Challies Dot Com

A Word about Free Will

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 09:04:00 -0500

Today I want to step into dangerous territory and discuss free will. This is a massive topic with implications that stretch to almost every part of the Christian faith. I want to look at just one small part of it. I want to deal with a statement I've heard and read time and again. I came across this most recently when reading C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity. "Free will," he says, "though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having." If God had not given us free will, such people say, we could not truly have loved him. Our love would be the love of robots, of automatons, love that would be neither genuine nor sincere. It would be a meaningless, forced love which in reality would be no love at all. This is what we are told. I want to suggest today that the Bible does not tell us one way or another. This may be a valid inference, but it is one that is not explicit in Scripture and, hence, one we should be hesitant to declare with great confidence.

I am writing today knowing that I could be wrong and inviting you to show me if that is, indeed, the case.

My line of reasoning will go like this. If this statement is true, it casts doubt on the manner and sincerity of the Christian's love of God in heaven. Therefore, if this statement is untrue of the heavenly man, it may also be untrue of the earthly man.

It was Augustine of Hippo who first described the four states of man. They are most easily understood when put into the form of a table like this one:

Adam and Eve were in what Thomas Boston calls a state of "primitive integrity," able to choose whether they would sin or not sin. They were able to sin but were also able to not sin. The choice lay before them and we know which path they chose. Adam's decision cast man into a state of "entire depravity" in which people can no longer make such a choice. Man is now able to sin and unable to not sin. There is not a person on earth who can go a lifetime without sinning; neither is there one who would wish to. Our very natures have become sinful. However, those who are born again, who are regenerated by the Spirit of God, are in a state of "begun recovery" (again, according to Boston) and every moment of every day face a choice. They are able to sin but are also able not to sin. Experience and observation shows that Christians sometimes make one choice and sometimes make another. Their new natures give them the ability to choose to not sin, but the old man constantly fights back, pushing to choose what is sinful. But all the while Christians look forward to the day of "consummate happiness" in heaven when they will be able to not sin and unable to sin. God will grant them the ability to not sin and will remove any vestige of desire to sin. This is one of the great promises of heaven, that "He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away (Revelation 21:4)."

It is this final part of the grid that causes me to wonder if our love truly had to be entirely free for it to be genuine. After all, as Christians we look with great anticipation to the day when our sin will be taken away and we will no longer even be able to sin. At this time will our love for God be more genuine or less genuine? Will we love God more or less than we love him now? When we read Scripture and, with great anticipation look to the passages that describe heaven, we can only conclude that our love for God today is only a shadow of the love we will have for him in that day. And yet it will be a love that is restricted by our sinless natures--a love that will not allow us to ever sin or even consider sin.

As I understand it, Augustine would agree with me here. He would say that the ability to sin is not essential to free will. After all, God is free but without the ability to sin. The angels are free but without any ability to sin. And, as we've established, we will be free in heaven, but not free to sin.

All of this to say that I simply do not find that we need to believe that the only love worth having is a love that can choose not to love.

But feel free to tell me if and how I'm wrong here...

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A La Carte (1/5)

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 07:52:00 -0500

Orphan 32: A Story of Providence
The Ottawa Citizen has the amazing story of "Nguyen Ngoc Minh Thanh was one of 57 children airlifted to Canada from Saigon in 1975. Embraced by a loving family, he wanted for nothing. Well, almost nothing: The story of his life -- hardly a fairy tale -- was missing its first few chapters."

How to Pray for your Pastor
Ligon Duncan gives 17 different ways that you can pray for your pastor.

Playboy's in Trouble...and it's not Good News
Carl Trueman writes about the fact that Playboy magazine is in financial difficulties but also tells why this isn't quite a good reason to crack open the champagne.

One-to-One Bible Reading and Prayer
An article from Matthias Media looks at one-to-one Bible reading and prayer, its benefits and why we don't invest more time in it.

Free Audio: Abandoned to God
This month's free download for Christian Audio is David McCasland's Abandoned to God, a biography of Oswald Chambers. I've read the book and definitely recommend it.

The Worst Climate Predictions of 2008
Here are a few of the funniest, most irrational predictions about the climate in 2008. For example, Tim Flannery was named Australia's Man of the Year in 2007 after predicting this: "Australia's Cities Will Run Out of Drinking Water Due to Global Warming."

Interview with Justin Reimer
Alex Chediak interviews Justin Reimer of The Elisha Foundation, an excellent organization that exists to serve the families of children with special needs.

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A Blog Is Born

Sun, 04 Jan 2009 13:34:00 -0500

Continued from yesterday and the day before.

And so it was that I found myself an entrepreneur--the owner of my own company. The story of this little company cannot be separated from the story of this blog. I've told the story of this blog's early days, but will tell it again here.

In September of 2002 I decided, rather on the spur of the moment as I recall, to begin my own web site. I really knew very little about web sites but thought maintaining one might prove to be a fun distraction for me and one that would allow me to hone my design skills. My parents and four siblings had recently moved down to the Atlanta area and, with a one-year old son and with my wife pregnant again, I thought I would use the site as a photo gallery to post pictures of this growing family. Since this was going to be a site by family and for family I spent thirty five dollars to reserve the family name, choosing the domain challies.com. Using some borrowed web space, I pieced together a really bad little site. I uploaded a few photos and over the next few months updated the site every now and again, adding a new set of pictures or writing the occasional personal comment.

As the months passed I continued to update the site, but did so only every few weeks. It was really a sad little site in desperate need of attention. But I found that I did enjoy posting little updates on my family when I got around to doing so. In late 2003 I heard a new word in the media. This word, blog, sounded intriguing. I inadvertently stumbled across one of these blogs, one day, while doing some research and realized that it was really not much different from my site and from what I was already doing. The only real difference was that blogs offered the ability for people reading the site to interact with the content by posting their own comments. That seemed like a great idea, so I installed some blogging software and began calling my site a blog. When I posted an article my mother or my wife would post a little "Good job!" comment for me. But I still didn't update it much.

October 31, 2003 was a pivotal day. I decided that day that I should get serious about this blogging thing and committed to either blogging every day for a year or giving up and getting rid of the site altogether. So I wrote an article on November 1, November 2, November 3...and before I knew it, it was a year later and I was still going. I recommitted in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008. That was over five years ago and I'm still blogging every day and look forward to doing so almost every day.

It was only because I was self-employed that I was able to dedicate the time to writing. Had I been working a nine to five kind of job, there is no way that I would have been able to make time for a job, a life and a blog. But being self-employed afforded me the opportunity to carve a little bit of time out of my day for writing. Had I not been laid off in 2002, this blog would never have taken off.

It came as a great shock to me that, when I began to write, people began to read the site--people I didn't know and people from all around the world. Before I knew it I had twenty people reading my site every day. Then it was fifty and a hundred and a thousand and two thousand and five thousand and ten thousand...and then it occurred one day that my site had become one of the most widely-visited Christian blogs. I realized that I had been plunked into the center of something that was getting really big really quickly. I was a strange and almost terrifying thought to me.

When I began my web site I had no plan for it but to post pictures of my children. When I began writing I had no plan but to give my family and immediate friends the occasional article to read. Yet it has grown into something so much more. A quick search of the Net will turn up all kinds of articles telling you how you can quickly create a blog that is widely-read and influential. Apparently there are certain shortcuts a blogger can take. The thing is, I didn't know about any of this when I began and have done very little to deliberately promote the site. I just kept writing. That's all I've done and all I've wanted to do. And I guess that's what I'm going to keep doing until it becomes clear that the time has come to do something else.

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Effectual Worrying

Sat, 03 Jan 2009 09:35:00 -0500

Continued from yesterday...

It was almost seven years ago that I was laid off and started my own company. I began without money and without loans. Since that time we have never lacked for anything important. There have been times where we have had to be frugal to get by, but God has always provided.

It is rare, I think, to receive such a dramatic and instantaneous answer to prayer. God had clearly orchestrated that day's events, down to the finest details of my prayer to Him, the company's decision to cut my department, and even my friend's schedule so that he just happened to be outside my building at the right moment. It was truly an amazing day.

In many ways I give this background information with an overwhelming sense of shame.

It was not long after all of this that I began I began to worry. Not the kind of worry where I might think the occasional thought about a dwindling bank account, but the kind of worry where I would wake up at night bathed in sweat, wondering how I could possibly make ends meet. I would suffer ravaging headaches as I worried about how I would come up with another $400 by the end of the month. Every few days I would draw up a list of all the money we had in our accounts and all the bills we had owing and feel a flutter in my heart as I saw the obvious discrepancy. I would attempt to forecast our finances over a week, month or year and would always see how we would inevitably fall short.

God gave me many reasons to trust his providence. There was never a time when we were a day or two away from needing rent money and did not have it. Never once did we have a check bounce and never once did we have to miss paying a bill (though, through lack of faith, I would sometimes allow bills to collect on my desk for a month or two before paying them). I cannot remember even having a really close call. We never borrowed money; we never had to rely on other people's gifts.

And still I worried. It is only in more recent days that I came to see that I truly felt my worrying was somehow effectual. Effectual worrying: let me explain that term. Effectual means "Successful in bringing about a desired effect." It means "Producing or capable of producing an intended result or having a striking effect." I honestly believed that my worrying was somehow making the difference - that my worrying was bringing about the result of having enough money. If I were to stop worrying, I felt, the money would dry up. If I stopped making my little lists of assets and expenses, I would one day wake up to find out that our rent check had bounced. If I stopped worrying, God would surely stop providing. I truly believed that my worrying was effectual, bringing about what I desired. I had to worry, didn't I?

Every now and then I would think back to the beginnings of my company and see how clearly God had answered prayer, and what was no doubt a faulty and selfish prayer at that, and I would feel guilty. And well I should have, for God had left me a pillar, a milestone that I could refer to that would show me just how obvious it was that He was in this with me. When I felt myself worrying I should have been able to look back to His answer to the first prayer and have confidence that He would provide.

But I didn't. I continued to worry.

I am grateful to say that in the years that followed, God helped me grow up. Through reading good books, through studying his Word, through getting to know him better, I was able to surrender all of these worries to God. This is not to say that I now lead a life completely free from worry, but that I really no longer stress about finances. We do not have a lot of extra money, yet when friends or family are in need, we have often felt blessed to be able to help them. Our prayer has been "just enough." We ask God that He would give us "just enough" and allow Him to define "enough" as He sees fit. He continues to surprise and delight.

Worrying is a dead end. There is no benefit to worrying. Worrying does bring about all sorts of effects, but never the desired ones. Worrying brings physical and emotional stress, it damages interpersonal relationships and, for more seriously, separates us from the Lord. It brings about no benefit. I am thankful that God has helped me to see the wisdom of Job - the wisdom that opposes worry. "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." I learned to surrendered to God's control, to God's providence, and have found that when God is in control there is really nothing to worry about.

To be continued (and completed) tomorrow...

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An Answer to Prayer

Fri, 02 Jan 2009 08:42:00 -0500

In April of 2002 I was bored. Not just a little bored either, but mind-numbingly, depressingly, discouragingly bored. Having recently been laid off from a job I had held for several years, I was now working at a new job where I was system administrator at a small company in downtown Oakville. Though the pay was good and the office's location was great, the job itself was terribly drab. It was repetitive and boring--there was little to stimulate an active mind. The quality of my work began to suffer as boredom prevailed. I found myself in the unenviable position of knowing that I was expendable to the company. I did not have enough to do, but knew that if I went to my boss and told him this, I would effectively be writing my own pink slip. I tried to keep busy but with little success. So I sat in my windowless basement office, dealing with terrible headaches from the noise of the forty computers I shared an office with, and waited for the day to end. And always I felt just a little bit guilty for not putting in, and not being able to put in, an honest day's work.

Around this time I began to wonder if I should begin my own business. I began to pray for clarity and wisdom as I considered the joys and trials of being a small business owner. I am an enterprising sort and knew that being my own boss would fit my personality very well. One day, during my lunch break, I went out walking along the shores of Lake Ontario as I often did during my lunch breaks. I had taught myself the basics of web design and had been doing a small amount of this type of work on the side. I enjoyed the creativity it required and the challenge it presented. I was involved with a couple of companies for which I was doing part-time work with their computers and networks. As the work increased I began to think about the prospects of starting my own company. I desperately wanted to do something that I liked and something that would keep my mind active. I looked forward to the prospect of working from home and being able to be my own boss. It was about these issues that I prayed that day, asking God to give me clarity. I remember praying "God, please just make it crystal clear what you want me to do." I had a different view--a incomplete and perhaps irrational view--of God's guidance at that time and I suspect that I was asking God to tie a note around a brick and to heave that brick through my kitchen window. "Start your own business!" the note would thunder to me. Still, I did what I knew how to do, submitted myself to God's will, and returned to the office feeling encouraged.

Still uncertain of my future I walked into the office ready to finish out the day. No sooner had I walked in the door (five minutes early, as always) that I was told to see my manager immediately. I entered his office and found him sitting there with his boss who had apparently decided to fly up from headquarters in the States. I sat with a strange smirk on my face as I heard them say that my whole department was being closed down and that my manager was going to be the next to leave. As I heard their words I thought back to my prayer and I laughed. I even told them exactly what I was laughing about and how I had prayed about my future just moments before. They smiled politely, wished me the best and had someone accompany me to my desk to pick up my things.

As I was cleaning up my desk I dreaded having to call Aileen to tell her the news. She drove me to work each day and had the car, so I would have to share the news over the phone rather than telling her face-to-face where I knew I could comfort her. She was pregnant (and therefore maybe just a little bit more emotional than usual) and I did not want to have to share with her that I was out of work and then make her drive to get me.

As I fretted about this the phone rang. I discovered it was a close friend calling. He had never called me at work before, but said that he was at the traffic light outside my building and had just remembered something he had to ask me. I told him to pull into the parking lot and I would be right there! I grabbed my things, walked upstairs into the fresh, spring air and left the corporate world behind. Mere minutes after returning home and sharing the news with Aileen the phone rang once more and this time it was a friend calling to say that their company needed a new web site and someone who could contract with them to manage their network. And just like that my company was born.

To be continued tomorrow...

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Resolutions

Thu, 01 Jan 2009 14:19:00 -0500

Some years I make new years resolutions; some years I don't bother. This year I haven't sat down and narrowed in on one or two things I'd consider resolutions. Instead I am going to continue on a trajectory I began several months ago--a trajectory leading toward control and simplicity. In a wired, digital world, I've too often felt like technology owns me and drives me instead of the other way around. I've started to try to regain that sense of control, sometimes scaling back, sometimes changing the way I do things. I hope to continue that through 2009 and beyond.

Here are some things you may wish to do in the new year. I do believe I'll be doing some of them myself.

Read the Bible Using a Plan. Justin Taylor offers various ways of going through the Bible in a year.
Commit to Fasting. John Piper gives advice on how to fast and offers six good reasons to commit to doing it in 2009.
Pray. Piper dives into the Desiring God archives and offers up good suggestions on how to pray for other people (this year or any year).
Look Back and Look Forward. Ray Ortlund models this in a reflective blog post.
Make Resolutions. The Point blog quotes David Jeremiah and gives seven great resolutions you could make for 2009.
Keep Your Resolutions. Matt Perman gives advice on actually keeping your resolutions.

And through it all, keep your attention focused squarely on Christ. Lydia says this well. "If our 2008 retrospective is focused on ourselves, we are missing the point of discipleship. Cross bearing is about death, not self-improvement. The less we think about ourselves at all, the closer we get to true discipleship. ... As we consider our goals and hopes for 2009, how about putting this one at the top: 'For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain' (Phil 1:21)."

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The Unknown Waters of this Year

Wed, 31 Dec 2008 08:33:17 -0500

Yet another year is giving us its last gasps. Tonight we'll celebrate the passing of an old year and the dawning of a new one. It is a good occasion, a good opportunity, to reflect on the year that was and the year that will be. To that end, here is a prayer drawn from The Valley of Vision. It shares hope and encouragement for the new year. It is a good one to include in your prayers as you look forward to 2009.

O Lord,
Length of days does not profit me
except the days are passed in Thy presence,
in Thy service, to Thy glory.
Give me a grace that precedes, follows, guides,
sustains, sanctifies, aids every hour,
that I may not be one moment apart from Thee,
but may rely on Thy Spirit
to supply every thought,
speak in every word,
direct every step,
prosper every work,
build up every mote of faith,
and give me a desire
to show forth Thy praise;
testify Thy love,
advance Thy kingdom.

I launch my bark on the unknown waters of this year,
with Thee, O Father as my harbour,
Thee, O Son, at my helm,
Thee O Holy Spirit, filling my sails.
Guide me to heaven with my loins girt,
my lamp burning,
my ear open to Thy calls,
my heart full of love,
my soul free.

Give me They grace to sanctify me,
Thy comforts to cheer,
Thy wisdom to teach,
Thy right hand to guide,
Thy counsel to instruct,
Thy law to judge,
Thy presence to stabilize.
May Thy fear by my awe,
Thy triumphs my joy.

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The Best Measure

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 09:23:00 -0500

Continued from yesterday...

Every now and again my son decides the time is right to build a paper airplane air force. He raids my printer to get the stacks of paper he'll need and then opens up The Dangerous Book for Boys to try out some of the designs printed in that book. But after building a few of these he inevitably wants to try some new planes--some bombers or fighters, perhaps. So he and I head to Google and go searching for new and creative ways of building paper airplanes. There are all kinds of sites that show photographs of amazing designs and give instructions on how to build them. Some of the instructions are descriptive: "fold the paper in half lengthwise and then undo the folds. Now, fold the paper from the top corner to the crease and then halfway back again. Tear a small line between the corner and the centerline and fold that new section into three equal parts." And so it goes. We have found these instructions nearly impossible to follow. For all their best efforts, these sites cannot adequately describe how to build the planes. Far more helpful are the sites that offer videos or even animated graphic files that show the steps. This allows us to follow along, step-by-step, as the expert builds his plane and leads us with him. If you've ever tried to build Origami or other similar crafts you'll undoubtedly have encountered the same limitation--telling is rarely as useful as showing.

Yesterday I wrote about the potentially tragic consequences of using the wrong measure. You'll remember the story of the Gimli Glider, the airliner that ran out of fuel 5 miles above the earth because a fueling technician had made a simple error. He had used the wrong measure, dispatching the plane with 22,300 pounds of fuel instead of 22,300 kilograms. Only the skill of an outstanding pilot and God's kind providences kept the situation from turning tragic.

As we evaluate our lives and as we try to live in a way that pleases God, we are constantly measuring and weighing. We are holding ourselves up against a certain standard and seeing how we compare to it. There are times--too many times--that we or I, at any rate, don't let me speak for you, hold myself to the wrong standard. I compare myself to other people. I look to my friends or family or pastors or even complete strangers and compare myself to them. Often I come out looking pretty good. They are, after all, sinners just as I am. Their sin gives me hope and gives me peace. I may be a sinner, but at least I've never done that! Well, not recently, anyways. Or perhaps their godliness stirs my heart with envy. How could they be so immune to that this sin or that one? Why can't I be free from that sin? What does it say about me that I continue to struggle with it?

There is a great danger in this habit. As I look to others and as I measure my godliness, my growth in grace by the standard of other people, I may learn to despise their godliness and to rejoice in their sin. After all, if they are my standard, their growth in grace calls into question my own. At the same time, their fall into sin will gladden me as I rejoice in not having fallen so far or so hard. I've looked to the wrong standard and have reached the wrong goals.

God does not call me to hold myself to the standard set by other Christians. My task is not to look to them and measure myself by that standard. No, I am always to compare myself to the measure he gave. Our measure is God himself. Our measure is perfection.

Jesus came to this earth and lived a life worthy of emulation. He lived a life that perfectly modeled God's standard. He gave me the measure. So as I seek to evaluate my life and as I seek to understand whether I am growing in godly character, I am to compare myself to Christ. God did not merely tell me how to live in a way that pleases him, but went so far as to show me. He gave me far more than a guide book filled with instructions and more than a list of do's and don'ts. He gave me an example to perfectly model to us the way he wants me to live.

What character trait could I want that was not already perfectly modeled by Christ? As he laid aside his glory and took on human flesh, he modeled sympathy, becoming what we are. As he washed the feet of his disciples, Christ modeled humility. As he prayed for his accusers, he modeled forgiveness. As he taught his followers he modeled patient, kind, servant leadership. As he died for those who had turned their backs on him, he modeled love. In all these ways he showed us how we are to live.

And so my life is to be a life lived by looking constantly to Christ. Am I seeking to grow in humility? I need to look to Christ! Am I wondering if I've been growing in my love for my brothers and sisters in Christ? I must look to Christ! Do I seek to grow in my ability to lead my family? I must follow the example of Christ!

He is the measure. He is the standard. He has modeled for me all that I need to be and do. He has not just told me, but has shown me. He has not merely given the standard, but has lived it and been it. And this frees me to live a life that looks to the right standard and the best standard--a life free from the bitter jealously and agonizing defeat that would come by comparing myself as a sinner to sinners. I look to his perfect measure, knowing that I cannot perfectly attain it, but trusting that the same power that enabled him to be perfect is the power in me that is helping me fight sin and that will some day free me from it altogether. It is the power that helps me look forward to that great day when sin will be no more.

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A La Carte (12/30)

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 06:53:00 -0500

Some Things Are Hard to Deny
Phil Johnson points to an interesting article in the Times. "Now a confirmed atheist, I've become convinced of the enormous contribution that Christian evangelism makes in Africa: sharply distinct from the work of secular NGOs, government projects and international aid efforts. These alone will not do. Education and training alone will not do. In Africa Christianity changes people's hearts. It brings a spiritual transformation. The rebirth is real. The change is good."

Her Sexual Experiences
Boundless gives a useful and biblical answer to a reader's question. As he looks toward marrying his girlfriend, he asks how he can approach and deal with her past sexual experiences.

Obama Bristles as the Bubble Closes
Here's another good reason to never be President. "The media glare, the constant security appendage and the sheer production that has become a morning jog or a hankering for an ice cream cone - it's been closing in on Barack Obama for some time."

What George W. Bush Reads
You have probably already seen this. I enjoyed looking through the lists of books that President Bush has read over the past few years. Would you want a President who never picks up a book?

Growing Up Female
Carolyn McCulley writes about some of the challenges of growing up female, whether in North America's highly-sexualized culture or in Iraq where a girl may well face sexual mutilation in her childhood.

Kurt Warner
After leading his team to the playoffs, Kurt Warner is back in the news. It has been a long time since he was anything more than a footnote in the NFL. This is an interesting article about him. Here's a quote that jumped out. "During a visit to the "Oprah Winfrey Show" to honor Masters champion and fellow Iowan Zach Johnson a couple of years ago, Warner purposely mentioned Johnson's faith in the second of three sentences, believing the show's editors wouldn't be able to cut the sentence and eliminate the religious reference. But when the show ran, the second sentence was gone. "

Deal of the Day: Year End Blowout
New Growth Press is having a year end blowout. Use promo code BLOWOUT and you can take 25% off any order of $100 or more and receive free shipping. They offer some very good resources for churches; be sure to check out their minibooks which are very useful as handouts at a church's resource table.

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The Right Measure

Mon, 29 Dec 2008 09:29:00 -0500

On July 23, 1983, Flight 143, an Air Canada Boeing 767, lifted off from Montreal's Montreal-Dorval International Airport on its way to Edmonton, Alberta. On board were 69 passengers and crew. Sometime around the flight's halfway mark, while over the tiny community of Red Lake, Ontario, near the border of Manitoba, an alarm sounded in the cockpit, indicating that there was a problem with the fuel pressure on one side of the aircraft. The pilots, assuming that a fuel pump had failed, took corrective action and determined that the flight could continue. But just moments later, they received a similar warning from the other side of the aircraft. Immediately one of the engines failed and the pilots prepared to make an immediate landing at Winnipeg's airport, the closest airport with a runway of sufficient length for a wide body jet. At this point there was no great emergency, for modern aircraft are designed to fly on just one engine. However, as the pilots spoke to the air traffic controllers in Winnipeg, they heard a new alarm, one neither man could remember hearing before. It was an alarm indicating that both engines were failing. Within seconds, many of the cockpit's instruments went blank and an eerie silence settled over the plane as the second engine ground to a halt. Flight 143 had run out of fuel 28,000 feet above the ground.

Captain Bob Pearson and First Officer Maurice Quintal were faced with a nearly impossible task. They had to land a modern airliner, a 300,000 pound glider, without engines, without power, without most of their instruments. This event was nearly unprecedented in aviation history and neither their training nor their flight manuals had prepared them for such an event. Quick calculations showed that they would not be able to glide all the way to Manitoba. Captain Pearson suggested they try to land at his old air force base at Gimli, Manitoba. He was unaware that the air strip at Gimli had since been decommissioned and had become a drag strip. The runway had been divided into two lanes with a guard rail running along the middle. That very day was "Family Day" at the races and the area surrounding the runway was covered in cars and campers while racing fans enjoyed the day's events. The pilots turned their plane toward Gimli, unaware of all of this.

As the aircraft approached Gimli, the skill of the pilots was tested to the extreme. Captain Pearson was an avid glider pilot and knew many of the tricks of the trade. He used one of these, executing an incredible forward slip maneuver to slow the plane and reduce altitude just before landing. Amazingly, he managed to put the plane down on the runway and to bring it to a halt without careening into the crowds. There had been insufficient power to drop the nose wheel and it collapsed as the plane touched down. This was the only major damage sustained by the aircraft. All 69 passengers and crew escaped unharmed. The 767 was quickly repaired and remained in service for almost 25 years more before being retired on January 1 of 2008. Both pilots were awarded the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale Diploma for Outstanding Airmanship.

A subsequent investigation quickly discovered what had gone wrong with the plane now referred to as the Gimli Glider. At that time Canada was in the process of converting from the imperial to the metric system of measurements. The pilot had correctly calculated the amount of fuel that would be needed to fly from Montreal to Edmonton. However, the technician responsible for fueling had incorrectly factored the conversion from metric to imperial. Flight 143 left Montreal not with 22,300 kilograms of fuel as it needed, but with 22,300 pounds, just over half of the amount necessary for that long flight. It was a simple case of looking to the wrong standard, the wrong measure, and it nearly led to tragic consequences.

I thought of this story yesterday as I pondered my tendency to adhere to wrong standards. I thought about that part of my heart, that awful depraved part, that loves to hear about the faults, the sins, the depravity of others. It is this part of my heart that holds me up to an easy standard and a wrong standard--the standard of other people. I love to measure my heart, my faith by comparing myself to others. And inevitably I often look good in comparison. We are, after all, a sinful bunch who constantly find new and creative ways of sinning against God.

There is a better measure.

To be continued tomorrow...

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A La Carte (12/29)

Mon, 29 Dec 2008 07:27:00 -0500

Looking to Start a Library
"The library of J. Rodman Williams --- nearly 3,000 volumes strong --- is for sale and the "set opening bid" is $950,000. Williams, the famed systematic theologian, died on October 18 at the age of 90."

Gospel Reminders
Here is a new site that offers "Christ-Centered Quotes for the Renewing of Your Mind." "The aim of Gospel Reminders is to provide daily, Christ-centered quotes from throughout Christian history which stir you to continually renew your mind for the glory of God."

I Think My Wife's a Calvinist
A silly YouTube video that's pretty well guaranteed to go viral in the Christian blogging community.

2008 was the year man-made global warming was disproved
Here's an interesting article from the Telegraph. "Easily one of the most important stories of 2008 has been all the evidence suggesting that this may be looked back on as the year when there was a turning point in the great worldwide panic over man-made global warming. Just when politicians in Europe and America have been adopting the most costly and damaging measures politicians have ever proposed, to combat this supposed menace, the tide has turned in three significant respects."

Pray for Jollyblogger
Jollyblogger (a.k.a. David Wayne) has recently been diagnosed with cancer in the colon and liver. You can read updates on his health at his blog.

Deal of the Day: One for the Kids
Reformation Heritage Books is offering a 50% discount on a biography of John Calvin written specifically for children. "In this attractive volume, Simonetta Carr introduces young readers to the life, thought, and work of one of the most famous Reformers of the Christian church. She tells about the life of John Calvin from his birth to his death, placing him within the troubled context of the sixteenth century. She also introduces Calvin's writings in a way that children will desire to know more about his ministry and influence."

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A Prayer for Year's End

Sun, 28 Dec 2008 08:55:00 -0500

Let me share again today a prayer from The Valley of Vision that great collection of Puritan prayers. This one seems appropriate as we approach the end of another year and look forward to the year beyond.

O Love beyond Compare,
Thou art good when thou givest,
when thou takest away,
when the sun shines upon me,
when night gathers over me.
Thou hast loved me before the foundation of the world,
and in love didst redeem my soul;
Thou dost love me still,
in spite of my hard heart, ingratitude, distrust.
Thy goodness has been with me another year,
leading me through a twisting wilderness,
in retreat helping me to advance,
when beaten back making sure headway.
Thy goodness will be with me in the year ahead;
I hoist sail and draw up anchor,
With thee as the blessed pilot of my future as of my past.
I bless thee that thou hast veiled my eyes to the waters ahead.
If thou hast appointed storms of tribulation,
thou wilt be with me in them;
If I have to pass through tempests of persecution and temptation,
I shall not drown;
If I am to die,
I shall see thy face the sooner;
If a painful end is to be my lot,
grant me grace that my faith fail not;
If I am to be cast aside from the service I love,
I can make no stipulation;
Only glorify thyself in me whether in comfort or trial,
as a chosen vessel meet always for thy use.

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Poll: Christian Conferences

Sat, 27 Dec 2008 11:35:00 -0500

Christians love their conferences. Calvinists love their conferences. Put the two together and, well, you've got an awful lot of events in any given year. Many major ministries offer their annual conferences along with a selection of regional conferences; churches offer small conferences designed to serve a local constituency; ministries like Together for the Gospel and The Gospel Coalition offer bi-annual conferences designed to attract and coordinate pastors or ministry leaders from around the nation and around the world. If you live in the United States, it is likely that you do not have to travel very far to find a great conference in the coming year.

All of this got me wondering: how many conferences do you anticipate attending this year? I've changed up the poll on this site so you can vote and let us know how many you'll be at least attempting to attend.

Do note that if you are reading this via RSS, you'll have to click through to the site to actually answer. All voting is anonymous...

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Odds and Ends

Fri, 26 Dec 2008 08:41:00 -0500

I'm mostly taking time off through the end of this week, but wanted to share a few links I found round and about.

The first shares the sad news that Disney has decided to walk away from the Chronicles of Narnia films. This leaves Walden Media looking for another distributor who can take them on (which Fox probably being the most obvious contender). It's not that the movies were losing money; far from it, really. It's just that they were not turning enough of a profit for the investment and that there was a significant reduction in profit from the first to the second. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader has been in pre-production and there is no word on whether that will now cease or if it will continue while Walden shops the franchise. It also calls into question whether, even if the franchise does continue, they can secure the same actors and actresses. So here is hoping a studio like Fox can see some good in the franchise and pick it up without completely destroying it. And here's hoping they can turn the future films into something better than Prince Caspian which was, at least in most people's eyes, not nearly as good as The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. You can read more details here.

Second, I don't know what the Media Research Center is, but I had a great time reading through their 2008 quotes of the year. Awards were handed out in categories such as The Obamagasm Award, From Camelot to Obamalot Award, Politics of Meaninglessness Award for the Silliest Analysis, and so on. MSNBC's Chris Matthews won "Quote of the Year" for this doozy: [Listening to Obama], "I felt this thrill going up my leg!" You can read more at this link.

And finally, this looks like a great program. If you're anything like me, you've probably got quite a few Bibles lying around your home--Bibles that have been replaced at one time or another and are now just gathering dust. You don't want to throw them out, but also don't quite know what to do with them. Well here is one way of putting them to good use. You can bare your bookshelf and send the books to pastors in other parts of the world. Christian Resources International has a program in place that will help you do just that. "Just enter your name, address, and denomination in the form below, and then we'll send you--free--all the mailing materials you need to send a Bible to a specific pastor, Christian worker, church member, or seeker overseas. We'll send you the recipient's name and address, so you can pray for the recipient by name." You can go to the post office (if you're in the U.S., at least) and send that envelope anywhere in the world for only $12. And, because " the mailing materials bear CRI's return address, you need not worry that you'll be personally contacted by anyone overseas." Take a look at the program and see if it may be a good way of finally clearing out some of those old Bibles.

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Merry Christmas

Thu, 25 Dec 2008 12:08:00 -0500

Here is a brief introduction to a Challies family Christmas. It's really the only kind of Christmas I've ever known and it's one I've come to love.

I grew up as part of a tradition that celebrated Christmas but did not generally emphasize it as a day to remember the birth of Jesus. It was not quite a secular holiday, but neither was it a sacred one. Aileen's family was quite similar. So our Christmas traditions include little by the way of reading nativity stories or lighting candles. It's also worth mentioning that our Christmas traditions are evolving as time goes on. Now that my family has moved to the U.S., we spend every second Christmas in the south. My parents and all of my siblings gather (from Toronto, New York City, Atlanta and Chattanooga) and we celebrate Christmas together. This is an off-year for us, meaning that we are at home in Canada.

We had a quiet Christmas Eve and mostly focused on getting the children to bed at a good hour. Last night I convinced Aileen to let me open one of my gifts which I knew was the complete Faulty Towers. That kept us occupied between the kids' bedtime and our own. Just before bed we laid out the stockings and made sure the gifts were where they needed to be. We don't do the Santa thing.

Christmas morning we began with stockings for the children and then ate our traditional breakfast of home made croissants and bacon and egg rings (which my mom made when I was a kid and I make now). Those bacon and egg rings are made in muffin tins and are really quite delicious--much better than standard bacon and eggs. That's a tradition that goes back as far as I can remember. After breakfast we got to work and began opening gifts, moving from youngest to oldest and going until they were done (and since we're not huge gift-givers, this doesn't take too long). And now we're just taking it easy and looking toward the afternoon when we'll be going to Aileen's folk's place. And, of course, we're helping the kids build Lego sets, charge up batteries, figure out instructions, and so on. We'll be spending the day fairly quietly, just enjoying family and lots of good food.

And that's about all. We try to keep Christmas fairly simple and low-key. It's usually just about the best day of the year.

From me and from my family to you and to yours...Merry Christmas!

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