Mr. Tweedle (10/11/09 - 5 Comments)
I found myself reminiscing this afternoon about old Mr. Tweedle--a man I hadn't thought about in ages. Years ago, when we were members at a Reformed church in Hamilton, Mr. Tweedle had shown up at the church. He was an elderly man already, probably well into his seventies. He was a refugee from Canada's United Church, a denomination that had slid from liberal to liberaler to liberalerst. When he found out from a neighbor that...
A Word About Reviews (09/05/09 - 16 Comments)
You'll have to bear with me today as I ramble a little bit on the subject of book reviews. Because reviews are such an important part of what I do here, I thought it would be worth covering just a little bit of how and why I do reviews. I generally try to review at least one book per week and, in general, I try to choose a book that you, the readers, are likely...
A Prayer Request (05/10/09 - 18 Comments)
It is amazing to me, but it was almost eighteen months ago that Crossway published my book The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment. I finished writing the book nearly a year before that. It all seems so much more recent. The reality is, though, that it has been a long, long time since I've actually been involved in writing a book. I did not intend to wait so long between books but, to be honest, I...
A Worn Wiper (03/11/09 - 19 Comments)
Every now and again I give myself a writing assignment. Typically I write about whatever is on my mind, but occasionally, as a way of attempting to not always take the easy way out, I give myself an assignment. Yesterday I took my car to the mechanic and knew I had a couple of hours to kill while sitting in the waiting room. So I decided I'd just start writing and see what happened. A...
My iPology (01/30/09 - 68 Comments)
Some light-hearted fare for a Friday... Among friends, family and perhaps even readers of this site, I have achieved the reputation of being something of an Apple-hater; that is, a hater of all things Mac. MacBooks, iMacs, Mac Pro's--I have often spoken out against all of them. They are overpriced, underpowered, toys for yuppies or for people with thick-rimmed glasses and soul patches--people who just take themselves far too seriously. They're computers for followers, not...
Resolutions (01/01/09 - 14 Comments)
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...
Merry Christmas (12/25/08 - 20 Comments)
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...
Board (Not Boring) Games (12/07/08 - 87 Comments)
In recent months my family has been discovering (for the kids) or rediscovering (for Aileen and me) a love of board games. We've had great fun playing games like Ticket to Ride (an amazing game for the whole family), Lost Cities (a fast and fun strategy game for two adults or older children), and a few of the classics. In the next day or two Aileen and I are going to tackle Carcassonne, by all...
Things I Miss About Cable T.V. (11/09/08 - 66 Comments)
It must have been a couple of months ago now that Aileen and I got rid of cable TV. We didn't get rid of the television altogether--we kept it so we could watch DVDs and enjoy the Wii. But we got rid of cable and now have access to precisely 0 channels. Today I paused to reflect on all of the things I miss about having cable television. Here they are in no particular order:...
Pray for Liam (11/05/08 - 7 Comments)
You may have seen me mention Liam's name in a previous blog post. Liam is the son of our friends Kim and Jason and a friend to Nick. Today he is having a major surgery to remove a tumor from his brain. Even if the surgery is 100% successful. he will be in the hospital for ten days and will see a period of recovery that may take up to a year. I'd just ask...
The Love of God (10/26/08 - 41 Comments)
Earlier today I was thinking about my favorite hymn lyrics (not hymns overall-just particular lyrics). I think my all-time favorite is and remains the final stanza of "And Can it Be?" The last two lines just grip my soul every time I sing them: No condemnation now I dread; Jesus, and all in Him, is mine; Alive in Him, my living Head, And clothed in righteousness divine, Bold I approach th'eternal throne, And claim the...
Compassion Bloggers (09/13/08 - 23 Comments)
A couple of months ago I received a rather unique invitation. Compassion International was considering sending a team of bloggers to Dominican Republic and wondered if I might be interested in tagging along. The purpose of the trip is for these bloggers to see what Compassion is doing in that place and to learn what the organization is all about. I thought about it for some time and have decided to go along. I have...
Tomorrow, Today, Yesterday (08/13/08 - 9 Comments)
Last Saturday Aileen and I watched as some friends of ours were married. First was a beautiful ceremony at a historic Baptist church in the heart of the city and this was followed by a lengthy, enjoyable reception at a nearby reception hall. We enjoyed ourselves a lot and rejoice with our friends, praying for God’s blessing on their new marriage. As I was sitting in the church and as I sat at the reception,...
A Wedding Day (08/09/08 - 2 Comments)
Yesterday Aileen and I celebrated our tenth anniversary; today we have the privilege of enjoying the wedding of some good friends. We are thrilled for them and are looking forward to spending the day with them and with their friends and family. I thought about weddings this morning and was reminded of my cousin’s wedding I went to last year. It was a beautiful, classy, simple wedding. While the service was great from beginning to...
Quote for a Busy Day (07/19/08 - 3 Comments)
It’s funny how Saturdays, a day of fun and relaxation when I was young, have turned into days of busyness. Early in the day I had to put on my coach’s hat to lead my son’s team through a baseball practice. No sooner had we returned home from that than Aileen had to run my daughter to a birthday party. This afternoon will be spent, least in part, preparing lunch for a crowd we’re having...
On Vacation (07/10/08 - 14 Comments)
Last summer we vacationed at a cottage on the shores of Lake Erie, a couple of hours away from home. It was a fun place to be, but by the end of our week there the water had turned bad with huge piles of seaweed and algae plugging the beach. This is apparently quite common along that stretch of shore and we decided we would not return in case we found the beach unusable for...
Working Man Hands (06/15/08 - 7 Comments)
Several years ago I wrote a little Father’s Day article for my dad and called it “Working Man Hands.” This year I took the opportunity to lengthen and improve the article and then submitted it to Boundless Magazine. They were pleased to print it at their site. I thought you might enjoy it. It goes like this: Like most little boys, I idolized my father as a child. You would have had a difficult time...
Rain in the Dining Room (04/28/08 - 5 Comments)
I’m not much of a do-it-yourself type. I’m well aware of my limits. You know, I’m pretty comfortable changing light bulbs and painting walls, but beyond that I tend to put a call out to my father-in-law (for low priority jobs) or a paid expert (for high priority jobs). We’ve got a few neighbors who are involved in the trades and I’ve been known to get them to come in to do cabling or minor...
Friday Miscellania (04/11/08 - 42 Comments)
It has been a tough couple of days. On Wednesday I wrote about the perfect storm of being away from home and returning only to have Michaela (my two year-old daughter) come down with some kind of illness. Well, that illness has progressed and yesterday she was admitted to the hospital. The doctors aren’t quite sure what is wrong with her, though at least they’ve been able to eliminate several awful things. At this point...
The Perfect Storm (04/09/08 - 19 Comments)
Today was a perfect storm. I spent Monday and Tuesday in Grand Rapids to meet with a client out there and got home yesterday evening. I came home to find Michaela (who is a month away from turning two…can you believe that?) just starting to show some signs of illness. Sure enough she spent the night doing her utmost to keep the rest of us awake while dealing with the inevitable consequences of some kind...
