Fox News has just reported that the Japanese have determined from the angle of its nose cone and altitude that the Taepodong II missile had been aimed at Hawaii. That means that it is quite likely that the flight of the missile was deliberately aborted and was not a failure as many had surmised.

An aborted flight is not the same as a flop. The first speaks of deliberate human control with a specific intent in mind, and the second is a matter of faulty technololgy and bad engineering. If the flight of the Taepodong II was aborted after its brief 40 second flight, then it is quite likely that Kim Jong Il allowed the missile to fly long enough for its trajectory to be discerned, so that its intended destination would serve as a shot across the bow of the U.S. Deal with us or else. Threat made and heard around the world.

If the flight of the Taepodong II was a flop, then North Korea is a paper tiger rustling in the wind and the West could take NK to the UN secure in the knowledge that Kim Jong Il could threaten but not immediately perform. A breathing space. Time to maneuver. Time to bring Russia and China aboard. Time for the diplomats to talk. Time for South Korea to make soothing noises about aid and no harsh measures against NK.

The news that Taepodong II was headed towards Hawaii in conjunction with its aborted flight speaks of deliberate restraint. It is a masked declaration of war, a taunt made from behind a gently waving fan that time's up. The West no longer has control. Instead, Kim Jong Il is in the driver's seat and nobody can stop him now.

Suddenly, the game has changed. With Hawaii in Kim Jong Il's gunsights and Iran attempting to keep the U.S. military tied down in Iraq and Afghanistan, and with Somalia heating up, it is likely that Kim is betting that the U.S. will have to buckle to avoid being fired upon. However, he is going up against a poker player who has been saying "let's talk." Now that Kim has tipped his hand, the time for talk is past, and he might discover that the U.S. military is more capable than he thinks.

Every Christian who has ever tumbled into bed tired at the end of a long day should be profoundly grateful that Christ's grace is sufficient to keep His people, that the Christian not bound to pray at set times and places but unceasingly as he moves through the day living out his life in worship. Had it not been for Christ Jesus and the liberty wherein He made free all those who believe in Him, man would have been bound futilely to the law <a href="http://www.mg.co.za/articlepage.aspx?area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__africa/&articleid=276425">under pain of death</a>like these Somalis who will die for failing to abide by a law that cannot be kept.

The law, whatever is nature, is onerous. It is a burden unbearable. It checks, convicts, and teaches. For, it is the schoolmaster that bring a man to Christ. If the man could keep the law himself, he would not need Christ. But man cannot keep it; therefore, God sent Christ Jesus, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem them that are under the law. So, Christ having come, and the law having brought man to Him, all those who believe and are baptized into Christ are under grace.

For those unfortunates, like these Somalis who live subject to a dread and terrible shariah law, may God have mercy and bring them to life in Christ.