December 2007 Archive
Notes from the Road (12/31/07 - 33 Comments)
We spent our new year’s eve on the road. We got up at three o’clock this morning and scraped the frost off the windshield (frost in Chattanooga?) before hitting the road very shortly after four. Nobody should ever be awake at that hour. It’s just a bad idea. The children were simply hauled out of bed and shoved into their booster seats. Thankfully they went back to sleep (even if they did awake a few...
Reality Check (VII) (12/30/07 - 19 Comments)
This morning the Reality Check conference wrapped up with the final of Paul Washer’s four sermons on the beatitudes. After reading the text he began with this statement: “If you have been truly born again, the beatitudes must be, at least to some extent, a description of your life.” Though the series was intended to cover all of the beatitudes, Washer got no further than this: “Blessed are the pure in heart.” The word “pure”...
Reality Check (VI) (12/29/07 - 7 Comments)
I’ve been sick before and after conferences, but never during one. Until today, that is. In this morning’s session I started to feel a little bit under the weather, but thought it may have just been the heat (the conference room is pretty warm). I thought I’d head outdoors to see if I felt better when out in the cooler air. My wife and children were wandering the city today, so I joined them for...
Reality Check (V) (12/29/07 - 0 Comments)
The day’s second teaching session was taken by Jeff Noblit who preached a message about the duties of church membership. He said “If you do not get this, you do not get anything. And if you get this, you have about everything.” He spoke of our duty to the bride of Christ. We live at a time when church membership means almost nothing. It’s a disgraceful thing almost to challenge people as to their duties...
Reality Check (IV) (12/29/07 - 5 Comments)
One of the distinctives of a conference geared at youth is that the people in attendance tend to have a kind of youthful enthusiasm. You know what I’m referring to, I’m sure. They are excited to be at a conference, are exciting to be with their friends, and are excited to be learning from good and godly speakers. Sometimes this enthusiasm can last well into the night and, when I got my light off at...
Reality Check (III) (12/28/07 - 11 Comments)
Before we get to the second sermon, I’ve got a public service announcement for Amy. Amy, Russ and Reagan say “Hi!” They’re sitting right behind me and are trying, with some success, not to heckle me too much. This evening we are going to have Paul Washer preach to us. Now, I need to confess that I know little about Washer, even though he seems to be very well-known here and is, apparently, a good...
Reality Check (II) (12/28/07 - 4 Comments)
Matt Fowler preached the conference’s first sermon and did so from John 6:22-27. These well-known verses fall shortly after the feeding of the 5000 and Jesus walking on water—two of Jesus’ most amazing miracles. This crowd had been privileged to see both of these miracles. People reacted to the feeding of the 5000 by attempting to take Jesus and to force Him to be king. Using these verses, Matt laid down the Reformed (biblical) gauntlet,...
Reality Check (I) (12/28/07 - 9 Comments)
So I am here in Chattanooga (the official city motto seems to be “We close at 5”), spending the weekend at a conference room at the Chattanooga Choo Choo (which is a local hotel/attraction/Holiday Inn). Somewhere around 1000 people are gathered for the Reality Check conference which will feature teaching by Matt Fowler, Paul Washer, Jeff Noblit, and Jono Sims. This event is a ministry of Anchored in Truth Minitries and caters primarily to young...
Book News (12/28/07 - 8 Comments)
I’ve got two quick book updates for you. And then I’m going to relax for the rest of the morning before heading into Chattanooga for the Reality Check Conference which begins later this evening. I’ll be bringing live updates from that event from this evening until Sunday morning. First off, my book is now in stock at Amazon. So if you’ve been waiting to buy The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment at Amazon, you can now...
The Routine-Driven Life (12/27/07 - 15 Comments)
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 usual day-to-day life really changes my ability to do what I usually do. I woke up very early this morning...
Holiness of Character (12/26/07 - 6 Comments)
Jerry Bridges’ The Discipline of Grace is one of those books that is worth reading slowly and meditatively, pausing often to reflect and, in my case, to write. I rarely dwell too long on a single book, but because of the sheer quantity and quality of Bible-based teaching within this book, I felt compelled to read it slowly and meditatively. It was well worth the effort and the time spent. One of the areas of...
Merry Christmas (12/25/07 - 12 Comments)
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 great breakfast, a few of the menfolk (mostly) headed downstairs to package up copies of my book to be sent...
Christmas Traditions (12/24/07 - 5 Comments)
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 mentioned in the past, I grew up as part of a tradition that celebrated Christmas but did not generally emphasize...
Meeting My Book (12/23/07 - 27 Comments)
A couple of days ago, a skid's worth of books showed up at my sister's place. Two days later I showed up and finally got to meet my book. After almost two years from the time I first to pen to paper, I finally saw the results. It wasn't nearly the moment I thought it might be. But it was still fun and it's good to have something to hold in my hands. So here...
Everything is Miscellaneous (12/22/07 - 2 Comments)
I have a particular interest in books that seek to give us categories through which we can understand this strange new world that is being built around us through the internet. The sheer pervasiveness of the internet has allowed it to impact our lives so deeply and so profoundly and I'm not sure that many of us really understand this. One person seeking to bring sense to it is David Weinberger, a writer, teacher and...
Don't Waste Your Drive (12/21/07 - 42 Comments)
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 and Tennessee. I’m writing today from a hotel that I believe is in a town called Corbin or something like...
Overcoming Sin and Temptation (Chapter 6) (12/20/07 - 17 Comments)
Today we continue reading the classics together by turning to the sixth chapter of John Owen’s Overcoming Sin and Temptation. If you’d like to know more about this project, you can read about it right here: Reading Classics Together. We are now in the book’s second section—a section that turns the focus from introductory materials to “the nature of mortification.” In this portion of the book he will answer this question: “Suppose a man to...
The Fellowship of His Suffering (12/19/07 - 5 Comments)
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. The fellowship of his sufferings—she moved to the front, to try to protect some of the other women from...
The Best $4.03 You'll Ever Spend (Redux) (12/18/07 - 7 Comments)
Some time ago (July of this year) I posted a link to a book and said it is the best $4.03 you’ll ever spend. I don’t know that I ever told you what happened after that. Basically, and as I understand it, it went something like this: Within a couple of hours, the book had sold out at Westminster Books. A short time after that, the publisher sent all the available copies in the warehouse,...
The Death of the Grown-Up (12/18/07 - 15 Comments)
Where have all the grown-ups gone? It’s a question that has perplexed me. Why is it that young people these days seem unwilling, or perhaps unable, to grow up? What is so attractive about youth, about perpetual adolescence, that is so attractive? My wife and I have discussed these things at length, trying to understand why so many of the young people we know (young people who are really not so young anymore) seem stuck....
Public Schooling and Self-Fulfilling Prophecies (12/17/07 - 79 Comments)
I spent some time this weekend reading Al Mohler’s forthcoming book, Culture Shift (set for a mid-January release). In an endorsement of this book, John Piper writes, “Albert Mohler is a steady guide, unremittingly clear-headed.” This is a fair assessment. Anyone who reads and enjoys Mohler’s blog, will find this book is more of the same—commentary from the junction of faith and culture. In fact, many of the book’s twenty chapters are based upon Mohler’s...
Offering Grace (12/16/07 - 10 Comments)
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 was, it turns out, only one dollar). His offer was a kind one and even a generous one, but one...
Book Review - Infidel (12/15/07 - 10 Comments)
Ayaan Harsi Ali is one of Europe’s most controversial political figures, even if she is one who has since relocated to America. One of TIME Magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world, Ali is the author of a bestselling biography and the writer of a controversial movie. When her film Submission was screened in Holland, it led to murder of Theo van Gogh, it’s producer. As van Gogh cycled to work one morning, Muhammad...
Delighting in Delight (12/14/07 - 13 Comments)
Every year, in the weeks before Christmas, we have my son and daughter compile a list of the gifts they most desired. Topping my son’s list a couple of years ago was a Playmobil castle—a huge, grey castle that looks like the kind of toy every boy dreams about. He asked for this with some hesitation, though, because he knew that it was expensive. We told him several times leading up to Christmas that we...
My Top 7 Books of 2007 (12/13/07 - 13 Comments)
A few days ago Tullian Tchividjian published his list of his favorite books of 2007 and asked me if I’d do the same. I had, in fact, already worked up a list, and thought that, now that the year is drawing to a close, I’d publish it. So these are my 7 favorite books that were published in 2007 and which I read in 2007. So this is the top 7 in 07 of 07....
Overcoming Sin and Temptation (Chapter 5) (12/13/07 - 26 Comments)
Today we continue reading the classics together by turning to the fifth chapter of John Owen’s Overcoming Sin and Temptation. If you’d like to know more about this project, you can read about it right here: Reading Classics Together. This is the first chapter in the book’s section—a section that turns the focus from introductory materials to “the nature of mortification.” In this portion of the book he will answer this question: “Suppose a man...
"Culture Shift" by Dr. Albert Mohler (12/12/07 - 7 Comments)
Yesterday I received a long list of emails with announcements for books that will be published early next year. Most of these I had already heard of or found entirely uninspiring. There was one exception. I was absolutely thrilled (honestly—I’m that big of a book geek) to see that we are going to see the first book from the pen of Dr. Mohler. Yes, it is hard to believe, but this is his first “real”...
The Death of Shame (12/12/07 - 11 Comments)
Over the past few years, Aileen and I have continually returned to the question of why so many young people these days seem unwilling or unable to grow up. It is a question that has confused us, especially as we look to many of the young people we know. There was a time when young people seemed eager to grow up, to mature, and to head out into the world to make their mark on...
Book Review - Prude (12/11/07 - 4 Comments)
I almost gave up reading Prude. I have read other books like this and have found they follow a fairly consistent pattern. The first few chapters are always the hardest to get through. Where my interest in this kind of book is in its cultural commentary and analysis, the initial chapters seem always to be filled with examples of sexual transgression. I suppose this is necessary to build the author’s case that “our sex-obsessed cultural...
Last Day to Pre-Order (12/11/07 - 1 Comments)
This is a public service announcement to let you know that this is the last day you’ll be able to pre-order a signed copy of my book. As of tomorrow I need to get final numbers in to the publisher so they can get the books shipped to Chattanooga where I’ll be signing and sending them about two weeks from now. If you are interested, you can order it right here…but only until the end...
A Southern Christmas (12/10/07 - 10 Comments)
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 hear, is a ‘burb of Atlanta) and a few days in Chattanooga, TN. Looks like it’s going to be a...
Longing for the Im-mediate (12/10/07 - 3 Comments)
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 “they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day.” And what...
The Christmas Tablecloth (12/09/07 - 9 Comments)
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 and began getting the house into the Christmas spirit. A couple of hours later, with the threat of evil worldwide...
Greek for the Rest of Us (12/08/07 - 11 Comments)
I do not know too many serious students of the Bible who do not wish, at one time or another, that they were proficient at Greek (or more proficient at Greek). But few of us have had time or opportunity to study the language in a formal, academic setting. Basic Greek and Exegesis by Richard B. Ramsay and published by P&R Publishing is a newly-published attempt to increase the accessibility of the Greek language. It...
Feedback Files: All About Blogging (12/07/07 - 36 Comments)
It has been a while since I cracked open the Feedback Files. While I receive a lot of questions through this site, probably the most common have to do with blogging. Over the past couple of weeks I’ve made several promises that I would soon write an article suggesting some things to consider when beginning a blog. Today I’ll keep those promises. I’m going to offer six tips for new or prospective bloggers. I hope...
Overcoming Sin and Temptation (Chapter 4) (12/06/07 - 29 Comments)
Today we continue reading the classics together by turning to the second chapter of John Owen’s Overcoming Sin and Temptation. If you’d like to know more about this project, you can read about it right here: Reading Classics Together. For a couple of years I met every Friday morning with a group of friends and we would read books together. We read some great books like Os Guinness’ The Call and Tozer’s The Knowledge of...
This & That (12/05/07 - 12 Comments)
A few notes of varying interest and importance: Prime Time America During the week of December 31 - January 4 I’m scheduled to guest on Moody Radio’s Prime Time America with Greg Wheatley. We’ll be discussing The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment and all things related to spiritual discernment. We’ll be carrying on the discussion for a few minutes each of those days. So if you listen to Prime Time America, well, hopefully you’ll enjoy that....
A Common Word. A Common Faith? (12/05/07 - 40 Comments)
Last week I wrote a brief article about apostasy and heresy and concluded with a portion that dealt with the difference between dialog and controversy. I quoted an article written by David Samuel. He dealt with this same subject and said I think this explains the ease with which many in recent years have been able to enter into dialogue with Roman Catholics and even Muslims and Hindus. It demands a certain detachment from the...
No One Weeps Like a Prophet (12/04/07 - 11 Comments)
Last week I posted an article written by my mother, Barbara: Tears at Thanksgiving. It seems that people enjoyed it and I received plenty of requests to post more by mom. I’m glad to comply! Here is something she posted a few days ago for the family’s benefit. And we’re glad to share it with you. I suppose it’s a poem of sorts. Whatever genre it fits in, I think it gives plenty of food...
Book Review Updates (12/04/07 - 0 Comments)
We had a busy week over at Discerning Reader and I thought I’d fill you in one some of the new reviews you can find there. Along with my review of Thabiti Anyabwile’s The Decline of African American Theology (which I posted here yesterday), I’ve also added a review of Edward Gilbreath’s Reconciliation Blues. Both books deal with racial issues and both are well worth the read. From Mark Tubbs comes a review of the...
