Ben Palpant

This weekend I finished Ben Palpant’s book A Little Cup of Light. His writing is lovely and deep… and what he suffered through and what God showed of himself to Ben gave me much to think about.

Something from the book:

“Yes, we are raw. Yes, we are in the dark belly of a whale. Yes, we ache. Who can be Jesus' "little sunbeam" at such a time? Would Jesus even want such a thing? He is after much more than happiness in our lives. He is after a sustaining joy and he will give us that joy by giving us himself, whether through the small gifts of life that bring us gladness or through the dark night of suffering. Sweeping affliction under the rug of our heart, therefore, is simple denial, an act of cowardice, and act of ungratefulness. We must dare to look it square in the eyes.” from the book.

After I finished the book, I looked him up and discovered his poetry films. Here are few of the films that I was taken by. He has also written a couple of books that look good. Here is an excerpt from his book about reclaiming the past called Honey From a Lion’s Mouth: On Remembering and Reclaiming our Past. (encouraging!).

Just the other day I realized that the Rabbit Room was doing a book group with his latests book Letters from the Mountain. That looks good, too. Although I really want to read more of his poetry.

Lancia Smith at Cultivating interviewed him. It’s a wonderful… her thoughtful questions and his honest words that are humble, wise, thoughtful. To sound rather cliche, I am at once both encouraged and challenged. And now I know I need to read his new book Letters from the Mountain.