Occasional family and ministry updates
I believe in the Bible, that it is clear, complete, sufficient, true and without error. It says what it means. I do not demand that God speaks to me apart from it. I’m not waiting for still, small voices in my head or trying desperately to find God’s will through random circumstances. I read, He…
We were blessed to have my parents spend this weekend at our home. They drove here from Atlanta on Friday and left again bright and early this morning. It was their first time seeing our new house and, more importantly, seeing their new grand-daughter. Because my dad is only truly resting when he is hard…
It is healthy, I think, to reflect at times upon the evil of my heart. This seems like a terribly negative thing to do, but I believe it is an important discipline of my spiritual life that I seek to discover where evil lurks within my heart. There are some areas in my heart where,…
I’ve heard it said that when a person loses a loved one who is particularly close to him–a wife or a child perhaps–he struggles with the fact that, while his life has been thrown into disarray, the world around him just keeps on moving. His world has been rocked and he may feel like his…
I’m in love. Last night, on her thirtieth birthday, my wife gave herself (and me!) quite a gift: our daughter, Michaela (in case you don’t know, the name is pronounced “mih-KAY-lah”) Joy Challies. I’m crazy about her already. Actually, I’m crazy about both of them. Michaela was an unexpected gift, actually. In her two previous…
Aileen had a midwife appointment this afternoon and after much humming and hawing, the midwife decided to send Aileen to the hospital for a consult with the O.B. The O.B., after much similar humming and hawing, thought it would be best to induce Aileen tonight and get that baby out. There are no serious medical…
Thanks to all of you who have been praying for Aileen. She went to the midwife today and received a clean bill of health. Her blood pressure, which had been trending up through the past three or four visits, suddenly fell precipitously back down to where it was a couple of months ago. It is…
Catechisms were an important part of my life when I was a child. I grew up in a Reformed tradition that placed great value in the Catechisms. Some would argue they placed too great an emphasis on catechetical instruction. From a young age I was able to recite large portions of the Heidelberg Catechism and…
I am a routine-based person. This has really only become clear to me over the past few weeks. I operate best when I am a routine. I have patterns and habits in life and, within these, I function quite well. When these patterns are disrupted, I tend to struggle. I would not have believed this…
Well here it is, my first post from the new house. The move yesterday went very smoothly – it took three trips in a 14′ U-Haul with about eleven people helping (most of whom, strangely enough, were pastors). We were amazed with the amount of “stuff” we own, but I suppose there is nothing like…
“I think the holiday is total crap,” says a newly married 27-year-old man from Greenwich, Connecticut. Leslie, 28, a single editor at Glamour magazine in New York agrees. “I really hate it. I think I always hated it, even when I had a boyfriend. I always felt that it was really hokey. I’m not a…
As you may know, Aileen and I just bought our first house. While we found the house quite quickly (as these things go), we first toured several towns and walked through fifteen or twenty houses looking for just the right one. As we toured house after house it quickly became apparent which homeowners had invested…
We have had some fun the past couple of days discussing whether or not it is rude for a person to ask himself (or his family) to another person’s house. Opinion is divided but it seems that most people are siding with my wife and suggesting that I was rude to ask myself to a…
It was just about a year ago that I first posted an article about my Aunt Nancy, a woman who was the subject of a popular, mysterious song written decades ago. Every few months I find myself reflecting once more on the life of my aunt. Despite having something else I had planned on writing…
I don’t do memes. I have not (to my recollection) done a single one of them since the dawn of this site. I have often been tagged to do them but have always resisted because, quite frankly, I don’t care what character I most resemble, but it a character from Lord of the Rings, Narnia,…
Today I am going to post the blogging equivalent of a “state of the nation” address. We’ll call it a “state of the domain.” I wrote this post earlier and realized that I had not been entirely honest and forthcoming, so have added information to it. I realize that this information (discussing readership, privilege and…
For the past week I have been basking in the warmth of the Atlanta sun. While I will grant that the Atlanta sun is only moderately warmer in December than the Toronto sun, it creates an atmosphere which is, at the very least, on the better side of the freezing mark. Just yesterday we enjoyed…
Today I will make a horrifying admission, one that might just cast a shadow of doubt over my life, ministry and masculinity. Ready for it? I enjoy Jane Austen movies. I don’t just enjoy them, actually, but really, really enjoy them. I hate chick flicks as much as the next guy, but thoroughly enjoy Austen…
There’s something a little bit silly about Christmas, isn’t there? After all, we have no real evidence that Jesus was born on December 25. Sure there have been plenty of people who have attempted to prove some link, but in the end we just have to accept that there is really only a small chance…
A short while ago I posted an article here with the tongue-in-cheek title of “A Desperate Jealousy.” In that article I expressed my desire to have a mentor. I said, “I am absolutely desperate to have someone who will invest in me. I am desperate to find a person, or have a person find me,…