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This month we complete a line change on the Perspectives hockey squad. In an accompanying column we offer homage to Fran Fike, our outgoing poetry editor. Here it is my pleasure, but also sad duty, to say farewell to David Timmer in his role as co-editor of this journal. A pleasure because David is exactly the sort of unassuming but skilled craftsman that goes under-noticed in our culture, until his absence begins to tell. Just the sort, therefore, that deserves…

With this issue of Perspectives we bid a fond adieu to our longtime Poetry Editor, Fran Fike. The name of Francis G. Fike first appeared on the editorial masthead in the April 1995 edition, which means that Fran has worked on over 100 issues of Perspectives even as he has seamlessly transitioned through several different configurations of our board. As such, Fran has been a source of continuity across the years, helping new editors find their way and welcoming new…

The anesthesiologist, I thought, looked competent. He had introduced himself shortly after the nurse in pre-op had managed to pull my wedding ring off. "The biggest danger in removing an adrenal gland and an attached pheochromocytoma is a blood-pressure crisis. When the surgeon clamps off the blood vessel running from the adrenal, he will step back, and we will all watch what your blood pressure does. You have to know that Dr. Rodriguez is an excellent surgeon. And I see…

JANUARY 2006: ESSAY by Rosemarie van der Jagt and Christopher R. Smit Only a week had gone by since my summer research project had begun, and already I was unconvinced by the arguments I was beginning to hear. I was initially excited to expand my knowledge of disability--that's why I agreed to be part of the project. The professor with whom I was working, Dr. Christopher Smit, had challenged my assumptions about the treatment of difference within society, and more…

In preparing for today, I've decided that preaching just one sermon on living with cancer is as challenging as living with cancer! At my pharmacy this year, for several months there's been a big sign at the front door that says, "Nothing is more important than your health." Now I understand the wisdom of that statement. And I understand why one can be enthused about such a statement; health is important. But on behalf of many I want to say…

JANUARY 2006: POETRY -- and he cried with a loud voice: Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees -- -- Revelation They are cutting down the great plane-trees at the end of the gardens. For days there has been the grate of the saw, the swish of the branches as they fall, The crash of the trunks, the rustle of trodden leaves, With the 'Whoops' and the 'Whoas', the loud common talk, the loud common laughs of…

JANUARY 2006: REVIEW Stanley Grenz's untimely death in the spring of 2005 deprived the church of an eloquent theological voice that expressed the perceptions of a penetrating mind fed by the springs of a pious heart. The revised, second edition of Prayer: The Cry for the Kingdomoffers a fitting memorial to the central focus of Dr. Grenz's career as a pastor-theologian: authentic communion with the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Grenz composed the first edition of Prayer (1988) as…

My husband and I are expecting our first child any day now. Carrying a child during the Advent season offers one a new perspective on the arrival of the Messiah--and this new perspective has led me to focus my attention not to the center of the nativity scene but to the outskirts. I was busy working one day, putting away gifts we have received from various showers. As I stood looking into our almost full closet of clothes, toys, and…