A Muslim couple stormed a holiday office party in Southern California on Wednesday, gunning down fourteen people – and seriously wounding others – before dying hours later in a shootout with police. The pair had with them a huge arsenal of ammunition, bombs, and high-powered assault weapons. Mounting evidence suggests that these were radicalized jihadists, complete with tactical gear and precision murderous movements. Later more than 5000 rounds of ammunition were found in their home, described as “an IED factory” of explosives and bomb-making equipment.

All is not well in our homeland. At this time of the year when we celebrate the birth of the Prince of Peace, we recognize the sad consequences of human depravity this side of heaven. And, instead of seeing people turning to Christ in record proportions, we continue to witness the cultural marginalization of Scriptural truth. A church weakened in zeal and influence. Admittedly the path of least resistance is discouragement, doom, and gloom. But perhaps we should consider the amazing prayer offered to God by the believers in Acts 4:29-30 – after Peter and John had been arrested, interrogated, and released. Surely it is an example for us of courageous faith under fire: “… Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal …”

What had caused all the trouble for Peter and John? In a nutshell, it was the resurrection of Jesus. To offer the living hope of the gospel has always been among our most egregious offenses in the minds and hearts of those who reject Christ. But offer Christ, and Christ’s hope, we must. Were not the angel’s first two words to the shepherds, “Fear not”? Then our song of praise we must continue to raise.

You may remember reading Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol (1843). A Christmas caroler arrives at the dingy counting-house of Ebenezer Scrooge and begins to sing: “God bless you, merry gentlemen! May nothing you dismay!” Scrooge reacts with such violent anger that the terrified singer flees, “leaving the keyhole to the fog and even more congenial frost.” Yes, Dickens adapted the language a bit. (You had to be paying really close attention to catch that.) The original hymn line was “God rest ye merry, gentlemen …” It was a transitive use of the verb “rest” – as in “keep, cause to continue to remain.” “Rest” would have made plenty of sense in the sixteenth or seventeenth century – but had lost its punch by Dickens’ day – so Dickens chose “bless” instead.

Dickens also tweaked the punctuation just a tad, putting the comma before “merry” instead of after. This is a common mistake. The only reason I’m mentioning it is to remind us that we’re not “merry gentlemen” on our own. We have to be kept merry. Any happiness we ever know, or that we ever will know, must originate in God – and not in us. Happiness – blessedness – emanates from God. You and I simply receive grace.

The main theme of the carol is that joy reigns on Christmas Day – and indeed every day, and for eternity – because of God’s great gift of His Son, Jesus Christ! For us. So you and I should think of “rest merry” like we think of “rest assured” – that is what the song is meant to convey. We can “rest merry” in the knowledge that Christ has paid our penalty for going astray. Christ has set us free from the penalty, the power, and (one day soon) even the presence of sin.

I don’t know about you, but I’m hoping that we can recover the “rest” in our day.

O tidings of comfort and joy,

Pastor Charles

“The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms …” (Deuteronomy 33:27).

As we quickly approach Thanksgiving, let me add one more thing for which we ought to give thanks: the immanence of God. By “immanence” I mean specifically to refer to God’s closeness. We can know Him. We can experience His presence. We can personally delight in His truth. Our great God is not just high and exalted, but He is near. This reality should blow our minds, while calming our troubled hearts.

When you and I take up the Scriptures, there is Christ in His “living and active” Word. When we behold the wonders of the created order, there is the Spirit of Christ whispering in our ear God’s power and glory. When we remember the cross, there is our present security even amidst life’s uncertainties.

My cousin Theresa has a daughter, Kendra, who just became a mom (at 6:51 a.m. today in fact). Ella Grace Wadsworth comes into the world already deeply loved. Her parents will do everything in their limited power to protect and provide for her.

But even better, our Heavenly Father knows no limits in His abilities to care for us. He has shown us His grace in extraordinary ways, and proven His enduring love by Christ’s meritorious triumph over sin and death. Almost inexplicably, God delights in us.

Martin Luther (c. 1529) got it right: “A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing.” Christ has won! We are safe. We are loved. We belong to the One whose arms are everlasting.

Experience. Enjoy. Celebrate. Give thanks.

Pastor Charles

I’m quoting Habakkuk (1:2): “O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you ‘Violence!’ and you will not save?”

It was another day when those words were penned, but something about that day was much like our own: God’s people were deeply afflicted by grief as they observed ungodliness and violence prevail. Even when they looked upon the ways of their own people, real righteousness and justice seemed eclipsed by hatred and lies.

We stare out today upon a world which seems to be descending into disarray on a number of levels, but we’re called to trust our God who orders all things well. I think that, because God knows that His ways at times appear more-than-molasses-style “slow” to us, in His mercy He has given us the Scriptures. The Bible, which required millennia to assemble, shows us that God is not in fact slow – but that instead He is patient in working out His redemptive purposes in the ways that are ultimately best (Second Peter 3:9).

It’s easier for me to wait when I remember that I’m waiting on a perfect plan. (I’d like to tell you that I wait patiently, like God, but I’m not that far along yet.)

Is Paris a foreshadowing of our future? Only the Lord knows. But many of us are at least thinking twice when we step into a jam-packed sporting event or a crowded theater, or when we board a plane or a train. Dangers are everywhere else too, of course, but specific venues and locales which seem like easy targets for terrorism capture our attention for at least a moment. The philosopher and apologist Ravi Zacharias says it like this: “War in small increments can be deadlier than large-scale war because it doesn’t just desensitize the killers; it desensitizes all of humanity.”

Even as I pen these very words, Mali unfolds. More traumatized hostages, this time in the Malian capital of Bamako. The social media are replete with the notoriety craved by present-day terror groups – who seem to live or die based on the widespread fear they can inflict. For several hours this morning, gunmen held some 170 guests and employees at what was considered one of the safest hotels in the West African city. At least 27 are dead.

Are we desensitized yet? O Lord, how long?

You and I may get tired of waiting for peace and justice to prevail, personally and globally, but even the most throbbing pain of our waiting should always include at least a spoonful of hope. We’ve read the story. We know who wins in the end! Christ has gone before us, friends, so you and I follow not into darkness and chaos – but into light and victory!

The Church of Scotland minister and New Testament scholar, James Stuart Stewart (1896-1990) made this keen observation: “The very triumphs of His foes … [Christ] used for their defeat. He compelled their dark achievements to subserve His end, not theirs. They nailed Him to the tree, not knowing that by that very act they were bringing the world to His feet. They gave Him a cross, not guessing that He would make it a throne. They flung Him outside the gates to die, not knowing that in that very moment they were lifting up all the gates of the universe, to let the King come in. They thought to root out His doctrines, not understanding that they were implanting imperishably in the hearts of men the very name they intended to destroy. They thought they had defeated God with His back the wall, pinned and helpless and defeated: they did not know that it was God Himself who had tracked them down. He did not conquer in spite of the dark mystery of evil. He conquered through it.”

You and I are more than conquerors (Romans 8:37)! But the story is never really about us. Little is known about our brother Habakkuk. One day soon, little will be known about us. But may every new chapter of human history – both the changes we welcome and the changes we fear – exalt the unfading faithfulness of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Pastor Charles

An academy is an institution of higher learning or research, and the word “academy” can be traced back to Plato’s school of philosophy. When I think of “the academy” in general, I think of distinguished authorities within a field of scholarship who determine helpful standards, and who prescribe appropriate methods, and who critique (in the healthiest way) the latest ideas within their field – all the while passing along the passionate pursuit of their subject matter to the next generation.

When it was time for me to choose a college, I chose the University of Kentucky. I wanted a public, large-campus academic setting where professors and students would come from multiple backgrounds and perspectives – and where the sky would be the limit in terms of academic majors and postgraduate degree programs as well. My university studies followed a liberal arts trajectory, with much of my coursework in Spanish and political science (my undergraduate major and minor, respectively). Since many of my courses were in the Patterson School of Diplomacy, I witnessed liberal and conservative professors working together for the common good. Within the broadly more liberal academic environment that typifies a state school, the Patterson School included its fair share of outspoken conservatives, whose voices were – from my perspective – welcome at the table of ideas that represented U.K. academics.

The vision for the Patterson School came originally from Dr. James Kennedy Patterson, U.K.’s first president. The 1898 Spanish-American War convinced Dr. Patterson that a new school was needed to prepare young adults for “the diplomatic and consular service of the United States.” Patterson used as his model the programs that he had observed at Harvard, Stanford, Chicago, Cornell, and Yale. And the Patterson School, during my tenure as a student at U.K., was a robust marketplace of scholarship and academic inquiry. Thus, that experience became my understanding of university education.

What I see today, at least from a distance, is drastically distinct from that. In my opinion, what is happening at the University of Missouri is symptomatic of a deeper cultural fissure that underlies and threatens the foundation of American life. Though I decry racism in all its manifestations, I fear that the Mizzou problem is not really about racism. I fear that it is – in the name of “tolerance” – actually the dismantling of tolerance. Have we raised a generation of young adults who can no longer tolerate an opinion other than their own? Is this the result of the drive for self-esteem, only on steroids? (Wasn’t self-esteem for everybody supposed to fix everything?) And are we not witnessing firsthand what happens when the pursuit of political correctness is allowed to trump every other virtue in a civilized society? What most concerns me about Mizzou is the climate that caused a university president to resign based on charges that were only that – charges. Why would he not wait confidently for sound reason, common sense, and the truth to prevail? My best guess is that he had little hope that the truth would prevail.

What most concerns me about the climate of “the academy” today is the systematic erosion of freedom of speech, which is in fact the death of the freedom of conscience. (On that same train will depart that old bothersome baggage of religious liberty as well.) How can academic administrators protect every student from hearing anything that said student does not want to hear? Is that even the administrator’s job? And, were it even possible to create such an academic environment, how would that prepare anyone for real life in a pluralistic society like our own?

We can enjoy no academic integrity unless we also have honesty and respect, along with large doses of personal responsibility. Having nearly abandoned all three, I am afraid that we have created our own monster. And it’s hard to run away from our own monster. The colorful New York City attorney, Hiram Mann, published these lines in The Wall Street Journal in 1947:

No man escapes when freedom fails,

The best ones rot in filthy jails;

While those who cried, “Appease, appease!”

Are hanged by men they tried to please.

And let me simply add this about the nature of truth itself: sometimes the truth hurts. Pontius Pilate didn’t like that fact either – we see that in his “What is truth?” (John 18:38) – but that didn’t change the fact that it was fact. You may remember that snarky Pilate, right before he delivered Jesus to be crucified, pulled that one out of his hat in an attempt to save his own hide. Pilate had been adept in his acquisition of the throne, and he would prove just as adept (under Rome’s watchful eye) at maintaining his power at all costs. Truth is: truth did not matter to Pilate. And Pilate understood that truth did not matter to Jesus’ accusers either – though they championed themselves as the guardians of truth.

But truth is still truth.

It is more than ironic that Pilate would ask the question “What is truth?” … while staring Truth itself right in the eye.

May we not do the same.

Pastor Charles

What do you discover when you make phone calls to 35,000 neighbors?

A newly-released survey – the U.S. Religious Landscape Study – finds that 77% of American adults identify with a faith group.

Good news.

Findings by the Pew Research Center confirm that 2/3 of religiously affiliated adults would also say that their faith is “very important” to them.

Good news.

The same percentage – again, 2/3 – of the “religiously affiliated” also pray on a daily basis.

Good news.

Even in worship attendance among that same group, we’re holding our own. About 6-in-10 engage regularly in corporate worship.

Good news.

One more finding: Half of all Americans who call themselves Christians believe that other religions (outside of Christianity and Christ) can lead to eternal life.

Bad news.

As a matter of fact, that’s such bad news that it actually calls into question all the “good news.”

Apparently we’ve now discovered that non-Christian faiths can save.

Has anyone told Jesus?

John 14:6.

Pastor Charles

It’s happening today and tomorrow in Lexington, at Keeneland: the Breeders’ Cup. I’m not advocating that you spend your money wagering at the track, but I do think there’s something wonderfully intriguing and majestic about horses. And one of the most amazing characteristics of Thoroughbred racehorses is their undeniable athleticism: power, grace, and near-perfect movement. These equine abilities have captivated people throughout history (Job 39:19-25).

Back in 2010, when we were living in SoCal, I brought several of my pastor friends to Kentucky, and of course they wanted to see horse country – all the beautiful farms in and around my alma mater. Just this past summer, Josh’s friend Noah visited from Orange County, and he wanted to see Churchill Downs. We’ve taken the tour before, and we learn something new every time. It’s not just he sinew and muscle and bone of the horse that makes him powerful, but it’s also his large and efficient heart (the heart of a resting horse pumps 40 quarts of blood per minute, and at full gallop 240 quarts per minute). It’s partly a matter of genetics, no doubt, and it’s partly his rigorous training to run like lightning.

This is the week of the year when I ponder, perhaps more than ever, how I’m running my race. We celebrate our Reformation heritage as a people of sola scriptura (Scripture alone), and we remember the price that was paid by many so that we could build our lives (and our churches) on the Word of God – and pass along the truth to the next generation.

Are we running well the race of faith?

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us (Hebrews 12:1).

Let’s consider that admonition within its proper context. You’ll remember that the Old Testament saints, in their lifetimes, never received what was promised. (The end of Hebrews 11 covers this.) They died waiting in faith, and trusting that one day God would bring all of His promises to final fulfillment. This Jesus accomplished through the New Covenant, as He offered the perfect sacrifice (the one that had been hoped for all those years) on the cross – Himself.

Now, as the writer to the Hebrews reminds us, we live in a “better” era than those who lived before Christ’s death and resurrection – because we can see and understand with much more clarity the fullness of God’s redemptive plan. But you and I have some waiting to do as well. We must persevere in faith until Jesus comes again (8:13; 9:28). We must press on in the race, and that’s not always easy.

Are you ready to run with endurance? The finish line is ahead of us. The prize awaits us. We’re almost there!

And, as we stay in the race, we have some cheerleaders. Great throngs of people are cheering us on. Those Old Covenant saints – “so great a cloud of witnesses” – propel us forward by their examples of faithfulness and steadfast determination. Our job is to “lay aside every weight” of sin that would impair our running well. But we can’t just turn from sin, with any lasting effectiveness, without looking joyfully upon the face of Christ while we run. Christ is our reward! That reality, then, becomes the practical sanctifying power of His gospel at work in us. My friend Dr. Tom Schreiner makes this observation: “Eternal life is the reward that we trust God will give to us who faithfully endure to the end of the race. Yet eternal life is also the very breath of heaven that already fills our hearts by God’s Spirit and enlivens our ‘feeble arms and weak knees’ (12:12).” I love thinking about “the breath of heaven,” because it’s a whole lot easier for me to run when I know that I’m running with an inexhaustible supply of strength!

On October 16, 1555, Nicholas Ridley and Hugh Latimer, two English Protestant ministers, were burned at the stake by Mary Tudor – under whose five-year reign some 300 believers were martyred. Four months later Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury, also suffered the same death. As the fire started burning under them, Latimer said to his friend: “Be of good courage, Master Ridley, and play the man, for we shall this day light such a candle by God’s grace in England, as I trust shall never be put out.”

In Christian tradition, November 1 is All Saints’ Day. We remember those who have run before us, who have left behind for us a legacy of faith and faithfulness. Perhaps they weren’t martyred for their convictions, but they persevered through their own persecutions, sufferings, and trials in this world (as all believers do). They were just pilgrims and strangers here, but now they’re safely home. Their city and country are far better than ours (11:16).

We who remain in the race don’t have the heart of a horse, but we have something much better: the breath of heaven! So run, friends, run! And Happy Reformation!

Pastor Charles

Some of you might not know that as a kid I was totally into meteorology. I practiced being a TV weatherman with my maps and my charts and all the rest of my props. So I’m kind of fascinated by Hurricane Patricia, now bearing down on Mexico’s Pacific Coast. Patricia is a Category 5 on the Saffir-Simpson scale, which is the highest designation for a hurricane as measured by its wind strength. As of this writing, the storm is about 140 miles southwest of Manzanillo. I have visited Puerto Vallarta, so I know what a stretch of beautiful and rugged coastline this hurricane presently threatens. It also threatens the people who live there.

Forecasters predict Category-5 intensity even upon landfall tonight. This is an exceptionally dangerous monster of a storm. Mexican authorities are distributing sandbags to help protect against rising waters, but you can imagine how likely it is that preparations will be too little and too late as streams overflow their banks and cause widespread damage in the form of flash floods. Patricia is so potent that even the Texas Hill Country, and the I-35 corridor from San Antonio to the Dallas-Ft. Worth metroplex, will be impacted by dangerous flooding.

Today we tend to depersonalize what we often label “nature,” but we must remember that our God is the Creator of all. He is fully in control, and there are always reasons behind the weather. His reasons.

The Bible does not share our timidity in assigning the weather, both good and violent, to the Lord. Psalm 42:7 is rendered: “Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls; all your breakers and your waves have gone over me.” Regarding Jonah, it was God (1:4) who “hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up.” Yes, if we take the Scriptures seriously, then we know that every weather pattern and anomaly simply does the bidding of our great and awesome God (Psalm 148:8): “Fire and hail, snow and mist, stormy wind fulfilling his word!”

I’m even convinced that God’s Word described the hydrologic cycle long before any scientist had that figured out. The cycle of water consists of three major phases: evaporation, condensation, and precipitation. Clouds move over the land and drop water through precipitation. The rain runs into creeks, the creeks into streams, the streams into rivers, and the rivers into oceans – with evaporation all along the way. Ecclesiastes 1:7 and Isaiah 55:10 describe the water cycle! Check out Job 36:26-33. There is a picture of evaporation and condensation with amazing clarity – centuries before any scientific understanding in this regard – as well as another affirmation of God’s greatness displayed as He “scatters his lightning.”

When Adam and Eve sinned, their sin (and ours) brought serious consequences to Planet Earth. Adam’s descendants became so godless and corrupt that God destroyed all human life, land animals, and birds by way of the Flood. Thankfully Noah, and his family, and his animals were saved – as Noah’s ark became a type of Christ for us. The fountains of the deep were broken up, and there was great volcanic activity. The layers of Earth’s crust were formed and even “nature” began to display the wages of sin. The stage was thus set for earthquakes and killer storms. Patricia is no exception.

The power of Patricia is a display of the power of God. In fact this is the most powerful tropical cyclone ever measured in the Western Hemisphere, with maximum sustained winds recorded at an unprecedented 200 miles per hour. Let’s pray for people in the path of the storm, and worship the God who is sovereign over all. In Jonah’s day, even the pagan mariners were afraid and cried out to their lifeless deities! How much more should we, for such a time as this, prevail upon the One who can calm the storm (Matthew 8:27): “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?”

Pastor Charles

I’m quite sure that I will not do justice to this subject, but please allow me to try. I am, like you, grieved by the headlines. Late yesterday Palestinians set fire to a site in the West Bank (in the city of Nablus) which some Jews regard as the tomb of Joseph (the Biblical patriarch). Later a Palestinian impersonating a journalist stabbed an Israeli soldier in the town of Kiryat Arba (on the outskirts of Hebron; mentioned in the Bible as the place where Abraham buried Sarah). Apparently Hamas has called for a “day of rage” against Israel.

Israel resents a blatant attack on their freedom of worship. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas officially condemns the attack. This follows at least a month of attacks in which both Israelis and Palestinians have been killed. Now hundreds of Palestinians from Gaza are up against Israeli troops.

If you are like me, you probably scratch your head from time to time wondering why it’s so difficult to understand news reports from the Holy Land. At least part of the reason is that the “Holy Land” is home to the most diverse people groups in the world. It’s populated by Jews, Muslims, and Christians. It’s populated by Arabs and Europeans, as well as Africans and Americans. And by almost every other ethnic group in between. The soup is thick – and at least for me at times – very hard to digest.

There are about 200 million Arabs in the world. Some 21 states are encompassed by Arabs, occupying approximately 5.3 million square miles of oil-rich land. Not only do they generally not get along with those outside the Arab world, but they fight internally over just about everything.

Since there is only one Jewish state with a population of six million squeezed into an area of 8000 square miles (they’re outnumbered 33 to 1 in people, and 662 to 1 in land), our first thought as patriotic Americans is likely, “What gives?” And for those of us with a Biblical and evangelical worldview which appreciates the Abrahamic Covenant (consider Genesis 17:8), we are tempted toward a sense of moral outrage, even if our emotions might cloud some of the complexities which perhaps we ought not miss. To that end I write this blog.

There are four different political statuses among the Palestinian people living in Israel and the occupied territory. 1.6 million Arab Israelis have citizenship and a passport. 200,000 residents of Arab East Jerusalem can vote in municipal elections, but not in national elections. (It’s kind of like their version of our green card.) 2.8 million West Bank Palestinians are not free to travel in Israel, and can work only by permit from the Israeli military. No voting allowed. No civil rights. Finally, 1.8 million Gazans are essentially trapped within Gaza. Few exit permits are granted, so they’re largely cut off from the outside world, even from family members in the West Bank.

Here’s where things get even more difficult. Most Palestinians live at a much lower standard of living than their Israeli neighbors. We’re talking basic utilities like electricity and water. Imagine a concrete house with temperatures in the 40s, and no running water for days in a row. This can happen in Bethlehem, and Gaza is worse – with more people (including many children) crammed into fewer square miles than anywhere else in the world.

And please don’t miss this: as many as 40,000 Palestinians identify themselves as Christian. This fact we must not overlook in our political observations. Among that group are our brothers and sisters in Christ. These Christians suffer just as much as the Palestinian Muslims, not only in the Gaza Strip but also in the West Bank. In exceptionally large measure, these Christians are not violent. They are not fighting. They are Palestinian Arabs who speak the Arabic language, but they are Christians. And many of them feel extremely forgotten by believers in other parts of the world.

It is absolutely clear that God, through Abraham, gave the land to the Jewish people. You and I can be pro-Israel, and I think we should be just that. But, in a world driven by news reports that often tell just part of the story, we must hold high God’s Word – as we seek to interpret world events through the prism of His unchanging truth. In the present crisis, we must speak against Islamic violence, while also recognizing that Israel has covenant obligations (e.g., Leviticus 19:33-34) to treat aliens and strangers with the kind of covenant kindness which they have received from God.

The same goes for us, friends.

Surely this is a call to pray. Surely this is a call to cry out with Christ’s angels for “peace on earth; good will toward men.”

Pastor Charles

“But a certain man drew his bow at random and struck the king of Israel between the scale armor and the breastplate …” First Kings 22:34. Not a chance!

Most of you know that Eileen, Joshua, and I lived in Chicagoland when Josh was a little guy. Our church was in Winnetka, and – being located north of the city – it was filled with loyal Cubs fans. And our years on Chicago’s North Shore included a few trips on the “L” (short for the “elevated” train) to Wrigley Field. One day Joshua asked me: “How come every time we come the Cubs lose?” Of course, he wasn’t alone in that observation or sentiment.

But win or lose – mostly lose – stepping into Wrigley felt like stepping into a slice of American history. The ivy. The sunbathers in the bleachers. The fans watching from nearby rooftops. The iconic surroundings and symbols. Waveland Avenue and Sheffield Avenue. The old center-field scoreboard. The world of Wrigleyville. The ballpark itself is 102-years-old.

What happened Monday night? It was Game 3 of the National League Division Series, and the first Cubs home playoff game in seven years.

But of more interest to me is this: six unsuspecting men caught six home run balls. (Don’t tune me out, Cardinals fans …)

Jeff Baum, a 46-year-old school administrator from Lubbock, Texas, had flown to the city to run in Sunday’s Chicago Marathon. Baum describes himself as the “fat kid” who watched the Cubs on TV every summer of his youth.

17-year-old Nick Jarecki, from Deerfield High (close to Winnetka), plays baseball at his school. Jarecki exclaimed: “I had to catch it. A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!”

Jim Gatto, who grew up on Chicago’s South Side, is a 46-year-old Wisconsin doctor. (His Uncle George was a third baseman for the Cubs organization for six seasons – never climbing out of the minor leagues.) Gatto had never caught a ball in all his years of Cubs games – not any ball, at any time, under any circumstances.

Paul Fromm is 30-years-old, and hadn’t attended a playoff game at Wrigley since 2003. He just moved back to Chicago after living in New York and Michigan. He found himself bleeding slightly after scrapping for his ball, but he didn’t care at all.

38-year-old Tony Killeen lives in Dyer, Indiana. He survived playoff collapses in 1984, 1989, 1998, 2007, and 2008. But he’s still a fan, especially now.

Wayward sunglasses notwithstanding, 39-year-old Gary Patterson of Oak Park caught his ball as it bounced off the chair in front of him.

Since the first World Series in 1903, never had one team hit six home runs in a postseason game. Six home runs. Six different players.

Out of the 42,411 people in attendance, six men in those bleacher seats became a part of baseball – and in fact our national – history.

Some may refer to “those lucky guys,” but you and I know better. Luck is for fables and fairy tales. We live in an ordered universe. Recent scientific discoveries point to a finely-tuned world. In order for there to be life on Planet Earth, the gravitational force must be constant. The expansion rate of the universe must be constant. A life-sustaining solar system can have only one star. To quote our friend Greg Koukl: “There is no chance for chance.”

So, when you catch your home run ball, celebrate for sure! But don’t for a split second believe that it “just happened.”

Some baseball games we win. Some we lose. But, to know by faith in Christ a totally Sovereign God – that is always a win.

Pastor Charles

I’m staring up at a palm tree thinking about Charles Haddon Spurgeon. On this precise date, way back in 1857, Spurgeon preached to 23,654 people. Yes, you read that correctly.

And, if my research is on target, that was numerically the largest gathering ever to hear a single sermon delivered by “the Prince of Preachers.” 23,654.

But here’s the fascinating part: Spurgeon had no voice amplification. There was no electronic sound system of any kind.

The venue was known as the Crystal Palace. It was a cast-iron and plate-glass building located in Hyde Park. That would be the Hyde Park of London, England. The Crystal Palace had been built to host the Grand Exhibition of 1851.

A couple of days before Spurgeon’s sermon, he was on site figuring out some of the details, like where the pulpit would be placed, and from where would his voice best project inside such a massive structure.

Sometimes, early on Sunday mornings during sound-check with the musicians, I can be heard in our sanctuary: “Testing, 1, 2, 3, testing, 1, 2, 3 …” But Spurgeon didn’t waste time with words and numbers like that. Instead, Charles Spurgeon bellowed out in his best preacher’s voice: “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world!” And the pulpit was fixed in its place.

Were you and I on the planning team today, charged with working out the details for an “outreach” event of similar proportions, we would undoubtedly conclude that it can’t be done. Not without the right equipment! We would require stellar acoustics, sharp video projection (right down to the pixels), climate control, and enough other creature comforts to satisfy any sophisticated audience.

But here’s what happened in 1857. In one of the galleries there at the Palace, a workman heard the sound of Spurgeon’s voice. That one Bible verse (John 1:29) is all he heard. Nothing else. At that moment, that man was shot in the heart with an arrow of the Word of God!

One arrow is all it takes. The man went home and wrestled with God until he found peace in his soul with the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith alone in Christ alone. And on his death-bed, many years later, that workman told the story that I just told you.

If my God can make this absolutely magnificent palm tree (I’ll send you a pic from my phone), maybe He can take care of everything else. The bells and whistles may be enjoyable, but Jesus is enough.

And, back to that workman’s story. Maybe you can tell someone else. You really won’t need a sound system, as long as you’re willing to make a sound.

Pastor Charles