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I returned safely from Minneapolis last night. The journey home was quick and uneventful. While I had a wonderful time at the conference, I am always glad to return to the comforts of home and family. Today is Thanksgiving Day (yes, we celebrate it on a Monday unlike our American neighbors who prefer Thursday) so I intend to spend the day with my family. But first I thought I’d provide a few topical reflections on my weekend at the Desiring …
Today’s message is “Suffering and the Sovereignty of God, Part 2” by John Piper. The purpose of this message to to magnify Christ in His suffering and in that process to venture what is the ultimate biblical explanation for suffering. Further, we will do it in a way that would free us from the paralyzing effects of discouragement, self-pity, fear and greed, but rather to be free to spend ourselves whether able or disabled, to spread a passion for the …
At lunch time today Doug and I had lunch with Adam (aka Ochuk) who lives nearby. It was great to eat with him (and witness Adam eating his first-ever Big Mac). Ochuk is every bit as well-read and intelligent as one would assume from reading his web site. At dinner we ate with Jack, a new friend, who is a reader of this site. Jack shared with us about his wife, whom he recently lost after an incredible fifty-seven years …
Today’s fourth session, featuring Steve Saint, is entitled “Sovereignty, Suffering and the Work of Missions.” Steve is the son of a missionary who was killed by natives in Ecuador some forty years ago. His father was part of the missionary group of which the better-known Jim Elliot was also a member. Steve has since become a missionary and worked among the very people who killed his father, even embracing as a close friend one of the men who ran a …
The third session of the day features David Powlison who will be speaking on “Christ’s Grace and Your Sufferings.” David is editor of the “Journal of Biblical Counselling.” He wants to put us to work by asking the following question: in your life, what is the single most significant experience of suffering that you have gone through? It could be the most painful or intense. It could be only short in duration, but which never went away. It could be …
The second session of the day will be led by Mark Talbot who will be speaking on “‘All the Good That is Ours in Christ:’ Seeing God’s Gracious Hand in the Hurts Others Do Us.” A fact you may not know is that Mark broke his back when he was seventeen years old and walks even today only with great difficulty and while leaning heavily upon a cane. How God’s will relates to our will when we hurt each other …
After a sleep which was far too short (Doug likes to talk), we wandered downtown Minneapolis for a while before finally finding a place to eat breakfast. Having done that, we returned to the convention center and I was privileged to meet readers Jack,Boyd, Dave, Andrew and Marc as well as John Piper who let us know that he appreciates our efforts in blogging the conference. Day two began with another powerful time of worship. The music ranged from contemporary …
As you know, I was asked to live-blog the Desiring God National Conference. This evening, Saturday and Sunday morning I will bring to you updates from this conference. You can also check coffeeswirls.com as Doug is blogging right beside me. I apologize in advance for spelling errors, grammatical errors, and the like. Because of the pace of the sessions I will have little opportunity, at least initially, to proof-read my entries. So here we are. Doug and I are sitting …
By the time you read this I should be well on my way to Minneapolis. It is amazing how three hours worth of flying can consume an entire day. It will take about an hour to get to the airport and of course I have to be at the airport at least two hours in advance so I can clear security and customs. I then have a three-hour layover in Milwaukee before I finally board the plane for Minnesota. It …