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  • Like an iPhone

    Like an iPhone, Only Much More So

    Can I confess something to you? There’s one thing Aileen does that really bugs me. We will be talking together and enjoying one another’s company. But then, as we chat, I’ll hear the telltale buzz of her phone. And I can tell that I’ve lost her. I can see it in the look on her…

  • A Family Update for the Holiday Season

    A Family Update for the Holiday Season

    I am so glad that the holiday season is finally upon us. And as much as I enjoy all the feasts and festivities, what I’m most looking forward to is days of rest and times with family. We anticipate that the next couple of weeks will be fairly low-key, and that’s okay by us. 2023…

  • When Only Your Family Is Looking

    Who Are You When Only Your Family Is Looking?

    One of the customs of our church is to thoroughly evaluate the men we call to be pastors and elders. Once we identify a candidate for the office, and once he has indicated his interest, we complete a thorough evaluation of his life and character. We work through a document that describes the qualifications the…

  • The House Seems Large Today

    The House Seems Large Today

    The house seems large today. Just a few years after we got married Aileen and I bought the only house we could afford at the time—a little townhouse in an older neighborhood. We never left, never moved on, never traded up. It was big enough for our needs and we happily raised our children here.…

  • And You Shall Never Displease Me

    And You Shall Never Displease Me

    So many people live with a deep sense of failure. So many people go through their lives convinced they are a constant disappointment to the ones they so naturally long to please. Children consider their parents and feel a sense of shame, certain that in some way their parents regard them as a disappointment. Meanwhile,…

  • A Late Summer Family Update

    Seasons of Sorrow: Updates, Awards, and Aileen’s First Interview

    It has been about 8 months since the release of my book Seasons of Sorrow: The Pain of Loss and the Comfort of God. And it has been an encouraging time. I wanted to share a few updates and pieces of information that may be of interest to you. Perhaps the greatest encouragement has come…

  • A Late Summer Family Update

    A Late Summer Family Update (+ a few more LOTR thoughts)

    We are now two weeks past the launch event for Seasons of Sorrow and one week past the official release date. Overall I think things went well. The Getty Music Sing! Conference, where we held the launch event and where I led a breakout session, was my first conference in more than two years and…

  • public schooling

    Once Again Honestly Assessing Our Decision to Public School Our Kids

    Many years ago, Aileen and I made the decision to enroll our children in the local public school. This was a decision we made as carefully and thoughtfully as we knew how to at the time (which was way back in the early 2000s). We decided we would take the approach of “a child at…

  • A Mid-Summer Family Update

    A Mid-Summer Family Update

    It is a holiday weekend here in Canada—a strange holiday that goes by various names across the different provinces and even across different cities within the provinces. I know the first Monday in August as the Civic Holiday, but in Toronto proper it’s known as Simcoe Day while in B.C. as British Columbia Day and…

  • Laying Ambushes

    Laying Ambushes — A Family Update on a Special Weekend

    Like so many Canadian boys of his era, Nick went through a pretty significant Nerf Gun phase when he was 8 or 10 years old. Between several birthdays and Christmases he built up quite an arsenal and, for a time, most of his play would in some way involve these guns. There was one game…

  • A Family Easter Update

    Easter weekend is always a special time in Canada, not least because both Good Friday and Easter are public holidays. Whether you celebrate Jesus, Passover, the Easter Bunny, or nothing at all, you get two days away from the hustle and bustle of normal life. In an era in which governments seem intent on tearing…

  • Canadian Truckers

    A Family Update and a Some Thoughts on Those Canadian Truckers

    It has been a little while since I have provided anything like a family or personal update, so I thought I would do so today. Also, I have received quite a number of questions about the Canadian truckers and their Freedom Convoy, so wanted to offer a few observations on that. I am under some…

  • My Favorite Family Memory

    My Favorite Family Memory

    The Challies family is not what it used to be. It is not what it used to be because we have experienced some profound changes over the past few years. Most of these changes have been normal and good—children going to college, children getting engaged, children moving out—, while one has been unexpected and grievous—a…

  • You Just Cant Have It All

    You Just Can’t Have It All

    Charles Spurgeon said it. Billy Graham said it. And even though it’s not really all that funny anymore, most of us have probably said it as well. It goes something like this: “Don’t bother looking for the perfect church since, the moment you join it, it won’t be perfect anymore.” Zing! There’s truth behind the…

  • A December Family Update

    A December Family Update (and Non-Travel Report)

    I turned 45 yesterday. My birthday was supposed to arrive when I was somewhere high over the Atlantic, perhaps just off the coast of Namibia, at the front end of a monster 16-hour homeward flight. I should have long since fallen asleep, and not known exactly where I was when the clock struck midnight, nor…

  • a Beautiful Bench

    Family Update: An Engagement, a Scholarship, and a Beautiful Bench

    Canada’s Thanksgiving weekend has just come and gone and we ourselves have just come and gone—we are on our way home from a brief trip to Louisville, Kentucky, where we spent some time as a family. We very much enjoyed our few days with Abby, with Ryn (Nick’s fiancée), and with Nate, (Abby’s fiancé). Yes,…

  • Finding My Father

    The Gospel and the Pain of Fatherlessness

    Sometimes one person’s story can stand in for that of millions. Sometimes one person can explain a situation that affects not only themselves but also countless others. Those of us who were blessed to grow up with fathers who were present, active, and engaged may struggle to understand the particular sorrows and challenges that come…

  • A Mid-August Family Update

    A Mid-August Family Update

    We have somehow already come to the middle of August, and over the past couple of weeks have been experiencing the full heat and humidity of a Canadian summer. Temperatures are often hovering around the low-30s Celsius (+-90 Fahrenheit) with humidity making it feel more like 40 (105). But it won’t be long now before…

  • A Canada Day Family Update

    A Canada Day Family Update

    Summer is now well underway in Canada. The hot weather began early this year and only now is the calendar catching up. If Canada has an unofficial beginning to summer it is the Victoria Day weekend (which falls around May 24) and if it has a more official beginning it is Canada Day (which is…

  • A Family Update and a Cause of Death

    A Family Update and a Cause of Death

    It took nearly six months, but the Jefferson County Coroner’s Office finally determined the cause of Nick’s death and sent us an autopsy report. It was a very long wait for a crucial piece of information. And while it was very difficult to receive the report, we were glad to finally know. We couldn’t bring…