Happy Friday
Since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off
everything that hinders us and the sin that so easily entangles us, and let us run
with perseverance the race marked out for us.Hebrews 11
It’s worth noting that we are not told, “Don’t sin.” We are told to avoid anything that might hinder our relationship with Christ. The question is less, “Is there anything wrong with this activity?” but more “Is there enough right with it to commend it? Will it help me win the race?” It’s fine for spectators to show up at sporting events in warm clothes, with a chair to sit in and a cooler full of food and drinks. There is nothing wrong with any of that, but the runner who hopes to win shuns it all.
Whiplash: One of the last things I saw last night was this alarming graph. One of the first things I read this morning was Psalm 131 — which stands as the polar opposite and a path forward. Pray that our country’s high school students would learn to give voice to verse 2: “I have calmed and quieted myself, I am like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child I am content.”
WOTW: Honorable mention goes to: skiplagging (booking the $350 Chicago to LA flight with a connection in Denver, because the Chicago to Denver flight is $400), greenwashing (claiming that whatever you are doing — such as writing a weekly newsletter — is climate friendly), rainbow capitalism (something that did not work well for Bud Light), hype-cycle, work-quake, and crisis merchants. Full honors go to inverted encouragement, which describes men’s penchant to express friendship with other men via derogatory comments.
Quotes Worth Requoting:
1) “The truth is the kindest thing we can give folks in the end.” Harriet Beecher Stowe;
2) “There are two types of people in the world: those who come into a room and say, ‘Well, here I am!’ And those who come into a room and say, ‘Ah, there you are.’ We need more ‘there you ares.’” Frederick L. Collins;
3) “You have to train your mind as much as your body.” Venus Williams;
4) “Wherever you go, God is sending you; wherever you are, Christ who indwells you is working through you.” Richard Halverson;
5) “Being listened to is so close to being loved that for the average person they are almost indistinguishable.” David Augsberger
Big Brother and Big Tech: I recently heard about a group of Catholics debating the wisdom of taking their smartphones to confession. Their stated fear was that the FBI might be listening. I’m not well versed in RC doctrine, but I suspect that those who take their phones to confession have already taken them everywhere else, which suggests that the FBI may already know. It also seems like an exercise in missing the point.
Israel: By the time you’re reading this, I’m in Israel leading a group on this year’s tour of the Holy Land. Having done this before, I’m quite confident those visiting Israel for the first time will find the country to be: 1) smaller, 2) safer, 3) more political, 4) more economically vibrant, 5) more complicated, and 6) “nothing like it is portrayed in the news.” Most will also report that: 7) being there is more spiritually enriching than they expected.
Devotions from Israel: If you regularly get the five-minute morning devotions I send out, we will soon suspend our study of Hebrews for a series from Israel. If you do not get the devotions via email every AM and you want the devotions from Israel, sign up here.
Garden of Gethsemane: Next Thursday, we’ll visit the Garden of Gethsemane, which is full of very old olive trees. I am told it takes eight years for an olive vine to bear fruit, but that it can keep doing so for hundreds of years. It raises the question: What am I doing that might take eight years to bear fruit but will keep bearing fruit long after I am gone?
Without Comment: 1) Engagement and wedding ring sales are down 25% in recent years; 2) Homeschooling is up 30% since 2019; 3) Gallup claims that 38% of Americans now identify as socially conservative, 29% as liberal, and 31% as moderate; 4) Pew notes that 13-14% of the U.S. population is a first generation immigrant, the highest percentage ever; 5) This study of one million 6-12-year-olds notes that boys born in December — thereby starting school one year earlier than January babies — are 41% more likely to be medicated for ADHD than boys born one month later; 6) Women are the main breadwinners in 41% of American households: 7) The 50 most popular web sites are listed here; 8) U.S. charitable donations fell in 2022 for only the fourth time on record.
Lake Wobegon on Steroids: Uber drivers with a rating less than 4.8 are losing business for having such a low score. I’m wondering when grade inflation is going to impact sermon critiques.
Resources: Speaking of, here is a link to last week’s Father’s Day sermon. Go, Dads.
Closing Prayer: Set my heart on fire with love for you, most loving Father, and then to do your will, and to obey your commandments, will not be grievous to me. For to him that loves, nothing is difficult, nothing is impossible, because love is stronger than death. Oh, may love fill and rule my heart. For then there will spring up and be cherished between you and me a likeness of character and union of will, so that I may choose and refuse as you do. May your will be done in me and by me forever. Amen. (Jakob Merlo-Horstius, 1597–1644.)