Ben Ratliff

1 month ago | lithub.com | Ben Ratliff

William DeVaughn’s “Be Thankful for What You Got”: the song, and the whole album of the same name. I start it at the three-way intersection near home, running in place as I do out of superstition and while waiting for the sparse traffic to clear, wanting to hear the sound of the record without thinking of the lyrics, or even of the title of the song, and I laugh through my mask—a bandanna—when its message sinks in.

Jan 7, 2025 | theaquilareport.com | Ben Ratliff

Men, pay attention: don’t waste your marriage. Don’t settle for a life of comfort and consumption. You were made for more than this. Your marriage was made for more than this. In today’s culture, marriage is little more than a mutual agreement to share a life and expenses while grinding away at work and playing hard on the weekend. A partnership of convenience, stripped of higher purpose, with mutual affection, or even love, mixed in. You know this couple. You may be this couple.

Dec 11, 2024 | reformingmen.com | Ben Ratliff

Imagine standing before God, not with your Sunday best or your list of accomplishments, but with your heart laid bare. What would He see? This isn't about accolades or outward show; it's about who you are. In Romans 2:28-29, Paul strips away the facade, challenging us to consider what it really means to be a man of God.

Nov 14, 2024 | wfit.org | Ben Ratliff

Roy Haynes, the pioneering jazz drummer who performed with legends like Charlie Parker, Lester Young and Sarah Vaughan, died Tuesday at the age of 99. His death was confirmed by his daughter, Leslie Haynes-Gilmore, to WRTI's Nate Chinen. To listen to any part of Roy Haynes' drumming individually is to confront something important about jazz and what it can contain.

Nov 13, 2024 | wgbh.org | Ben Ratliff

November 13, 2024 Roy Haynes, the pioneering jazz drummer who performed with legends like Charlie Parker, Lester Young and Sarah Vaughan, died Tuesday at the age of 99. His death was confirmed by his daughter, Leslie Haynes-Gilmore, to WRTI’s Nate Chinen. To listen to any part of Roy Haynes’ drumming individually is to confront something important about jazz and what it can contain.