Creation from a Heavenly Perspective

by John MacArthur

Today's post is from the foreword to Colonel Jeffrey N. Williams's recently-published book The Work of His Hands. The book is a gorgeous album of spectacular photography from the International Space Station, blended with Col. Williams's own account of his first 6-month tour of duty in space (Expedition 13, in 2006). Longtime TeamPyro readers will recall that we kept in touch with Jeff—and he with PyroManiacs—during his first long stint in the the Space Station. After writing this book (but before it was published), Jeff spent another six months in space. So we're expectantly hoping for a sequel to this book. Jeff has photographed virtually the entire planet, and his book compiles hundreds of his best shots. Even better than the pictures are Jeff's biblical reflections on the glory of creation. Your coffee table needs one of these. It's available at Amazon.com

"Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens . . .. When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him?" Psalm 8:1-4

avid wrote Psalm 8 while gazing into the night sky. He probably penned that song as an adolescent, while tending his father's flocks in some remote field. As he pondered the vast expanse of the heavens and the orderly nature of such an immense universe, he was awestruck by the realization that God, who created so many amazing wonders, is even greater, more glorious, and wiser than all of them combined.

While he was thinking about that, David was overwhelmed with a deep consciousness of the relative insignificance of humanity. He marveled that God has shown so much grace and kindness to the human race. After all, God has revealed Himself to us not only implicitly (in the glory of His creation) but also explicitly (in His Word) and (above all) personally through the incarnation of Christ. That is the prophetic subject matter of Psalm 8, according to Hebrews 2:6-9. The idea that the Creator of the universe would thus stoop to redeem fallen creatures elicited from David a profound outpouring of pure praise.

Anyone who takes time to study the heavens can appreciate David's amazement at the spectacle. Even without a telescope or satellite photos, David could see that the glory of the universe was beyond the ability of human language to describe.

As a matter of fact, you can look from any perspective at any portion of creation, great or small, and the message built into every aspect of it is exactly the same. God's invisible attributes—namely, his eternal power and divine nature—are clearly perceptible in the things He has made. That has been true since the very beginning of creation (Romans 1:20).

Only in our generation, however, has it been possible to study earth from heaven's perspective. Jeff Williams has had the rare privilege of doing just that, and the experience likewise impressed him with the greatness, glory, and grace of God who "made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps truth forever" (Psalm 146:6).

During his six-month stint at the International Space Station in 2006, Colonel Williams orbited the earth more than 2,800 times. He worked on hundreds of experiments while suspended in microgravity. He walked in space twice (spending more than 12 hours hanging by a tether in the atmospheric void outside the spacecraft). And while doing all that, he took more photographs of earth than any astronaut in history.

In a journal entry written from the Space Station and posted on a NASA website near the end of his first month in orbit, Jeff wrote:

Another activity that we really enjoy is earth photography or what we formally call "earth observation."

You can never tire of looking at the part of God's creation we call Earth. Traveling around the globe every 90 minutes provides lots of opportunity to view the geography, oceans, cloud formations, sunrises and sunsets, thunderstorms, city lights and many other things in vivid detail.

Jeff preserved as much as possible of that vivid detail in an amazing collection of stunning digital photographs.

I was privileged to see some of Jeff's photography almost immediately via e-mail while he was still in orbit. One shot that especially stands out in my mind is an extraordinary view of California from above, with the coastline mostly obscured by a massive smoke-plume from the sixth largest wildfire in California history. Known as the Day Fire, it burned out of control for nearly the entire month of September that year. For several days that smoke-plume permeated and overshadowed the community where I live and minister. But a photograph of the fire from orbit is what enabled me to appreciate the true size of the fire—and the amazing mercy seen in the fact that not a single life was lost in it.



That was just one snapshot. Every view from the window of the Space Station contains countless vivid lessons about the meticulous goodness of divine Providence, God's care for His creation, and His wisdom in ordering the universe. Jeff Williams has a wonderful gift for seeing those things and pointing them out.

This book tells the story of Expedition 13 from Jeff's perspective as flight engineer—while giving us a front-row seat in the space station and letting us look with Jeff through the lens of his camera. These photos and the descriptions Jeff has written are filled with graphic reminders about the greatness and power of God, our own relative insignificance, and the great mercy whereby God cares for us.

Rocket Man

Someone you ought to meet...

Today we reach far back into the archives of my original blog to introduce you to a longtime Pyro-reader. The info below was current in 2005. See below my signature for some more current information and an important update.

(First posted 8 August 2005)

Jeff Williams

Yesterday [7 August 2005] after church I had lunch with a friend whom I want to introduce to you: Jeff Williams. Jeff is a graduate of West Point. He competed on the sport parachute team there. He is also an expert scuba diver and had a distinguished career as a test pilot and helicopter pilot. He has multiple degrees in aeronautical engineering and a master of arts degree in—get this—"national security and strategic studies" from the US Naval War College. He also reads PyroManiacs.

So, obviously, Jeff is a bright and highly motivated guy.

Jeff and his wife Anna-Marie live in the Houston area. But they were in California yesterday to visit Jason, the younger of their two adult sons. Jason is spending the summer as an intern on a tall ship, currently sailing south along the west coast. It's the schooner "Bill of Rights," currently docked in Oxnard, about 50 miles from here.

Now, you might think sport parachuting, scuba diving, and test piloting is pretty exciting stuff. And a summer on a tall ship is cooler yet.

But I haven't even told you the most interesting thing about Jeff: He's probably the only PyroManiacs reader who has ever done this:

Jeff in the cockpit of the Space Shuttle Atlantis

Yes, that's the real Space Shuttle, and Jeff is really performing a maneuver with it. And it's really in orbit.

Jeff's a NASA astronaut. He was a mission specialist on STS-101, the third US Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS). While Shuttle Atlantis was docked with the ISS, Jeff and fellow-astronaut Jim Voss completed a 6-hour, 44-minute space walk that spanned parts of May 21 and May 22, 2000.

The space walk

In NASA parlance, a space walk is called EVA, for extra-vehicular activity. (In our house, "extra-vehicular activity" is just something you do with the spare car.) During Jeff's long EVA, he and Voss installed a Russian crane, repaired and re-seated an American crane, put handrails on the outside of the ISS, and installed an external camera cable and an antenna.

In all, Jeff was in space for nearly ten days. More than half that time, the Shuttle Atlantis was docked with the ISS. While docked, the Shuttle thrusters were fired three times, pushing the Space Station to an orbit some 27 miles further from earth than previously. Atlantis returned after ten days in space, landing in Florida.

Before going into space, Jeff had obtained a copy of The MacArthur Study Bible on CD-ROM, and he loaded it on a laptop for use while he was in orbit. He brought the CD-ROM back from space, and we have it framed and hanging in a place of honor in the Grace to You office. It has traveled further than any other copy of the MacArthur Study Bible in history.

I met Jeff not long afterward, when he came to Grace to You to give John MacArthur the CD-ROM. Jeff loves Christ and has a wonderful testimony.

Darlene and I got to know both Jeff and Anna-Marie a year or so later on a ministry-sponsored trip to New England. At the time, Jeff was on vacation between training sessions for a future space mission.

He is still in training for a six-month stint at the ISS. Much of his training has been in Russia, because the plan is for him to travel to the Space Station with a Russian crew in a three-man Soyuz vessel that will launch from Kazakhstan next year. He's also on the backup crew for a mission scheduled to launch in October (less than two months from now), so there's a small chance he'll go up then.

In any case, he'll spend half a year in weightlessness and near isolation at the Space Station. How cool is that? He's promised to send me an e-mail from space. And since he'll be up there for six months, he'll surely need a Pyro-fix or two also.

To my surprise, Jeff tells me the Space Station doesn't have an Internet connection that allows astronauts to surf the Web. (He says they have more important business to do than read blogs.) But since he will have e-mail access, I suggested he start a blog of his own and keep an on-line journal while he's out there. I hope he does.

Anyway, now that you know Jeff, keep him and Anna-Marie in your prayers. Even if he doesn't blog while in orbit, I'll try to blog a few updates on him during his six months at the Space Station next year. Watch this space.

A footnote: Last year I was preaching on Psalm 19 ("The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork") and Jeff, who was in town for the Shepherds' Conference, came to my class. In that message, I described a photo of Jeff, hanging in space with the earth under him, which I was using for Windows Wallpaper. Several people who have downloaded that message have e-mailed me to ask how to get a copy of that photo. I'll do better than that. I'll give you the URL to the mother lode.

NASA has several brilliant online photo galleries, where you can download spectacular digital space photos for free. (Actually, your tax money has already bought the photos, so enjoy them.)

If you want some stunning photos of Jeff Williams in space, click here, and do a search for photos from STS-101. The pictures below are small samples of what you'll find there. These thumbnails (some of which are just small, cropped and downsized fractional images of the real pictures) don't really do justice to the actual photos. The high-resolution versions of these photos that you can download are fantastic. (Click on the small versions below for direct links to the NASA URLS where you can download the high-res versions.) Costco, Wal-Mart, or Kinko's [now Fedex Office] can print these for you in large format, or resize them to make great Windows Desktop wallpaper.

Jeff Williams (foreground) and Jim Voss walked in space for nearly seven hours

Jeff flashes the One-Way sign

Jeff peers into the window of Atlantis's cabin while walking in space

This is one of my favorite photos from Jeff's mission. They shot a lot of photos of volcanoes from space. This is Mt. Etna. (You can download a copy from NASA without my labels by clicking on the picture.) Notice the plume of smoke drifting east from the volcano. Darlene and I went to Sicily that year to do a conference in the picturesque town of Giardini-Naxos, right on the coast, at the very base of the volcano. The mountain was erupting off and on that year, and we saw this same scene from ground level.      If you have Google Earth, click here to see the same view in a mosaic of satellite pictures.      If you don't have Google Earth, click here to get it.

2009 Update:

In late September 2006 (almost exactly 3 years ago) Jeff successfully completed Expedition 13, and while that mission was underway, I blogged about it several times—especially my efforts to track and watch the Space Station from several places all over the world. Jeff did not blog from the Space Station, but he did take more photographs of earth than any other astronaut in history, and you'll find abundant examples of his handiwork here. He also called to wish me happy birthday from the Space Station—the longest long-distance birthday greeting I have ever received.

After 3 years on earth, Jeff is about to launch again for what I suppose will be his last long-duration space mission. He'll be serving as flight engineer for Expedition 21; then staying on to serve as Commander on Expedition 22. And this time, he is going to be Twittering as well as blogging. Click here to follow him on Twitter. (His Tweets so far have been fascinating.) Jeff tells me he'll be reading our blog from orbit again on this mission, so please be on your best behavior.

The launch is set for next week in Kazakhstan. Darlene and I are planning to go to Houston to watch the launch on the big screen at NASA's Mission Control. I'll blog about it more, Lord willing, this Friday, and then we'll be blogging some occasional updates on the mission from time to time, just like last time. Meanwhile, keep Jeff in your prayers. These days prior to launch are stress-filled and tiring.

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Safely back on earth

The Soyuz capsule streaks through the upper atmosphere toward the steppes of Kazakhstan

Expedition 13 Commander Pavel Vinogradov, Flight Engineer Jeff Williams and Spaceflight Participant Anousheh Ansari landed in the steppes of Kazakhstan Thursday at 9:13 p.m. EDT.

The Soyuz capsule after landing

NASA-TV showed crisp live video of Jeff, smiling, eating an apple, and talking on a cell phone, presumably to his wife, Anna-Marie, who is in Kazakhstan awaiting his return at Star City (some distance from the actual landing site).

We rejoice with thankfulness to the Lord that they landed safely and we'll post an update as soon as the World's Most-Traveled PyroManiacs reader phones home.

Jeff eats an apple

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Expedition 13 Nearing Conclusion

by Phil Johnson

y friend Col. Jeff Williams will soon be on his way home from the International Space Station (ISS).

Jeff and Commander Pavel Vinogradov turned over command of the ISS to the new crew in a ceremony Wednesday. Thursday afternoon they will climb in their Soyuz capsule and close the capsule at 1:45 CDT (Houston time). They will undock from ISS about three hours later. If all goes well, they will land in a high desert area known as "the steppes" in Kazakhstan at 8:14 PM CDT Thursday night.

Returning with them will be American businesswoman, blogger, and space tourist Anousheh Ansari, who arrived at the ISS several days ago with the new crew in a Soyuz capsule. In an interview a few days ago, Ansari said the blastoff and ascent into orbit was very difficult and she experienced severe motion sickness. I'm told the trip down is ten times worse, so please pray for the whole crew.

Jeff's wife, Anna-Marie, is on her way to Kazakhstan as I write this. Please pray for her as well. We'll try to keep PyroManiacs readers informed of any important news as Expedition 13 draws to a close.

ncidentally, last week I posted this digital photo snapped by Jeff:



That's the so-called "Day Fire," which began on Labor Day. It is still raging. Wednesday afternoon one of my co-workers at Grace to You was evacuated from his home, with the fire 4 miles away and closing in. From here in Santa Clarita, the whole world smells like a big campfire.

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On this morning's emergency in the Space Station

by Phil Johnson

ou might have seen the news about a dangerous chemical alarm (turned out to be a potassium hydroxide leak) in the International Space Station today. According to the Associated Press: "NASA declared a spacecraft emergency for only the second time in the eight-year history of the station. The first time was for a false alarm of an ammonia spill. . . Because the station's emergency system was activated, the ventilation system was shut down, but ground operations reactivated it a short time later. Astronauts used a charcoal air-scrubbing device to remove the offensive smell and [Jeff] Williams said the odor 'decreased significantly.'"

About an hour after I heard about the emergency (I saw the news on TV this morning as Darlene and I were getting home from our morning walk), I got an e-mail from Jeff with the title: "Big Fire."

That got my heart going for a minute, but it turns out Jeff was sending me a digital photo of a wildfire he snapped from his orbit over southern California this morning. This is the big fire that has been burning for two weeks just west of the Grace to You offices. It's a spectacular photo:



(I added the county borders and a few landmarks to give perspective. Click on the image for a higher-res copy.)

Jeff quickly sent a follow-up message with the title "All is well on board." He wrote:

I realized that the "subject" line in the previous email might have gotten your attention given the news you might have heard when waking up. The last email was obviously referring to a forest fire.

The emergency we had a board today was one I would rather not experience again but rest assured that all is well and we are safe. The mission will continue as planned and, as of early this morning, our relief is on the way!

If you're following the news with NASA, notice that there's a ton of activity in space today. I wonder how nerve-wracking it is to do space traffic-control when things get this active:

1. The Soyuz crew that will replace Col. Jeff Williams and Commander Pavel Vinogradov launched successfully from Kazakhstan this morning.
   
2. The shuttle crew undocked from the Space Station yesterday and are on their way home.
   
3. And then there was the smoke-alarm incident.
   
4. Things are very busy for Jeff and his crew right now

. . . and will be for the next ten days until they head home. Please remember to keep Jeff and his family in your prayers.

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Hitting the Ground Running

by Phil Johnson

es, I'm home from my mini-vacation. Darlene and I went to western North Carolina (Maggie Valley, in the Great Smoky Mountains), where we spent a few days with some friends. I preached on Sunday at Twin City Baptist Church, (they've already got the sermon on line, if you're interested in downloading it) and I was amazed at the number of PyroManiacs readers who showed up. I hadn't posted here the details of where I was going, so I appreciate the effort those readers made to find me. It was good to meet many of you.

We got back home late Tuesday night, but I haven't even had time to catch up on reading the blog, much less posting new stuff. It'll prolly be next Tuesday or later before I get a chance to write a new post—except for the standard weekend Spurgeon excerpt and BlogSpotting posts.

But I'm rested up. My mind is clear. I read a bunch of evangelical magazines while I was away and discovered to my surprise that the burgeoning evangelical fringe is in far worse shape than even I thought. So I'm eager to get back to blogging about it. So many aberrations; so little time.

But before I do that, I have some stuff to catch up on. My massive e-mail backlog, for instance.

Nevertheless, it's Thursday afternoon as I'm writing this, and in the 36 hours since I came back from North Carolina, here are some things I've been doing that will be of immediate interest to PyroManiacs readers:

1. Teleconference with Jeff Williams. I don't know how Jay Flowers and my co-workers at Grace to You negotiated the timing with NASA, but yesterday morning our entire staff was treated to a live half-hour video conference with our friend Jeff Williams in the International Space Station. Of course, if you've been watching the news, you know that Space Shuttle Atlantis is docked at the International Space Station this week, and our teleconference took place a scant hour after the completion of a major spacewalk with the crew of Atlantis. They were installing two amazing solar panels, which were just unfurled today. So it's a busy time up there, and the place is rather crowded, judging from the video. But it was a great conversation with Jeff, whose descriptions of the marvel of God's creation are always enlightening.
        By the way, the crew of Expedition 13 have taken a record number of photographs, and hundreds of them are online and downloadable for free. Enjoy.
        Expedition 13's mission is nearly over. Jeff has been in space 168 days now, and he and Commander Pavel Vinogradov are scheduled to return in a Soyuz capsule on the 29th of this month. Thanks for keeping Jeff and his family in your prayers.
   
2. Interview with John MacArthur. This morning, I taped a one-hour interview with John MacArthur on the Emerging Church Movement. He spoke with his usual candor about various trends in the post-evangelical wasteland. He said one of the worst tendencies of the "emerging" spirit is the way it exaggerates and venerates mystery at the expense of the Bible's clarity. Denying the perspicuity of Scripture has the same practical outcome as denying the truthfulness of Scripture. The essential message of Scripture is not unclear or uncertain, and Jesus Himself bore testimony to that fact repeatedly.
        Grace to You will offer a CD of the interview next month, but only to those on the mailing list. If you're interested in being on our mailing list, send an e-mail message with nothing but your complete name, street address, city, state, and Zip code to Pyromaniac@gty.org. Grace to You offers a major free resource—normally a book, CD, or video—every month. So if you're not on the Grace to You mailing list, you're missing out. And if you're not on the list and would like to receive a free copy of the interview that was recorded with John MacArthur today, that will be next month's offer. So you need to get on the list ASAP.
   
3. Final work on The Truth War. While we're on the subject of John MacArthur and the Emerging Church, I'm in the process of making final editorial revisions on The Truth War. (That will be offered free of charge to people on the Grace to You mailing list sometime in the spring of 2007, so there's more incentive to get on the list.) Sometime after the manuscript is in final form, I plan to start posting snippets of the text at the Pulpit blog, to whet people's appetites. Watch for that.
   
4. Miscellany. While I'm talking about the Emerging Church and doing commercials, here's a draft of the artwork for a two-message album from The GraceLife Pulpit. Will Moneymaker, who manages The GraceLife Pulpit, asked me for suggestions for artwork on that album, so I threw this draft together for him tonight:

Enough details on Where I Am Right Now. I mainly wanted regular readers to know that I haven't been goofing off this past day and a half, and I haven't lost interest in the blog. Now, let me get my suitcases unpacked and the lawn mowed, and I'll have more to write. Special thanks to Frank and Dan for keeping the blog going whilst I was gone. Actually, Dan managed most of it singlehandedly and superbly, but Frank's Wednesday post, "from vacation," was so spectacularly great that it deserves special mention. Thanks.

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Say kids, What time is it?

by Phil Johnson

t's Saturday, so this must be BlogSpotting. We got a ton of stuff here. So settle in and be prepared to spend a few hours working through these links:

Cindy Swanson lists us in some rarefied company. Incidentally, you should read her recent post titled "Some things need to be remembered..." (And be sure to notice the amazing first comment in response to that post). Also in the same vein, follow the link to her post about my friend Don Elbourne, a Louisiana pastor whose church building was destroyed by Katrina. She has attached some sound bites from her radio interview with Don that are worth listening to.

Wayne from "Ekklesia" finds a blog in Antarctica that reminds him of Jeff Williams.

Eric Rung notes how frequently the New Testament warns believers about wolves in sheep's clothing, and he thinks Dan's description of such deceivers as "spiritual terrorists" is apt.

James Kubecki liked Dan's description of the anti-intellectualism on the post-evangelical side of the religious spectrum: "Their religion is a Schleiermacheranian mish-mash of feelings and sentimentality. . ."

Steve Riedy, Candleman, is baffled and thinks I "really missed the mark" by refusing to call out one particular blog in my "Guilt by Association." post. I hope to reply to Steve and others who share his view sometime between now and Monday evening.

Bud Brown thinks we have dissed his compatriot "Antonio" unfairly by deleting an off-topic post. Tell you what: one day we'll host a thread on the only topic Antonio ever brings up: the gospel according to Zane Hodges. Meanwhile, if it seems I haven't taken Antonio seriously, that's because he has made it obvious all over the blogosphere that he is not really serious. I'm not going to waste time trying to engage someone seriously on a serious doctrinal issue when his trademark style is the drive-by comment on blog after blog in thread after thread where the topic under discussion wasn't even his pet issue to begin with. Especially here. In other words, we're going to abide by the blogrules, whether the nattering nabobs of no-lordship doctrine like it or not. OK?

northWord (Suz) at "suffice it to say" started a blog so she could comment here. She finds us "brusque, and maybe a few pennies short in the humble purse"—point taken—but she gets it. And she has some very nice things to say. She can't remember how she found us, but she thinks it might have had something to do with "Way of the Master Radio."

The 'Way of the Master' gang L. to R.: Ray Comfort, Todd Friel, Kirk Cameron

That reminds me: I keep meaning to give a brief review of "Way of the Master Radio" with Todd "Freakishly Tall" Friel. I really like this program, and I really, really like to hear Todd Friel when he does a riff on something he feels strongly about. If you have never listened to WoTM Radio, you need to tune into their podcast. Start with this one, in which Todd answers an atheist's YouTube film, defends imputation, explains substitutionary atonement, refers to our friend Tim Challies, remarks (briefly but tellingly) about Brian McLaren and Rob Bell, uses the kids at your local Chuck E. Cheese as vivid proof that even young children are depraved—and a whole lot more. Todd is an inexhaustible reservoir of energy and enthusiasm, and while he is perhaps no Robert Reymond, he is sharp enough theologically. (Meaning that he is about ten-thousand times more well-read and well-informed than the average talk-show host.) He's quick-witted, extroverted, and very likeable.
In fact, Todd says lots more shocking and potentially explosive things than we ever write here at PyroManiacs, but he gets by with it because he is not brusque or short of change in the humble purse. I especially loved his answer to the atheist's question, "How can people know that your God is the one true God when so many other religions claim the exact same thing?" Todd's answer (starting at about 27:05 on the same broadcast I just linked to) is a masterpiece of brevity and clarity. If you want more context, start listening at 25:00.
Forget that. Just listen to the whole broadcast. Stay tuned at least till you hear his spot-on paraphrase of the Emergent message at about 43:40. You'll thank me for introducing you to Todd.
Way of the Master is the ministry founded by Ray Comfort. Kirk Cameron co-hosts their television broadcast, which is also excellent.



Oh, yeah. Back to BlogSpotting:

John Hollandsworth explains why Challies is so much more popular than we are.

Danny Wright pays a high compliment to our Dan Phillips. (He referenced Dan here, too.)

William Dicks likewise thinks Dan is "absolutely brilliant."

Will at "Prydain" posts something that nicely complements one of Dan's classic Pyro posts.

David C. Kanz also expands on a "Classic Dan" post.

Tom Ascol reminds me about a conference I need to prepare for. It's the 2006 Brandon Biblical Theology Conference, in the Tampa Bay area, October 12-14. I hope some of the teeming hordes of PyroManiacs readers in central Florida will show up. Actually, if I got to meet even two or three Pyro regulars, it would make me happy.

Eddie Beal leads off with a Pyro-worthy graphic and makes sure to mention all of us. Way to get BlogSpotted, Eddie.

Brad Huston scolds me again. I'll scold him back a little bit in the upcoming post about Slice of Laodicea.

"Mustard Grains" at "More, Please," found Dan Phillips's remarks about the Trinity helpful.

Janet Lee thanks me for BlogSpotting her last weekend by making a virtual postcard with a aerial photos of my old neighborhood.

Mark Minnick thinks aloud about fundamentalism, separatism, and the question of due process. This interview will be most meaningful if you're a fundamentalist, but the whole thing is well worth listening to. Warning to non-fundamentalists: Dr. Minnick could force you to revise whatever caricature of fundamentalism you might be carrying around in your head. He's had that effect on me.
Incidentally, the SharperIron podcast ought to be required listening for all serious Pyro readers.

Bob Hayton ponders the sacrament of the altar call and the legacy of Mr. Finney.

Chris Anderson links to one of my sermons.

Even James White noticed us this week.

Matt Gumm wonders if Frank Turk has jumped the shark.

But Gavin Brown thinks Frank has given us the coolest T-shirts ever in the history of earth.

Connor Carney thinks Frank made some very astute observations about the Emerging Church Movem— Conv— thingy. We think all Frank's observations are worth their weight in gold.

Lindon Coffee also thinks Frank is one sharp guy.

And Richard Hobson at "Castle Sands" gives Frank "Quote of the Day" honors—then promptly retires from the blogosphere. I think I get it.

and finally . . .

somehow this made me think of The Blue Raja

I think this guy has commented here a time or two, also.

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Shall we do this once a week?

by Phil Johnson

Jeff Noble finds the PyroManiacs "insightful if not abrasive." He pins the blame for this post and its excoriatingly keen perception on Dan Phillips. Fact is, I wish I could be half as insightfully abrasive as Dan usually is.

Matthew Rupert at "From the Morning" likewise thinks we are "a decent read," but he wants it made clear that he disagrees with most of what we post here. (We would've guessed that, actually, because Matt's tastes run to Rob Bell and Velvet Elvis.) Matt also thinks we link to "nonsense." Hmm. It would be interesting to do one of those blind taste-tests: Show Matthew's blogroll and ours to any ten random church members and ask which list links to more "nonsense." If we were gamblers (which we're not) it would seem a pretty safe bet that most objective readers would think . . . well, nevermind.
     Frank Turk answers him well, with patience, good sense, and biblical wisdom.

Here's Jeff Williams with an actual PyroManiac decal in the International Space Station. (No Photoshop tricks.) Jeff has circled the earth close to 2,000 times since March—making him, hands down, the most traveled Pyro reader ever. Period. Please remember to pray for him and his family. The trials of life don't go away just because you are in outer space.

Paul Doutell is back. He is still looking for a fight.

Eddie Beal observes a clever irony in the story we posted about Mrs. Spurgeon's dairy business.

Erik Raymond gleaned some great thoughts from last week's dose of Spurgeon.

Will of "Prydain" has a good summary of Dan Phillips's latest post. Tim Ake gets it, too. A few commenters in the meta of that post are still arguing with Dan, though.

Eric Rung analyzes Billy Graham's Newsweek comments. In a different post, Eric also notes that it's not all that easy to parody evangelicals anymore.

Jared Wilson reminds us that "Dismissal is not one of the fruits of the Spirit. But patience is."

Nathan White links to the first blogpost I ever wrote.

Jon from Reidville, SC ponders the difficulties of guilt by association alongside the dangers of leaving one's flock with a favorable impression of bad theologians.

JD Hatfield celebrates his birthday by trolling for a BlogSpotting link. Happy birthday, Even So. . .

Ken Fields reminds you that there's a great large-format color portrait of Spurgeon available for free downloading from this blog.

PJ Tibayan summarizes and links to my message about postmodernism.

Christopher Barnette ("the fusion of greasemonkey and geek") "contextualizes" Spurgeon's message perfectly: "Lord, Save Us from These Postmodern Hipsters."

Brendt at "Musings from Two-Sheds Gomer" links here with a disclaimer.* He thinks you people who comment are "pretty vitriolic." (*I'm pretty sure he is talking about the people who disagree with me.) He has a pithy summary of some of my observations about Guilt by association.

Nathan Casebolt liveblogs (by taped delay?) our Saturday men's meeting with James White. His post are both funny and informative—and well worth reading. Darlene read them and asked me how much stuff Nathan was making up. Actually, everything happened exactly as he describes it. He just has a gift for highlighting the humor.

Perhaps Kim Shay doesn't realize that just linking to a post by DJP is enough to get her BlogSpotted again.

Ed Goode reminds himself how right Spurgeon is.

Charles Sebold is keeping score. He wants a link from Pecadillo. Pecadillo's gone to working night shift. He has a powerful flashlight that attaches to his Glock. These days, it's prolly better if he doesn't notice you.

Janet Lee has some thoughts about Rob Auld's fulminations against fundamentalism.

Greg Wertime is still mad as a wet cat, and now he is trying to overwhelm our Dan Phillips with the sheer volume of words.

Hey! Apparently, Tim Challies still reads PyroManiacs.

And James White is clearly bad to the bone.

Adam Omelianchuk Joins the ranks of people who blogged about the "Guilt by Association" post. Like several others who replied to that post, Adam is unhappy because I didn't seize an opportunity to jump on the dogpile against some specific high-traffic watchblogs.

Paul Lamey gives some interesting background about the author whom we quoted in Tuesday's post.

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Walk in space

by Phil Johnson

or most of the day, our friend and favorite rocketman Jeff Williams will be hanging around the outside of the International Space Station, doing maintenance work and whatnot. You can watch it live on NASA-TV. The images are mesmerizing. Jeff's wearing a helmet-cam, which shows us what he sees.

Pray for Jeff's safety when you think about him today.



Scenes from the astronauts' helmet-cams

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