• 1) I find biographies easy to read when I’m too worn out to read heavier genres like theology, philosophy, history, etc. 2) I get to “hang out” with and learn from men and women who lived exceptional lives. 3) I get to experience places and cultures and events through the […]

  •   Today marks ten years since that fateful day. Six years ago today, I published my experience of 9/11. A portion follows here: September 11, 2001, 9.55 am: I walk into my Biblical Foundations class at university and overhear a classmate saying something about a terrorist strike. I also hear […]

  • I scarfed down my last bite and dashed toward the car, grabbing my stuff on the way out. Within a few minutes I was walking into the room where the others had already gathered to pray. As I sat down, my thoughts were scattered, my emotions rattled, and my heart […]

  • It’s a funny thing about life. It’s easy to judge someone… until you know them. We were living in close quarters and he really got under my skin. He wasn’t likeable like the others were. He didn’t go with the flow. He wasn’t fun to be around. He had issues. […]

  • It was on the lawn in front of the Silverstream Manse that I lost my faith in the unimpeachable excellence of cleanliness. Cleanliness is a good thing; but, like most good things, it can be overdone. We were lounging under the shade of a giant elm—Sidwell, Clive Hislop, John Broadbanks […]

  • It was the deliberate opinion of Charley Bates, the pickpocket, that Bill Sikes’ dog was ‘an out-and-out Christian.’ ‘He wouldn’t so much as bark in a witness-box for fear of committing himself; no, not if you tied him up in one, and left him there without vittles for a fortnight,’ […]

  • I had intended to post the next selection from the writings of F. W. Boreham today, but I’ve pushed it back to tomorrow because of how last week’s discussions here at InFocus (see here and here) and Jeremy’s post yesterday have raised the issue of online discussion. I think there […]

  • It was the first Sunday of the New Year, and this was how it opened! On roads and footpaths the snow was already many inches deep; the fields were a sheet of blinding whiteness; and the flakes were still falling as though they never meant to stop. As the caretaker […]

  • It is an evil thing and a bitter to frighten Timothy. And it is woefully easy to do. Timothy is very young. He always was! He always will be! Timothy has solved the problem of perpetual youth. He will never grow old. He was very young when he went up […]

  • Before I went to bed on Friday night, I noticed the Oslo bombing in the headlines. But my heart sank as I pulled up the news on Saturday morning to discover the extent of the carnage and the events that followed. I felt a deep sense of sadness as I […]