Articles By: John Blase

Deus Interruptus

Just yesterday morning I was making a case for myself before God when this woodpecker started his racket, completely spoiling the sweet moment I was milking before the Divine. But now that I think about it, maybe that was the Holy Spirit who finally got bored with the tired routine of shy dove/wild...

May 5th, 2013 | Poetry | Read More

The Kids in America

Rob Bell. Mark Driscoll. Don Miller. Rachel Held Evans. These are just a few of the names of those who’ve been the direct targets of what author Karen Spears Zacharias described as ‘internet gang rape’. (Editor’s Note: It should mentioned Karen was also victim of this phenomenon.) In the...

August 18th, 2011 | Essays, Featured | Read More

he said, He said…

Do you want to know who has caused me to think about Jesus lately? Hold on, here goes – Charlie Sheen. No, Jesus was never in a long-running sitcom (that I’m aware of) and no, Jesus wasn’t addicted to coke and no, Jesus’ dad isn’t named Martin. If you burn off some of that...

March 29th, 2011 | Essays, Featured | Read More

Lenten Flap

But in Tolstoy, just as in Plato and Plotinus, the thought of death is accompanied by a particular sentiment, by a kind of consciousness that, even while horror rose before them, wings were growing in their backs. - Lev Shestov, “A Letter to His Daughters” I’m a likable cuss, but I’m...

March 17th, 2011 | Essays, Featured | Read More

Do You Believe?

Linus: I don’t know, Charlie Brown. Remember what Lucy said? This doesn’t seem to fit the modern spirit. Charlie Brown: I don’t care. We’ll decorate it and it’ll be just right for our play. Besides, I think it needs me. I watch Schulz’s gem every year. Its one of...

December 24th, 2010 | Essays, Featured | Read More

Reckoning at Eventide

The sun was dying away they had all gone by then my day’s work done the Jordan stilled. I shook myself dry a final time that’s when the stones awoke with echoes they’d pocketed all day - repent! repent! repent! Another man might think himself crazy in that moment but not me, not the...

December 23rd, 2010 | Poetry | Read More

Lee’s Side

Her note held no regret, just explanation: The wind. I could no longer stand the wind. Our union stood three years, survivors lashed together living bent against the onslaught. But she finally cut loose. I do not blame her, she did not grow up under the wind. The postcard came months later, sent from...

November 21st, 2010 | Featured, Fiction & Poetry, Poetry | Read More

Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose…

Friday Night Lights is, in my opinion, one of the best shows in television history. Its last season begins soon, the final drive. I can’t recall exactly how and when I was landed, but I am – hook, line, and sinker. Some have called it “the little show that could” because it survived...

October 29th, 2010 | Arts, Featured, Television | Read More

It’s Time

Like the evening summer sun, my bronzed hands and forearms gently fade and pale. We both sense it, the sun and I. It’s fine. It’s time. We could rage against the dying, as some are prone to do, but why? Old John Donne believed it’s always autumn in heaven, no buds or flowers, only fruit fully ripe. I...

September 13th, 2010 | Featured, Fiction & Poetry, Poetry | Read More

The Beautiful Fall

We speak of the fall, and I think he did that man born a man and never a kid. He tended the garden according to plan, but lonely was he, this overalled man. The bones all around him just slightly askew - the grizzly, the wild hare, the common house shrew. So one weary day he left barrow and tool, took...

September 2nd, 2010 | Poetry | Read More