Author Archives: jackpelham

Out in the wild,Where no self-respecting city Would want to live—Where man seems the intruder,And all his noise a sin— One can discover—If he has learned to quiet his soulAnd sink himself into the grass—That the EarthHas something to say.

As it happens, some of us,On our way through this lifeWill work the great puzzles of this world,And some will not.

People hold on to all manner of ideasThroughout their lives—Sometimes going decades withoutStopping to reconsiderOr to correct an erroneous one. And this they often doWith no apparent effort,Having performed no great feat To hold the idea.

People do what they do,Think what they think,Decide what they decide,And believe what they believe— And with varying degrees of convictionAs to both the proper level Of quality control for it all,And the question of whetherThey’ll ever have toGive an … Continue reading →

It seems I’ve met a million Christians Who tell me thatThe Holy Spirit enables themIn sound interpretation of scripture. And it seems I’ve met approximately zeroWhose interpretation seems to beOf other-worldly keenness—Inerrant,Authoritative,Consistent. Perhaps we do not really understandThis famous indwellingMuch … Continue reading →

She might boast, I suppose,That she’s a thousand feet deepAnd twelve times the size of Manhattan—Or that she’s only twelve miles fromThose holy ruins— Or that she’s fed by the famed and holy river—Or that she is always calm,And her … Continue reading →

There comes that momentIn the consideration of a thingWhen a man tells himselfHe understands it.

It’s a funny thing about the writer—Who knew how to put his fingerOn something we could not—To see a thing we had not yet seen—To fill in the blanksAbout which we had only wondered so far—

If he tastes and sees that the Lord is good,Will he not take more? Yet, year after year,He takes no more—So far as we can see—Even as he assures us that“The Lord is good, indeed!”And makes excuses as to whyHe … Continue reading →

I re-post this 2021 post from my Facebook page in honor of my son James’ 19th birthday. My son’s a man today, in conventional thinking. But he does not come by it suddenly. It did not come upon him all … Continue reading →