Awake! awake! The Sun doth shake Light from his locks, and all the way Breathing perfumes, doth spice the day. Awake, awake! hark how th’ wood rings; Winds whisper, and the busy springs A concert make; Awake! awake! Man is their high-priest, and should rise To offer up the sacrifice. I…
My 10 Favorite Books this Year (2022)
Reading is a sweet gift. And while I always feel like I am in a serious “book debt” (always more books to read than I have time), it is fun to look back and reflect on what my favorite reads were from the last year. These are not limited to books that were published in…
“The Agony” by George Herbert
Jesus holds out a cup towards us and says, “Taste this blessing.” Yet, when the cup comes around to Jesus, there is no blessing, there is only wrath.
“Invictus” by William Ernest Henley
Out of the night that covers me,Black as the pit from pole to pole,I thank whatever gods may beFor my unconquerable soul. In the fell clutch of circumstanceI have not winced nor cried aloud.Under the bludgeonings of chanceMy head is bloody, but unbowed. Beyond this place of wrath and tearsLooms but the Horror of the…
Art Explained: Crucifixion
The painting below, Charles Lutyen’s Crucifixion, is one of the more jarring depictions of the death of Christ. The fear, pain, and utter bewilderment are powerfully etched on the faces of the mourners at Christ’s feet. Not only are they witnessing the death of who they thought was their Messiah, but they are witnessing the death of…
“When I Consider How My Light Is Spent” by John Milton
When I consider how my light is spent, Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide, And that one Talent which is death to hide Lodged with me useless, though my Soul more bentTo serve therewith my Maker, and present My true account, lest he returning chide; “Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?” …
Entertaining Ourselves to Death: The Supersensorium
Does Art still matter today? In the vast tubes of the internet, I stumbled across this incredibly thought-provoking long-form essay, “Enter the Supersensorium: The Neuroscientific Case for Art in the Age of Netflix” by neuroscientist Erik Hoel. It is just over 7,000 words (about a 45-minute read), and wades into some dense neuroscientific jungles (gamma-aminobutyric…
What’s the Point of Beauty?
Art, beauty, aesthetics–these do not provide much for us in the way of utility and functionality, at least if we are thinking of those terms in their strictest of definitions. And yet, God seems to have filled our world with an abundance of beauty. We are naturally drawn to create art, to order our world…
“Good Friday” by Christina Rossetti
Am I a stone, and not a sheep,That I can stand, O Christ, beneath Thy cross,To number drop by drop Thy blood’s slow loss,And yet not weep? Not so those women lovedWho with exceeding grief lamented Thee;Not so fallen Peter, weeping bitterly;Not so the thief was moved; Not so the Sun and MoonWhich hid their…
“Love (III)” by George Herbert
Love bade me welcome. Yet my soul drew back Guilty of dust and sin.But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack From my first entrance in,Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning,…
10 Tips to Become a Better Reader
When I was younger, Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies were releasing, and I remember someone recommending that I should try to read the books because they were far better. I (much to my later chagrin) responded, “Why read a book when you could just watch a movie?” For shame. For shame. If you know me now,…
Why The Brothers Karamazov Is Worth Reading
Why Reading Brothers is Hard The Brothers Karamazov can be an intimidating book to read. Dostoevsky’s writing can seem strange at points. The explosive, dramatic, and perverse characters are jarring and often alienating; Dostoevsky’s penchant for describing pathetic and emotionally painful scenes is unsettling; and the labyrinthine story with the ever-shifting Russian names, dense monologues,…
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Marc Sims 