I once heard of a ship that was crossing the Atlantic from Europe to South America, and as it neared the end of its crossing, it escaped a close call that would have sent it to the depths and would have taken the lives of many of its passengers.
After departing Dover, the ship had cruised for many days without incident and without mishap. In fact, the crossing had been so smooth and so unremarkable that the crew began to grow lax in their duties. As the ship drew close to the South American coast, the man on lookout nodded off, and as he slept his ship began to approach a particularly rocky and ruinous spot.
But as it happened, there was a cricket aboard that ship. Until that point in the journey, no one had noticed its presence, but as the ship drew close to land, the cricket somehow smelled it or sensed it, and set up a shrill call. The lookout awoke, understood that land was quickly approaching, and stopped the vessel before it blundered into the rocks and was lost.
In this case, something as insignificant as the chirping of a cricket saved many lives. And I sometimes wonder what you and I may accomplish with what seems to be the simplest and least significant of sounds. I wonder what heaven will someday reveal—what we will hear in the soundtrack of heaven.
Maybe the scratching of a pen on a notecard will prove to be the means God used to encourage one of his downcast people and strengthen them for another day of love and service.
Maybe the tapping of a keyboard that sounds the writing of an article or email will be shown to have introduced a skeptic to the gospel and won a sinner to salvation.
Maybe the clank of a spoon stirring a pot will eventually be seen to have been used to feed one of God’s “angels unaware”—to have displayed a distinctly Christian commitment to love and hospitality.
God is the master of transforming the ordinary to the extraordinary, the mundane to the miraculous.Share
Maybe it’s the click of knitting needles as they create a sweater to clothe one who is cold, the crunch of footsteps in the snow as they approach a home for a time of prayer, the sound of a sob as one Christian weeps with another, sharing a heavy burden and so fulfilling the law of Christ. Maybe it’s even the sound of a bell ringing from a church steeple and calling people to turn to Christ that day, that hour, that minute.
God is the master of transforming the ordinary into the extraordinary, the mundane into the miraculous. God is the master of accepting little and multiplying it to much. God is the master of taking our little contributions and making them the great means through which he blesses his people and brings glory to his name. And I am convinced we will one day learn that the soundtrack of heaven is made up of the simplest of sounds that God has joined together into the most stirring of symphonies.

My gratitude goes to the kind soul who, in the middle of the night, braved the -22 weather to deliver a Voddie Baucham tract to our home and the others in the neighborhood! It’s genuinely much appreciated.

(Yesterday on the blog: When the Battlefield Goes Quiet)
Toward a Better Discussion about Abuse
I appreciate Kevin DeYoung’s attempt here to nudge Christians toward a better discussion about abuse. “Depending on a whole host of factors—one’s personality, position, experience, or context—we tend to see the present dangers leading in different directions. For some, the most pressing concern is obviously that abuse is perpetrated, minimized, and covered up in the church. For others, there is another concern, that abuse is becoming a totalizing category and that even the accusation of abuse takes down everyone and everything in its path.”
Did Bathsheba Sin with David?
John Piper answers an important question about David and Bathsheba. “I think there are pointers that David exerted a kind of pressure on her to warrant the accusation of rape … I see two indications that David threw his weight around — threw his power, his influence, his position — in such a way as to force her, apart from and against her commitment to her husband, to have sex with him.”
What Grace Does God Give the Humble?
“Someone told me recently that God has been humbling him through some circumstances of his life, and I told him that’s a good place to be because God gives grace to the humble. So he asked, ‘What does that mean? What does grace look like for the humble?’” That’s a valid question.
White Savior
I have been benefitting from this series by Dave and Stacey Hare on “why are the laborers few?” In this one they address the fear of being labeled a “white savior.”
Don’t Date That Guy
Melissa pleads with young women not to go down a dangerous road. “How does it happen that so many Christian women marry men who aren’t believers? In some cases, they were both lost at the time that they dated and married. But, so often it’s a different story…”
How big was the Tonga eruption?
This is a wonderful illustration of the sheer size of the recent volcanic eruption in Tonga.
Flashback: When the Mormons Come Calling
They offer salvation by works, but God offers salvation by grace. This is the difference between heaven and hell.

The greatest sorrow and burden you can lay on the Father, the greatest unkindness you can do to him, is not to believe that he loves you. —R.J.K. Law

There’s yet another solid list of Kindle deals to explore today. We’re spoiled!

(Yesterday on the blog: If I Was the World’s Only Christian…)
Complementarianism, the regulative principle
I really appreciate much of what Stephen says here about the regulative principle, complementarianism, and our tendency to conflate elements and forms.
Songs of Suffering: A Short Film Featuring Joni Eareckson Tada
You may enjoy this short film fearing Joni Eareckson Tada.
Give Him Your Acorns
Brianna’s illustration is a really good one!
Bored with Christianity?
“I love starting new books: the new beginnings, the crisp pages, the fresh ideas that I cannot wait to dive into. There is something about the weight of a large tome which tempts me to tackle a big reading project. But as much as I love starting books like this, I do have a problem finishing them.” What is true of our reading can also be true of our faith.
Why Did My Life Have to Be Hard?
Mark Talbot: “If you were to ask me what I take to be among Scripture’s most comforting passages, my answer may surprise you: Psalm 90 and Ecclesiastes.”
Thoughts on Becoming a Pastor (Again)
Jared Wilson shares some thoughts on becoming a pastor (again).
Flashback: We Must, We Can, Bloom for Him
No matter what unfolds around us and no matter what is done to us, we are able to bloom for him—to display the truest love, the greatest gentleness, the highest reaches of Christian character.

The faith that fizzles at the finish was faulty at the first. —Adrian Rogers