Remembering Michael Mack
Dave Faust
Like so many others, I was saddened last August to hear about the sudden death of Christian Standard’s editor, Michael Mack. When Mike was a seminary student and engaged to be married, Candy and I had him and Heidi over to our house to talk about marriage and ministry. Years later, Mike did free-lance work for The Lookout magazine when I served as editor. I respected his attention to detail, his expertise in leading small groups, and his earnest love for God.
In recent years* *I e-mailed Mike my weekly articles (usually on Mondays) and he often responded with encouraging notes. A month before he died, Mike called and asked me to write a new column for the back of Christian Standard’s bi-monthly issues. After brainstorming possible titles for the new column, we settled on “Motivate.” In his last e-mail to me, Mike wrote, “I’m imagining you as a coach who is taking the playbook, that is, the articles in each issue, and then motivating the team to put God’s word into action.” As was his custom, Mike concluded his e-mail by quoting from the second verse of Jude’s epistle: “Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance.”
For all who read my column today and in future issues of Christian Standard, that is my prayer for you as well.
This column first appeared in Christian Standard on January-February 2024.
Remember When?
I know—the good old days weren't all good. As one punster pointed out, "Nostalgia isn't what it used to be!" Even the Bible warns, "Do not say, 'Why were the old days better than these?' For it is not wise to ask such questions" (Ecclesiastes 7:10). We can't go back in time, and in many ways, we probably wouldn't want to anyway.
Restoring People
A few minutes after takeoff from New York's Kennedy Airport on July 17, 1996, TWA Flight 800 exploded in mid-air and plummeted into the ocean, killing all 230 people on board. For weeks afterward, aviation and law enforcement officials engaged in what has been called the most expensive plane accident investigation in history, investing thousands of hours of labor to salvage the plane's wreckage from the ocean depths and to determine the cause of the crash. For a time, the National Transportation Safety Board was spending more than $100,000 a day, and the total cost of the investigation has been estimated at $50 million.