Plough Books: Articles and book excerpts

Three for Summer

- City Music
- Seagull Sunrise
- Puppy Love

A Hebrew Prayer

My father, a Holocaust survivor, recently sent me his translation of part of a prayer religious Jews around the world say before going to bed

A Better Way

Both my parents were in London during the bombing in World War II. Through that experience they came to realize that war never leads to a better way.

Streams of Living Water

The Pentecostal spring of the first Christian church contrasts sharply with the icy rigidity of our Christianity today.

Don’t get lost!

Does living one day at a time, as I do now, risk the security of a well-planned, smoothly-run future? Do I miss knowing what’s next? To be honest, Yes.

A Grandfather’s Legacy

At a time when thousands of young men and women my age are being sent to Afghanistan in a ‘surge’ to combat the Taliban, the question of war and military service is never far from...

Sell All That You Have?

How can Jesus’ commandment to “sell all that you have and give it to the poor” be applied today in our competitive society of private enterprise?

Should the Pope Resign?

Cries for the Pope to step down over the clergy abuse scandal are not about righting wrongs, but about silencing a man and a church...

Dare to Live It!

We live in challenging times. As the powers of evil destroy our world it is increasingly urgent for each of us to make a decisive stand...

Forgiveness, Hope, and Auschwitz

You don’t “visit” Auschwitz. You don’t willingly enter the site of greatest evil and suffering the planet has held.

My Haiti

Three months from receiving my diploma at an upper-crust uni prep programme in the UK, I quit.

Easter poems

- To Hold What?

- No Toll This Way

A Son Remembers

What is the significance of a man’s life? Many men have lived and died. Some of them were good fathers; some were kindly toward others...

Christ Restores

Christ alone can save us in this hour. He is perfect, forgiving love. Everything depends now on this one thing: Do you believe in Christ? Do you love Christ?

Fighter for Jesus

We need a commander who subdues our own flesh, and if you do not want Jesus Christ as your commander, then you can be as pious as you like, you will not enter the kingdom of God.

"I know where I'm going"

At the time of our wedding, we both felt that we could not take this step without God, without the Church. Our dependency on God must be absolute.

Trusting God

“I realised if I really want to put my whole trust in God, I can’t put my trust in medical help anymore...”

True Friendship

Detlef had a difficult life growing up in socialist East Germany. Abandoned by his momther and raised in a children's home, he refused to join the army...

Brother Enemy

Korea is not at the brink of war. It will soon be one nation. This might seem a far-fetched dream, but it could happen tomorrow.

My best friend Dan

The last deed I did for my best friend Dan was to carry his coffin to the cemetery today.

Why Innerland is Still Important

I don’t often weep, but when I do it is because something very deep inside me has been touched and released.

Special Challenges, Special Gifts

Having a son with a disability brings its own particular trials, as well as its own gifts and joys.

Works of Love

A glimpse into the lives of the first Christians, who took the hardest privations upon themselves to help others.

Living without Fear

Like sunshine over a valley, God’s great love spreads out over the whole earth. Do not live in fear.

The Spirit of Unity

The more original an individual is, the better. The greater the differences between people, the closer they can come to each other inwardly.

The Elixir of Long Life

When a disgruntled woodcarver sets off on a quest for a magic potion that will grant long life, he gets more than he reckoned for.

Against Impatience

The kingdom of God makes no call upon human strength or the exertions of the flesh. It makes us quiet - and this is the hardest thing for us.

A Visit to Pyongyang

It was like visiting a different world; very close but unfamiliar. I hope one day that I can meet the people there without all these barriers, just as brothers.

Five for Summer

An optimistic bore, a boulder and a grassy field, fiddleheads, and a summer storm bring these poems of summer alive.

Re-founding Fathers

To be a father is to fulfill a noble vocation. Once we become fathers, we remain fathers until we die...