Occasional family and ministry updates
Elizabeth is a public nuisance. Her status is not official yet, but it will be soon. The local police have encouraged the families in this neighborhood to fill out the paperwork that will fulfill the legal requirements. It’s probably the best thing to do. When that paperwork is complete the police will no longer be…
The Nashville Conference on the Church & Theology wrapped up last night with Dr. Carson speaking on “Preaching Christ Crucified.” It was, I think, a very useful conference and one that seems to have touched many of those who attended. The staff and the team of volunteers were very kind and very eager to serve.…
It’s day two of the Nashville Conference on the Church & Theology. Things kicked off last night with a session from Dr. D.A. Carson in which he introduced the Emergent Church and Emerging theology. He also dipped into postmodernism and a variety of related topics. For those unfamiliar with the whole movement, I’m sure this…
I’m a little bit later than usual in updating this site, but I’m also a timezone removed from where I usually update it. Yesterday, after spending over a hour shoveling out the car, the house, and a neighbor’s driveway, I left behind the cold and the snow and caught a flight to Nashville (where it’s…
It’s a snow day today. We woke up to a pretty good blanket of the stuff on the ground and it’s supposed to keep up all day. It’s an absolute mess on the roads which makes me doubly glad that I am able to work from home. It’s a good day to stay in. The…
Yesterday I posted a prayer for the Lord’s Day eve and said that I had made that prayer my own. Unfortunately that venerable Puritan neglected to pray for health and good sleep and, as it happens, I enjoyed neither last night. The kids were hacking and coughing and I woke up in the wee hours…
Since my book was released I’ve had a few requests to share what I’ve learned about the book-writing process. Friday seemed like a good day to do that. On the whole I found writing the book to be an overwhelmingly positive experience and one I hope to enjoy again. There are currently no plans for…
I grew up in a Christian culture in which very little evangelism took place. How little? Well, the first adult I ever witnessed getting baptized was my wife (she was my girlfriend at the time) and that was when we were eighteen or nineteen. It was the first time our church had ever baptized an…
Yesterday Andrew Sullivan saw fit to link to my article on Biblical Inerrancy. Sullivan writes The Daily Dish for The Atlantic and is one of the most widely-read bloggers out there with at least 150,000 daily readers. You will not be surprised to hear that he did not like my article and linked to it…
On Wednesday, Justin Taylor posted the news that my book is now available and provided a list of the blurbs for it. This led to some interesting discussion in the comments section. It began with the entirely fair question of “Who is Tim Challies?” and soon turned to “I was just surprised that, as his…
It doesn’t look like I’m going to be able to do my weekly John Owen “Reading the Classics Together” post today. And for that I apologize. Being away from home has completely disrupted my ability to keep this site operating as it usually does. I’m a routine-based person, it seems, and being away from my…
It has been a long but good day here in Woodstock, GA. We got up early and had the kids dig into their stockings. Then, once family had arrived from far and wide, we got busy opening what looked like just an obscene amount of gifts (there are, after all, eighteen people involved). After a…
I’ve seen a few blogs where the authors are outlining their Christmas traditions. I’ve also been asked by some readers what my Christmas includes. So I thought I’d let you in on the Challies family Christmas. The way Aileen and I celebrate Christmas is a bit of a blend of two family traditions. As I’ve…
Yesterday morning (shortly after posting my John Owen post, as it happens) we bundled the family into the car and began to drive south. Far south. We are on our way to Atlanta to spend some time with my family. Yesterday we made it from Toronto all the way to almost the border between Kentucky…
Rebel soldiers were starting at one end of a large room, taking women away one by one and bringing them back after they were finished with them. Helen’s first impulse was to hide and not have to bear this humiliation again. Then she thought of Jesus. He put himself forward as a substitute for us.…
A couple of days ago I posted a short reflection on grace and how foreign a concept this is to sinful humans. I wrote about my son and how, at a time he had received a gift he valued a great deal, he attempted to repay this gift with all the money he had (which…
I’m going to be in the Atlanta and Chattanooga areas over the holidays this year, hanging out with my family and then attending the Reality Check Conference (where I’ll be blogging, book signing, and having fun). So that means a couple of days in Adairsville, GA, a couple of days in Woodstock, GA (which, I…
Have you ever considered what it must have been like for Adam and Eve to walk and talk with God in the Garden of Eden? Have you thought of the things you would say to God if you were to hear His footsteps today? What Christian hasn’t experienced a pang of jealousy when he reads…
On Friday evening the menfolk and womenfolk of this household went separate ways. I took my son upstairs and he and I continued playing a computer game he enjoys, saving the world from tyranny. We were sure that this was much more important than what the ladies were doing. Aileen and the girls stayed downstairs…
Every now and again I get concerned that people are going to think this blog is getting too commercialized—that I keep trying to sell you things. I’m not into blogging for that. But sometimes it’s fun to talk about things like this, so bear with me. Today I’m going to talk about Christmas music and…