I have returned from my brief weekend excursion and am back in the comfort of my own home. I have long been what my mother would call a “home body” so I am always happy to come home to my office, my couch and best of all, my family. Of course I had a very…
Hello all! Tim left for the men’s conference yesterday, not very happily I might add. He really didn’t want to go. I’m half convinced it was because he didn’t want to miss blogging, despite his protest that he liked spending time with the family and didn’t want to go away for a whole weekend! It’s…
I am off at a conference today, so my wife is posting this for me. If you are reading this, it means she remembered what I taught her about Movabletype. It also indicates that she remembered to post at all! I told her I would be quite upset if she disturbed my streak of consecutive…
I am part of a Reformed mailing list that every now and then discusses something of interest. The list used to be quite busy, but recently there has been very little discussion, and much of what has been discussed has been quite boring (ie who would like to purchase old issues of a denomination-specific magazine).…
I spent nearly my entire young life attending Christian schools. From the first grade all the way to the eleventh, there was only one year where I did not attend a Christian school. During that time I also attended Catechism classes, Sunday school and everything else churches have to offer young people. In my younger…
Christianity Today has an interesting article entitled “Hail Mary” which traces the history of Marian devotion. It is quite short and makes for an interesting read. Here are the first few paragraphs: Mary responded in obedience. She called herself the Lord’s “handmaiden” (Luke 1:38, 48)—a humble title that set the tone for the rest of…
Vincere scis, Hannibal; victoria uti nescis In my literary travellings this weekend (you can interpret that phrase to mean “reading” – I just mean to indicate I stumbled across this phrase, not that I was spending a lot of time reading ancient history) I read an interesting phrase which immediately caught my attention. It was…
That’s right. Today, all the frozen tundras of the Great White North, Canadians are celebrating Thanksgiving. Where American Thanksgiving seems to serve as the beginning of the Christmas season, in Canada it serves as the unofficial beginning of autumn. The trees are just reaching the peak of their most beautiful colors, the last remaining birds…
Because I have taken a firm stand against The Purpose Driven Life and thus many of the principles of The Purpose Driven Church, it seems many people have become convinced that I am inherently opposed to purpose. This is not so. I believe purpose is a good and necessary thing. As believers purpose plays an…
Doug over at Coffeeswirls keeps trying to beg people into subscribing to some offer so he can get his free iPod. I believe I am the last remaining blogger in the world who has not tried to get people to buy or subscribe to something so that I could get an iPod. So please, someone…
If I were to use the average church outreach program as a guide, I would have to assume that the average non-Christian is lazy, stupid, ignorant, unwilling to learn and suffering from attention deficit disorder. He has two kids that he loves but never spends any time with, leaving him racked with guilt. He is…
It has been one of those days. Not a bad day, thankfully – just a busy one. I booked a good chunk of work today, so that should help keep me busy in the near future and pay the bills for another week or two. Ah, the joys of self-employment! Thanks to everyone who clicked…
Revelation, inspiration and illumination are three critical concepts for Christians to understand. While most believers are at least vaguely familiar with the concepts surrounding revelation and inspiration, it seems far fewer understand illumination. We will seek to remedy that today. It is important that we keep these concepts apart in our minds. We must not…
I guess it isn’t a new blog as much as an old blog in a new location and with a new look. Brad, who owns and operates Read ‘Em & Reap has moved away from BlogSpot and now has his own domain. He also has an particularly attractive-looking site, if I do say so myself.…
Since its publication in 1986, Chosen By God has become a classic introduction to Calvinism, for it is clearly one of the best introductions to Calvinism available. R.C. Sproul, ever the theologian but one with a gift for making the complex simple, begins with an introduction to God’s sovereignty and then moves to free will…
If you have been visiting this site for any length of time, you may know of Jeri who posted in the forums and before the forum was installed, posted many comments here. She became a friend and I benefited greatly from her wisdom. She even gave blogging a try at her site called Sober Minded…
This site first came to life in September of 2002. I registered the domain challies.com primarily as a place to display photos of my children. My parents and siblings had moved down to Atlanta a few years earlier, and I wanted to be able to provide them with updated pictures of those of us who…
Here’s a topic I’ve been meaning to bring up for a while. Before I start, I should point out that my knowledge of the sciences (other than aspects of computer science) is absolutely shameful. I last studied science in my second year of high school and only passed because during the final exam I sat…
I tend to rush. Even when I’m kicking back on the couch to read a book, I find myself rushing through the pages. It’s not that I do not enjoy reading – it just seems that I am always in a hurry to do the thing that will come immediately after what I’m doing right…
I spent some time today thinking about Sunday, or as we referred to it as I was growing up, the Sabbath day. I turned to a few of the old confessions to read again what they have to say about the Lord’s Day. The London Baptist Confession says: As it is the law of nature,…