Change is the basic principle of the universe. At least it seemed so to Heraclitus 25 centuries ago, and to the Wall Street Journal today. Publisher Gordon Crovitz describes in a long letter to Journal readers all the ways his paper will be changing come January 2, 2007. The paper's editors have apparently conducted surveys and dozens of focus groups in eight cities across the country. As I read through the results, it seemed to me that GodIssues Today should try to learn from the Journal. Or maybe not.

The Journal will keep its "stipple dot drawings" and bring back the "Pepper . . . and Salt" cartoon to the daily editorial pages. Since I cannot do more on a computer than type, I have no idea how to add "stipple dot drawings." I could start producing a daily cartoon, so long as you don't mind stick figures and I can figure out how to do one on my laptop.

Journal readers apparently want more convenience. The paper will soon be reduced to a narrower size so readers don't knock over their neighbor's orange juice on airplanes. And they've designed a typeface which will create a more legible text for "those of us whose eyes are not what they once were." GodIssues Today plans to maintain our commitment to being just as convenient and readable as your computer can make it--no more, no less. Your neighbor's orange juice is your responsibility.

The paper's design consultant says he has never seen subscribers to a newspaper come to read and not just to look so much as Journal readers. If we had a design consultant he'd say the same thing of us, since our daily essay offers nothing to look at. It all boils down to the promise of the Journal's founders, Charles Dow and Edward Jones: "In all things first, and in many things alone."

With no disrespect to The Wall Street Journal, GodIssues Today intends just the opposite. This daily essay hopes to bring you not my suspect wisdom (which is nonexistent most days) but God's transforming word. We're interested in the day's headlines as they point us to our need for divine wisdom. Since human nature doesn't change, God's word is always relevant. The coming changes in the Journal will probably not meet anyone's deepest needs for help, hope, and home. But the truth of God will always speak to our minds and hearts.

So we'll keep reading the Journal and other papers for the morning's news. Then we'll see what our Father says to his children. The Bible is "God preaching," as J. I. Packer says. Have you taken time to listen yet today?

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