Happy Friday,

“You have done all this evil; yet do not turn away from the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart.”

Samuel
1 Samuel 12:20b

Many ancient religions and many modern people end the sentence after “you have done all this evil.” But God regards our failures as only a semicolon. Did you fall short this week? Are you carrying any guilt? “Do not turn away from the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart.”

From Rags to Riches: Two hundred and ten days ago, in this very newsletter, I (Glenn Wishnew) pleaded with you to subscribe to Lakelight Monthly because your subscription “could help me buy a house someday.” Today, the moving trucks are ready, and the Wishnew family is closing on our first home. In the words of athletes all around the world, I’d like to thank my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ—as well as the entire TFU community.

Without Comment: 1) A new study indicates that men value romantic relationships more than women and suffer greater consequences from breakups; 2) Per this report, a job change creates about a third as much stress as the death of a spouse, half as much as divorce, and about the same amount as the death of a close friend; 3) A RescueTime study of 185 million working hours reveals that the average employee checks communications every 6 minutes at work and spends 21% of clocked-in hours browsing entertainment and social media; 4) According to a 2023 study, the professions with the highest average IQ are Physical Scientists, Solicitors, and Air Traffic Controllers; and 5) In the USA, about 40% of kids are born to unmarried mothers. 

Why?: TFU is known for sharing excellent content. But in the interests of making a broader point about our informational ecosystem (and adding some humor, to be honest), I’m going to highlight a few articles that didn’t need to be written. 1) “My Friend’s Instagram Account Has Taken a Dark Turn” – ooooo interesting!! 2) “Heart Attacks Rise During the Super Bowl. You Can Take Precautions.” – the precautions are: “moving around and avoiding binge eating and drinking.” Who knew?! 3) “Ozempic Slimming Can Make Skin Sag. Enter the $20,000 ‘Body Lift.’” – ahh, yes, thank you. I almost forgot about the extra 20 grand I have lying around to make sure my skin is nice and tight after my ‘Ozempic Slimming.’ 

Quotes Worth Requoting: 1) “The biggest human temptation is to settle for too little.” – Thomas Merton 2) “Never confuse motion with action.” – Benjamin Franklin 

Cold Sweats: “I wake up in cold sweats every so often thinking: What did we bring to the world?” – Tony Fadell, co-developer of the iPhone. It’s easy to disparage Tony and his buddies for our digital hellscape (I do it regularly, and my wife loves it). But let’s take the log out of our own eyes here and ask ourselves: what challenge am I avoiding today that may cause a late-night cold sweat 10 years from now? 

Ross Douthat Wants You to Believe in God: The NYT columnist’s newest book, Believe: Why Everyone Should Be Religious, makes the strongest case against strict metaphysical naturalism that I have ever read. If your eyes glazed over the previous sentence, here’s the gist: over 300 years of skepticism toward religious miracles and 200 years of scientific advances have conjured 1) an increase in the share of Americans reporting supernatural experiences over the last 100 years, 2) a universe governed by physical laws so finely tuned for biological life that the probability it could have happened by chance is 10 X 10^120’, and 3) a subjective ‘consciousness’ problem for naturalists that becomes more vexing as we learn more about how the brain actually works. 

‘A Small and Passing Thing’: As the late pastor Tim Keller was lying down on the operating table before a life-threatening surgery, he found comfort in this passage from The Lord of the Rings: “For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty forever beyond its reach.” If you are in darkness right now, remember that the resurrection of Jesus means every shadow is ultimately a small and passing thing. There’s light and high beauty forever beyond its reach. Or, as my pastor likes to say, eternity changes everything.

Mike Woodruff Advertisements: After he spends this week meditating on the top of the Himalayan Mountains, Mike will be in Denver on Feb. 24 to speak on C.S. Lewis at Cherry Hill Church. Then, he heads south to North Carolina, where he will preach at Lake Norman Church (Charlotte, NC) on March 16 and at Corinth Reformed Church (Hickory, NC) on March 23 before he delivers a lecture on C.S. Lewis at  Corinth Reformed Church that evening. Finally, if you’re still reading this (God bless you), you can purchase Mike’s newest book, On The News, here. (Note: Mike and Sheri are actually not in the Himalayas this week).

Prayer: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be your name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven, Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, As we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one (Jesus, 4 BC-33 AD)

Happy Valentine’s Day,

My heart is not proud, Lord, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters, or things too wonderful for me. But I have calmed and quieted myself, I am like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child I am content. Israel, put your hope in the Lord both now and forevermore.

King David, Psalm 131

Between politics, domestic and international, the acceleration of AI, and reports on all manner of things masquerading as urgent and ultimate, it’s been a frenetic month. David had a few such moments and learned to talk himself off the ledge. May you trust the Lord as fully as our new granddaughter trusts her parents—and sleep as deeply.

Yes! In addition to Psalm 131 (above) and Psalm 11, I’m working to have an outlook shaped by the promises of God—starting with Rev. 21: Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

BTW: My sabbatical has been mostly about not doing things, but I have added a few—e.g., the discipline of Scripture memory. Given that “game changer” has been banished from use in ‘25, I’ll not employ it here, but I will say: I’d forgotten how much easier it is to hear the voice of God when you’re actively hiding it in your heart. 

Quote Worth Requoting: 1) Sin is our unwillingness to trust that what God wants for me and you is only our deepest happiness. And because I don’t believe he wants that for me, and I want that for me, I have to seek it out myself. (Ignatius of Loyola); 2) Leadership is disappointing people at a rate they can absorb. (Ronald Heifetz). 3) We jump from one website to another, but ‘bits of information are like specks of dust, not seeds of grain. They lack germinal force.’ When we are no longer able to provide meaningful narratives of life, wisdom deteriorates, and its place is taken by problem-solving techniques. (Kevin Vanhoozer) 

Overheard: 1) Loneliness is inner emptiness. Solitude is inner fulfillment; 2) It appears that while social media is devastating for girls, most rise above its downward pull as they become young women. Meanwhile, while social media is less deleterious on boys, many young men remain addicted to video games and internet porn; and 3) The optimism of international poverty-alleviation efforts stands in contrast to the pessimism of our domestic efforts.

Without Comment: 1) An average American touches their phone 2,716 x/day; 2) Per Variety magazine, of the 100 most-watched primetime television shows in 2024, 46 were NFL games; 3) Marriage registrations in China fell 20% last year to a new record low; 4) 90% of Canadians live within 100 miles of the US border; 5) The Federal Reserve expects 80 more colleges to close in the next 5 years; 6) The National Retail Federation is estimating that Americans will spend $27B on Valentine’s Day this year, which is about $189/person (note: slightly more than $2B of that will be spent on pets); and 7) Per this report, 37% of Americans cannot afford an unexpected expense over $400. 

WOTW: Honorable mention goes to bafflegab (incomprehensible and pretentious bureaucratic jargon), eggflation (obvious enough), slow democracy (a call for more local and inclusive government), and impurity spiral (which I found in this First Things piece by Carl Trueman). Full honors go to agents, the third generation of AI. We are moving out of Chatbots (ChatGPT) and into Reasoners (DeepSeek). Agents (AI that takes action) are next. 

Closing Prayer: In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. I thank you, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have kept me this night from all harm and danger; and I pray that You would keep me this day also from sin and every evil, that all my doings and life may please You. For into Your hands I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me. Amen. (Martin Luther, 1483-1546)

Happy Friday,

“Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”…  At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left… Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

Jesus, John 8

Among the many things this story implies is that Jesus is not a blend of mercy and justice. He is one hundred percent of both. 

Yet Another: Jonathan Rauch—a self-described “liberal atheist”—is one of the latest to leave the “religion-is-poison” camp and join the “I-don’t-believe-Christianity-is-true-but-I-hope-everyone-else-does” camp. I’m heartened that people are recognizing Jesus as the source of much we now call good—e.g., humility, forgiveness, human rights, etc.—but I’m praying that those who now identify as “cultural Christians” (J. Rauch, D. Murray, R. Dawkins, et al.) take a step toward full faith.

WOTW: Honorable mention goes to boomerasking (a derivation of boomerang that describes those who ask a question in hopes of being asked it in return), attention capitalism (the way markets now pursue—and exploit—our attention), and oligopoly (a market controlled by a few). In the last week, DeepSeek—China’s AI entry—has upset the Big Tech oligopoly. Full honors go to premortem (which was featured in this WSJ piece.) In this specific case, it involves imagining what will be important to you on your deathbed and attending to those matters now. 

Without Comment: 1) Per the National Institutes of Health, 91.5% of men (and 60.2% of women) admit to accessing porn in the last month; 2) Per the WSJ, the average number of days off taken by those offered unlimited paid holidays is 16, only two higher than those granted finite vacation time; 3) Per the WSJ, 20% of US homeless live in L.A. County; 4) Per this piece, more people are killed by toasters than sharks; 5) The CBO’s latest demographic projections show the US population growth dropping from 0.4%/yr (2025 – 2035) to 0.1% (2036 – 2055); 6) Per this piece, average US reading scores for both 4^th and 8^th graders dropped five points from 2019 to 2024; and 7) this Atlantic piece contends that our current “loneliness epidemic” might be “the most important social fact of the twenty-first century.”

The Viral Debate: Canadian Christian apologist Wesley Huff so bested Billy Carson (a popular “expert in ancient civilizations and spirituality”) that Carson lawyered up to keep the debate from being released. The resulting brouhaha landed Huff a spot on Joe Rogan’s podcast, where he made a case for faith and shared the Gospel. 

Psalm 23—the Tech Version: The Algorithm is my shepherd; I shall not lack. It guides me to the best search results; it refreshes my data streams in the quietest corners of the web. It restores my bandwidth; it leads me on the right pathways for its name’s sake. Even when I navigate through the dark valleys of spam and malware, I fear no error, for the Algorithm is with me; its code and its logic comfort me. It prepares a digital table before me in the presence of my online foes; it uploads my profile with positive updates; my cloud storage overflows. Surely, its optimization and efficiency will follow me all my digital days, and I will dwell in the Cloud forever.

Overheard: 1) I seldom have a great idea while sitting in front of a computer. But every good idea I have makes me want to sit in front of a computer; 2) The biggest financial decisions we make—e.g., who we marry, how we treat our body, and how we spend our free time—have nothing to do with money; 3) What does it say about our sexualized culture that we intuitively know that The 40-Year-Old Virgin is a comedy?; 4) Virtual Reality is not ultimate reality, but it is increasingly “a reality” (when Her came out in 2013, it portrayed a guy with an AI girlfriend living in 2025. And it’s pretty much unfolding per the script); 5) When children get frightened, they run to their parents. When adults get frightened, they call their fear “stress” and keep it to themselves. We get trained out of community; and 6) In a moment when we are “free to craft our identity,” many play small ball, defining themselves re: politics, sports teams, consumer products, and sexual practices.

Resources: I will be speaking on CS Lewis at Cherry Hill Church (Denver, CO) on the evening of February 24 and at Corinth Reformed Church (Hickory, NC) on the evening of March 23. I will be preaching at Lake Norman Church (Charlotte, NC) on March 16 and at Corinth Reformed Church (Hickory, NC) on March 23. If you are interested in registering or learning more about the Lakelight tour of Istanbul next October, click here. 

Closing Prayer: Grant me, O Lord, to know what is worth knowing, to love what is worth loving, to praise what delights you most, to value what is precious to you, and to reject whatever is evil in your eyes. Give me true discernment, so that I may judge rightly between things that differ. Above all, may I search out and do what is pleasing to you; through Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen (Thomas à Kempis, 1380-1471)

Happy Friday,

“I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.

Paul
1 Timothy 2:1-2

A few reminders: 1. We’re called to pray for all people. 2. We’re called to live peaceful and quiet lives. 3. We’re called to pray for our leaders. Paul packages those three into one sentence—suggesting that our prayers, private character, and public behavior all intersect. Let’s put it this way: a noisy mind, an angry heart, and a prayerless schedule are spiritual check engine lights. How’s your car running? 

Glenn In, Mike Out: Mike is out on sabbatical; he was last seen at a local spa lounging in a whirlpool, sporting a thick beard and muttering Bible verses to himself. So, I’m Glenn Wishnew, and I’m filling in. For new readers of the TFU, I’ve been the substitute writer twice before, and both times, I suggested that Mike should hand over the reins permanently to me. He has yet to take my advice, so rest assured, he will be back next week. 

Trump In, Biden Out: There was another peaceful transfer of power that occurred this week other than Mike handing over TFU to me. Allow me one take on the matter. In the last two weeks, I’ve heard Biden’s National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, and Trump’s informal tech advisor, Marc Andreessen, agree on two things: the world is in flux, and the future is uncertain. They’re right on the first point and wrong on the second. There is a Kingdom that will endure forever and ever, and that future is coming, even now.

Without Friends, Without Comment: All from this article: 1) Americans now spend less time face-to-face socializing than any period in modern history; 2) Men who watch television now spend seven hours in front of the TV for every hour they spend hanging out with somebody outside their home; 3) The typical female pet owner spends more time with her pet than she spends in face-to-face contact with friends of her own species; and 4) Since the early 2000s, the amount of time that Americans say they spend helping or caring for people outside their nuclear family has declined by more than a third.

FWIW: 1) After buying a coffee at a Starbucks drive-through, my window refused to roll back up, and it remained open for 10 minutes during my morning commute in -7-degree weather. Self-pity ran at an all-time high—until I thought about the people in my community whose days without warm shelter are just… average days. 2) You can feel bad about your sins without turning away from them. The Israelites did it often. 3) We’re at a point in the Entertainment Industrial Complex where Netflix is telling filmmakers to create ‘content’ for viewers who “aren’t paying attention.” Can 2025 be the year we watch less Netflix and make more friends?

A Quote Worth Requoting: “You are more sinful and flawed in yourself than you ever dared believe. Yet at the very same time, you are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than you ever dared hope.” – Tim Keller

3 Insights, 3 Books: 1) “We used to travel faster, build bigger, live longer; now we communicate faster, chatter more, snap more selfies.” The Decadent Society by Ross Douthat 2) “About a quarter of all pregnancies end in abortion.” The Case Against The Sexual Revolution by Louise Perry 3) “What Lincoln lacked in preparation and guidance, he made up for with his daunting comprehension, phenomenal memory, acute reasoning faculties, and interpretive penetration….Get the books, and read and study them,” he told a law student seeking advice in 1855.” Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin

Theo of Golden: The novel Theo of Golden chronicles a man whose random acts of kindness transformed an entire town. “Looking back, all would have said—in praise of that Portuguese man with the lilt in his voice and the hint of a smile constantly on his lips—our hearts burned within us.” Whose heart will burn because of your kindness today?

Mike Woodruff Wants You To Read His Book and Join Him in Turkey: Reading a pastiche of Mike’s weekly thoughts is pleasant. Reading a book authored by Mike is even better. But spending a week with Mike in Turkey this upcoming fall, learning about the Council of Nicaea and the subsequent 1700 years of Christianity’s collision with the Western World? Priceless.

Closing Prayer: “Oh God, we thank Thee for the creative insights in the universe. We thank Thee for the lives of great saints and prophets in the past, who have revealed to us that we can stand up amid the problems and difficulties and trials of life and not give in. We thank Thee for our forebears, who’ve given us something in the midst of the darkness of exploitation and oppression to keep going. And grant that we will go on with the proper faith and the proper determination of will, so that we will be able to make a creative contribution to this world and in our lives. In the name and spirit of Jesus we pray. Amen.” (Martin Luther King Jr., 1929-1968)

Happy Friday,

By this I will know that God is for me.

King David, Psalm 56

By what, exactly? In Psalm 56, David states, by this I know that God is for me. What is the this? His feelings? His circumstances? An easy life? No. No. And NO! David trusts in God because God keeps a list of David’s tears. When we’re inclined to think God doesn’t exist or that he’s as unconcerned as the Greek’s Unmoved Mover, remember your loving Father knows the number of hairs on your head, keeps count of your tears, hears your prayers, and sings lullabies over you as you sleep.

Gut Check: Religion says, “I obey; therefore, God must accept me.” The Gospel says, “While I was a sinner, God loved and rescued me. I worship and obey out of gratitude and love.” Tragically, the former belief is the background music animating our heart unless and until we drive the Gospel into every corner of it—and do so every day. 

Failed: My plan was to start my sabbatical with a 3-day silent retreat at a local Catholic retreat center—i.e., no talking, digital engagement, or work. I failed. I’m not faulting myself for keeping my phone on after our daughter-in-law went into labor, nor for saying things like “thank you” and “excuse me.” The goal was never silence; it was silencing my heart. I failed because, while I had moments of quiet transcendence, my heart mostly behaved like a cage full of Greyhounds asking frantically to be released so they could run. Silence can be uncomfortable. It’s hard work to not work.

All Donne: I’ve been reading the reflections of John Donne, the 17th-century poet-turned-pastor who gave us “no man is an island,” “for whom the bell tolls,” “nature abhors a vacuum,” “reaching the end of your rope,” etc. Donne—who pastored in London during the Plague (nearly dying from it himself) writes powerfully about death, dying, and eternity—three things moderns avoid thinking about. There is so much I might say about Donne. I’ll limit myself to underlining CS Lewis’s adage that we really, really, really must read old books. “To stay current, stay ancient.”

Imagine: As with his life, I was positively challenged by much of President Carter’s funeral. That said, I could have done without the addition of Lennon’s Imagine. The song is not only demonstrably wrong and contrary to the teachings of Christ, it’s anti-government. (Imagine there’s no countries…”). Let’s just say I did not imagine Imagine being played at the state funeral of a Christian who served as President.

Misc: 1) Many have joined me in lamenting the passing of D1 football; 2) It’s MLK weekend—time for your annual reading of Letters from a Birmingham Jail; 3) Given the spike of pastor-phishing scams, I feel the need to say, “I will never text you to ask for gift cards.” A black Tesla, maybe. But not gift cards. 

Without Comment: 1) Per the CDC, 70% of the US population is overweight; 2) Per this piece, a new platform allows homebuyers to see the political affiliations of their neighbors before they buy; 3) Per Barna, 54% of “practicing Christians” report consuming porn with some level of frequency; 4) Per this report, roughly 40% of US adults over 55 will develop some form of dementia in their life; 5) Per Gallup’s annual survey, we trust nurses and grade school teachers a lot more than journalists and members of Congress; and 6) Per this WSJ report, an unusually high (23%) number of recent Harvard MBA graduates remain unemployed three months after graduation. 

Updating Malik: In the 1980s, Charles Malik—a prominent Lebanese diplomat, philosopher, academic, and human rights advocate—argued that seven institutions shape society (the family, church, state, education, business, media, and entertainment). In A Christian Critique of the University, Malik further argued that because education—esp. Higher Ed—shaped those leading the other six, it was most important. If he were alive today, I think he’d agree that: 1) Higher Ed has lost its way; 2) in recent years, the state and media have gained influence; the family and church have lost it; and foundations and other nonprofits have become an eighth category.

Overheard: 1) Family dinners without devices create more lasting memories than social media posts about family dinners; 2) You can measure your spiritual growth by your prayers—both their frequency and their content; 3) The best political statements are made by serving your neighbor without making a statement; (BTW, in an age of global causes, knowing your neighbor’s name is revolutionary); 4) DIY religion is failing; 5) Jesus didn’t come to make us safe but to make us disciples.  

Resources: I will be speaking on CS Lewis at Cherry Hills Church (Denver, CO)  the evening of February 24 and at Corinth Reformed Church (Hickory, NC) the evening of March 23. I will be preaching at Lake Norman Church (Charlotte, NC) on March 16 and at Corinth Reformed Church (Hickory, NC) on March 23. If you are interested in registering or learning more about the Lakelight tour of Istanbul next October, click here. 

Prayer Requests: I invite you to join me in praying for 1) peace negotiations in the Middle East, 2) our outgoing and incoming presidents, and 3) the families devastated by the fires in Southern CA and those fighting them.

Closing Prayer: Let us then rejoice in this grace, so that our glorying may bear witness to our good conscience by which we glory, not in ourselves but in the Lord. That is why Scripture says, “He is my glory, the one who lifts up my head.” For what greater grace could God have made to dawn on us than to make his only Son become the Son of Man, so that human beings might in their turn become children and heirs of God? Ask if this were merited; ask for its reason, for its justification, and whether you will find any other answer but sheer grace. Amen. (Augustine, 354-430)

Happy Friday

Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, 
the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.” 
Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing on the throne…

John, Revelation 5

If our savior were a superhero, super-heroish things would be expected of us. But the magisterial Lion who opened the scroll was a Lamb who had been slain. Superhero hijinks are not required. Adoration of the Lamb and selfless sacrifice are what is needed. 

Quitters’ Day: Given how many people quickly bail on their resolutions, the second Friday in January is now dubbed “Quitters’ Day.” If you’re still frequenting the gym—or are current with your read-through-the-Bible-in-a-year” plan—don’t quit. But if you bailed, start over. Today, I celebrated one-day-in-a-row of doing pushups.

WOTW: Honorable mention goes to skibidi (which means “cool,” “bad,” or “dumb” depending on the context. When I asked one of my Millennial sons if I could say, “I’m too skibidi to use skibidi,” he said, “that’s Gen Alpha slang. Don’t ask me.” Given that he can’t use it, I’m going to treat it like skinny jeans and keep far away), stammtish (a German word for informal gatherings—often around a meal—which are spiking as Germans seek community), and Tokenization (the process of creating digital representations of real-world assets on a blockchain). Some claim Tokenization is the next really, really, really big thing. We’ll see. I was drawn to the word because I thought it was Tolkenization—i.e., something linking JRR and The Lord of the Rings to crypto). Full honors go to deformation professionale (a French term for the maladies common to a profession), e.g., physicians grow callus to pain, lawyers grow cynical of the courts, and pastors professionalize their relationship with God.  

RIP: Last week, we noted the passing of 2024 and Jimmy Carter. This week, I’m mourning the passing of D1 Football. This is not a lament over the end of the season. (The big game is still ten days away.) I’m noting that between online betting, NIL deals, the trade portal, and conference realignments, what I used to enjoy is gone.

Quotes Worth Requoting: 1) Those who only know one country know no country. Seymour Martin Lipset; 2) The acceleration of disintegration is breathtaking. Paul Maurer; and 3) Our greatest fear should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don’t really matter. DL Moody

Without Comment: 1) Per this report, teen drug and alcohol use is declining; 2) Per this report, Barnes and Noble has stopped closing stores and started opening new ones; 3) Per this report, nearly 1/3 of Evangelicals did not donate to a church or charity last year; 4) Per this article, only 20% of the US’s 350K churches are growing, and only 30% of those are growing via conversion; 5) Per this UK House of Commons report, Christianity is again the most persecuted religion in the world; 6) Per this report, Mohammad, which was the #1 boys name in London last year, tied with Mike as one of the top ten names for boys born in NYC in ’23; 7) Per this report, the Orthodox Church is seeing an uptick in attendance of young men; and 8) Do note that  Generation A is “so last year.” Babies born in 2025—as our recently born second granddaughter was!—are Gen Beta.

Persecution in Perspective: Given the note about the spike in the persecution of Christians, it seems prudent to note that while some US Christians are claiming to be persecuted, we’re not living in ancient Rome or present-day North Korea. With few exceptions, the hassles we face are hassles (or marginalization or loss of power). They do not rise to the level of persecution. 

The All In Podcast: Last year, I started listening to four self-made Silicon Valley gazillionaires banter about science, tech, and business. Their program—which occasionally includes long-form interviews with people like Musk, Altman, Dalio, Trump, and Sandberg and which now claims one of the country’s largest podcast audiences—is sometimes fun, sometimes crude, often clever, and generally fascinating. (It turns out I don’t think like—or nearly as fast—as any of the four “besties” who host the show.) But having logged 10 episodes, I want to note that their show is thin. I do not want to be critical, but I’m left wanting engagement, history, beauty, and something transcendent. I feel like I am listening to the best and brightest of those who are Masters of the last ten minutes but for whom long-term thinking is next year, not eternity.

Nicaea @ 1,700: In honor of the 1,700^th anniversary of the Nicene Creed—and with an effort to better understand Western culture and this moment—I will be leading a Lakelight tour of Constantinople next October. Details are here.

Miscellany: 1) Evangelicals are using words like wonder, mystery, awe, and transcendent more than ten years ago. I sure am; 2) This WSJ piece is another in the legion of articles noting that many thirty-something males are failing to adult (or—to parrot C.S. Lewis—are becoming “men without chests”); and 3) We need to remember that just because there are no easy answers doesn’t mean there aren’t simple ones.

Closing Prayer: Dear Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, I hold up all my weakness to your strength, my failure to your faithfulness, my sinfulness to your perfection, my loneliness to your compassion, my little pains to your great agony on the Cross. I pray that you will cleanse me, strengthen me, and hide me, so that, in all ways, my life may be lived as you would have it lived, without cowardice and for you alone. Amen (Mother Janet Stuart, 1857 – 1914)

Happy First Friday in ’25,

God’s mercies are new every morning.

The Prophet Jeremiah
Lamentations 3:23

The beginning of a new week, a new month, and a new year reminds us how much we need fresh starts. How kind of God to renew His mercies every morning!

RIP 2024: Biden’s withdrawal. Dawkins’s embrace of “cultural Christianity.” Two assassination attempts. Drones over N.J. A spike in antisemitism. Pager explosions. Luigi-mania. Breakdancing in the Olympics. What a year. What will 2025 bring?

RIP Jimmy Carter: Say what you might about his presidency, but Citizen Carter got a lot of things right. The world would be a better place if everyone lived modestly, cared for the poor, and volunteered during the last fifty years of their life. 

Speaking Of: The ruckus caused by Carter’s ‘76 Playboy interview is an illuminating reference point for our culture’s “progression.” Carter scandalized many by confessing to “lust in his heart.” Today, lust openly drives significant parts of our economy. 

Overheard: 1) In ‘24, marketers wanted to get on Joe Rogan. In ‘25, marketers will launch their own podcast and try to be Joe Rogan; 2) Having dismissed truth, today’s collegians dismiss much classical apologetics. What gets their attention is the idea that someone (Jesus) knows them fully and loves them unconditionally; and 3) Just as today’s marijuana is more toxic than 1980s weed, today’s porn is more unrealistic, violent, and damaging than yesterday’s Playboy.

Yes! A friend fighting a terminal illness ended his Christmas letter noting he “was not suffering from anything that a good general resurrection cannot fix.” In order to live well and faithfully, we must shine our headlights beyond the grave. Eternity changes everything.

Without Comment: 1) There are now 7K tigers in private US facilities—i.e., 2K more than live in the wild; 2) After declining due to Covid and Deaths of Despair, life expectancy in the US is ticking up again; 3) Fueled by AI, cyber fraud attempts jumped 9X this holiday; 4) Per the Hong Kong Political Prisoners Database there are more political prisoners in Hong Kong than Russia and Iran combined; 5) Whole Foods is predicting that sourdough, hydration drinks, sea moss,  and all things compostable will be ‘25’s food trends; 6) US abortions have increased since Roe fell; 7) The median age in Japan is 49. In Niger, it’s 15; 8) The most popular boys’ name in England in ‘23 was Mohammad; 9) Per this chart, Amazon will soon deliver more packages in the US than the USPS.

LBRIA: I can’t stop thinking about this overview of culture by substacker Ted Gioia. His thesis—well captured in these two diagrams (here and here)—is not a happy one. It does, however, make me excited about the digital fast Christ Church will undertake this Lent. 

WOTW: Honorable mention goes to yule-tide hole (the last notch on your belt, which is often needed in December), the Kessler Syndrome (the nightmare scenario in which the number of satellites is so high that collisions occur, each one generating more and more space debris, which quickly shuts down 21st-century life), autochthonous (something that emerges out of nothing, like an idea that just pops into your head), MAHA Moms (a Make America Healthy Again collection of moms somewhat linked with RFK Jr.), and lapsed atheist (the way Sir Niall Ferguson—the Harvard, Oxford, Stanford academic—describes himself after his embrace of Christ). Full honors go to post-entertainment culture, which I first saw in the LBRIA piece I cited earlier. BTW, you can click here for an X thread describing Ferguson’s conversion. And here to read NYT columnist David Brooks’s most explicit discussion of his spiritual journey. 

Sabbatical: As some of you know, yesterday, I started a three-month sabbatical at Christ Church. FWIW, I intend to keep The Friday Update going through January and February, suspend it during March, and then relaunch it—with some updates—in April. Closing Prayer: May the Lord Jesus place his hands on our eyes that we may begin to catch sight of the things that are not seen more than the things that are seen. May he open our eyes that they will alight on the things to come more than on the things of this age. May he unveil the vision of our heart that it may contemplate God in spirit. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ to whom belong glory and power forever. Amen (Origen, 185 – 254)

Happy Third Friday in Advent,

Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Joseph had in mind to divorce her quietly, but after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit…. When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him.

Matthew 1:18f 

Comfort is a good thing—e.g., the Holy Spirit is called “the Comforter”—but we should not be surprised when following God does not make life immediately easier. Godliness generally follows striving, pain, and suffering. Joseph’s life did not get easier when God asked him to step up.

J.I.P.: On the topic of comfort, here’s a J. I. Packer quote, “Maintaining a certain level of comfort is the agenda of an enormous amount of American evangelicalism, but it needs to be said that in the kingdom of God ‘there ain’t no comfort zone and never will be.’ Being in his kingdom has to do with self-denial, cross-bearing, and living a life in which instability and problems are par for the course. If you read the New Testament, that’s actually what you’ve got—not comfort-zone stuff but the negation of comfort-zone stuff.” (Lightly edited.)

Without Comment: 1) Nearly 40% of US divorces now occur among those 50 and older; 2) CNN’s market share has dipped below The Food Network, HGTV, Hallmark Mystery, and others; 3) Utah has both the highest % of two-parent families and the highest social mobility index; 4) Medical Assistance in Dying (AKA M.A.I.D. and euthanasia) is now the 5th leading cause of death in Canada; 5) 41% of American voters under 30 believe the killing of United Healthcare’s CEO was acceptable; 6) AI is increasing the pace and decreasing the cost of Bible translation; 7) The WHO now claims 900M people are infected with the Herpes Simplus Virus, a yet incurable STD; and 8) Disney has dropped the transgender storyline from Pixar’s “Win or Lose” series.

FWIW: 1) I’m hearing a lot of, “You need to take XYZ seriously but not literally,” but I’m not sure if I’m supposed to take that line seriously or literally; 2) Christmas letters that quietly suggest, “My family is perfect. How about yours?” are to adults what social media is to teens; 3) My “Decline of the West” file has grown so thick I’m subdividing it into a) marriage & population decline, b) rising anxiety/loneliness/mental illness, c) geopolitical tensions/war, d) cultural division and decline, and e) debt; and 4) Wicked is well done, clever, and worth watching. But it sympathizes with evil and suggests we should dance our way through an unexamined life. Both run counter to, well, most of the Bible.   

WOTW: Honorable mention goes to de-banked (a term used for people and businesses financially “cancelled” for fiscal or cultural missteps), preference cascade (economist Timur Kuran’s term for the action of the crowd following a tipping-point moment), auto-tainment (the electronic bling that will trick out self-driving cars), and bed rotting (the practice of spending hours in bed during the day, often with snacks or an electronic device). Full honors go to drone-a-palooza (a party being held in the skies over New Jersey).

Overheard: 1) The Christian faith requires constant maintenance; 2) Many now view Christianity not just as “yesterday’s news” but as a source of today’s problems; 3) By shifting your morning routine from coffee to tea, you can eliminate the last 45% of joy from your life; and 4) As you get older, it’s amazing how fast bird watching creeps up on you. You spend your whole life never noticing birds, and then one day, you’re like, “Wow! is that an American Goldfinch?” 

The Most Popular Verse in ‘24: Philippians 4:6 was the most referenced verse in 2024 according to YouVersion—the Bible app used by 500M people. It reads: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”

Clean Up: A few months back, I suggested that God’s love is reckless. I now believe my use of reckless was reckless. What I was going for was the idea that God’s love is not only well-ordered, it is extravagant, scandalous, and incomprehensible.  

Resources: Click here to hear my Luke 1 sermon on Mary, the first disciple and a model of obedience. May we find the courage to follow her lead.

Prayer Request: Christmas Eve remains one of the few Christian—or at least Christian-adjacent—moments in play these days. Pray that those who show up at Christmas Eve services out of tradition meet the God of the universe.

Next Week: There will be no Friday Update next week. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Closing Prayer: Let the just rejoice, for their Justifier is born. Let the sick and infirm rejoice, for their Savior is born. Let the captives rejoice, for their Redeemer is born. Let slaves rejoice, for their Master is born. Let free people rejoice, for their Liberator is born. Let all Christians rejoice, for Jesus Christ is born. Amen. (Augustine of Hippo, 354-430).

Happy Second Friday in Advent,

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”

Solomon, Proverbs 9

The Bible doesn’t try to prove God’s existence. It assumes He exists and focuses instead on revealing 1) what He’s like and 2) how we are to respond. Concerning the second, we are repeatedly told to fear Him. Many argue that “fear” is the wrong term, claiming that “awe” and “respect” are all that is needed. No. Given His gracious, patient, merciful, and sacrificial love, there is directional truth in this claim. We are to not only “fear” God. We are to rest in his gracious care. But we are unwise to downsize the call to fear Him. God’s majesty and holiness are overwhelming to the point of terrifying, and it is a fearful thing to face His wrath. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. 

Trending: Theaters and streaming platforms “are going biblical.” Set aside The Chosen, Netflix, Prime, etc. have released Testament: The Life of Moses, Mary, and House of David.  And major studios have released Saints, Bonhoeffer, and Conclave, with many more in the queue. These productions have major budgets, major stars, and wonderful cinematography—i.e., they are not your parents’ Christian films. Alas, most take a lot of liberties with the truth. My advice: as good as some of these movies are, the book is always better.

Quotes Worth Requoting: 1) “Old habits die screaming.” CS Lewis; 2) “The pain I feel now is the happiness I had before.” Taylor Swift.

Overheard: 1) We should not be surprised by the UK’s move towards assisted suicide. A society that allows parents to kill their children will eventually allow children to kill their parents. 2) Like other great poetry, the Psalms do not survive because they’re pretty. They survive because they are honest. 3) Distraction is hell’s greatest asset; consequently, one of the things our Enemy fears most is prayers asking the Lord to focus our attention on what matters. 

Pastoring 101: I’ve been spending more time than planned with those navigating the election. In addition to listening, recommending prayer, and offering perspective, I’ve been asking the despondent to write down what they fear and the energized to identify a line they will not cross. (FWIW, the former have an easier time with their assignment than the latter.) 

Without Comment: 1) Marriage is a protector against deaths of despair. 2) Sixty-seven percent of the unchurched in the US identify as spiritually curious. 3) The church in India is growing rapidly. Some now claim it’s home to 300M Christians. 4) One-third of homebuyers are currently paying cash. 5) “Men, adults who didn’t grow up in intact families, and those who rarely or never attend religious services” are more likely than others to cheat on their spouse. 6) The share of men 22-35 who haven’t had sex in the last year is higher than 10 years ago, which was higher than 10 years before that. The primary reason for the rise in sexlessness is the delay of marriage. 7) The most politically active Christians in the 2020 presidential cycle were Episcopalians. 8) NYC has 60K surveillance cameras. (BTW, there are 1.9M in Shenzhen, China.) 9) Elton John has declared the move to legalize marijuana in the US and Canada “one of the greatest mistakes of all time.” 10) The US divorce rate is at a 50-year low.

WOTY: Honorable mention goes to lawfare, polarization, depopulation crisis, and replication crisis. Full honors go to post-secular. (Set aside the spate of religious-themed movies, nothing says secularism is struggling like Richard Dawkins claiming to be a “cultural Christian.”)

After Further Review: I stopped citing reports of a “record number” of pastors quitting after realizing I didn’t know any. Did politics, polarization, and COVID do a number on pastors? Yes. Are many weary? Yes. Are some thinking about quitting? For sure. But most are not, and this WAPO piece recently argued that pastors have high job satisfaction. 

Holiday Travel: To any reader whose December includes car travel with small children, remember the rules: keep them separated, sleeping, and dehydrated.

Clean Up from Last Week: 1) Thomas Brooks, not Richard Baxter, was the author of Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices; 2) My suggestion that the left moved further left than the right moved right was challenged by both the left and the right. (Some on the right claimed that most on the right moved left.)

Resources: Click here for my interview with Aaron Renn about his book, The Negative World. Click here for last week’s Advent sermon, which explores growing through waiting.

Good Job: Kudos to all who knew that “old habits die screaming” is a Taylor Swift lyric and that “The pain I feel now is the happiness I had before,” is from Lewis, not Swift. 

Closing Prayer: (for Second Sunday in Advent): O God, who did look on humanity when they had fallen down into death and resolved to redeem them by the advent of your only-begotten Son, grant, we ask you, that we who confess his glorious incarnation may be admitted to the fellowship of him their Redeemer; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Saint Ambrose)

Happy First Friday in Advent, 

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

John 1:14

The Bible is full of surprises: the birth of Isaac, Joseph’s ascent, the Exodus, Esther’s courage, an empty tomb, the Apostles’ transformation, Paul’s work with Gentiles, etc. But the Creator’s decision to become part of creation, entering time and space through a virgin’s womb, is the most shocking. In a world where people aspire to be a god, no one expects God to become a person.

T-Day: To those who joined me in “eschewing dietary asceticism,” I hope you found something to wear to work this week other than sweatpants. (Although I do admire the esthetics of dress sweatpants.)  

Our Enemy: Per Richard Baxter, our adversary’s efforts to sideline us include: 1) showing us the bait while hiding the hook; 2) highlighting the sins of others (esp. leaders); 3) over-emphasizing the mercy of God; 4) making us bitter about suffering; 5) showing us bad people living great lives; and 6) causing us to obsess over past sins that have caused damage that cannot be undone. 

Overheard: 1) The Chosen has made Pharisees understandable; 2) Integrity is the new sexy; 3) Dysfunction is seldom fun; 4) Revenge is not a dish best served cold. It’s a dish best not served at all; 5) When asked, “How you doing?” Americans used to say, “I’m fine.” Now they say, “I’m busy.”

IS2M: 1) Given that the wise are slow to speak, it’s troubling that the first to spin a story frames it; 2) Objections to Christianity are becoming less intellectual and more personal; 3) While I love universities (and believe many gifted people work in them) much of Higher Ed has grown angrily partisan, stridently illiberal, administratively bloated, football-centric, and ham-fisted when discussing truth; 4) This graph, from a self-described progressive think tank, shows where professors land on a political bell curve. This graph from The Financial Times suggests today’s polarization is caused more by the left moving left than the right moving right. 

Without Comment: 1) The number of male nurses in the US has tripled since 2000; 2) Per this WSJ article, the top 1% of income-tax filers provide 40% of tax revenue; 3) 9M lightning bolts strike earth every day; 4) 25% of new code at Google is generated by AI; 5) Per this WSJ piece, sales of Bibles are up 22%, fueled by “first time buyers, rising anxiety, a search for hope and highly focused marketing campaigns”; 6) Per this Reuters piece, Australia has passed a ban on social media for children under the age of 16; 7) Per Gallup, 51% of US workers are looking for a new job—the highest % since ‘15. 

A Friday Update Stock Tip: I don’t usually offer financial advice (and please don’t leave trading instructions on this line!), but I’m pretty sure anger is going to climb over the next few years. (My comments are based on culture, not politics—i.e., the belief that many are making choices today that they will strongly regret in a few years.) If you can find a good Anger Fund, buy and hold. 

Quote Worth Requoting: “If you are on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road, and in that case the man who turns back the soonest is the most progressive…” C.S. Lewis

WOTW: Honorable mention goes to shenaniganry (there’s quite a bit going around), political technology (a Soviet term for gaming the system to ensure an outcome), and choice architecture (a suddenly trendy econ term that describes the way decisions can be shaped based on how they are presented). Full honors go to MAID (UK’s pleasant-sounding term for assisted suicide). The term MAID—which stands for Medical Aid In Dying—was introduced in Canada, where its usage has been expanding. 

WOTY: The Oxford English Dictionary, The Cambridge Dictionary, and The Economist announced brain rot, manifest, and kakistocracy (rule of the worst) as their Words of the Year. But you have until next Wednesday to submit your nominee to The Friday Update—which is the definitive list (just ask my Mom). Nominees to date include romantasy, brat, slop, vibes, love, and integrity (the last two being efforts to manifest a happier world). Remember, either Taylor Swift, Tom Brady, NT Wright, or Glenn Wishnew (Lakelight’s Associate Director) will record a message on the winner’s answering machine. 

LBRIA: Articles about our depopulation crisis are now more common than Bears’ losses (see here, here, and here). This First Things piece by Louise Perry covers new ground. (If you have time to kill, I’d point you to this GQ piece on the rebuilding of Notre Dame’s Cathedral. Architects and fans of The Pillars trilogy will enjoy it.) 

Resources: You can click here for Lakelight’s annual report.

Closing Prayer: Dear Lord, help me keep my eyes on you. You are the incarnation of divine love, the expression of God’s infinite compassion, the visible manifestation of the Father’s holiness. You are beauty, goodness, gentleness, forgiveness, and mercy. In you all can be found. Outside of you nothing can be found. Why should I look elsewhere? You have the words of eternal life, you are food and drink, you are the Way, the Truth, and the Life. You are the light that shines in the darkness, the lamp on the lampstand, the house on the hilltop. You are the perfect icon of God. In and through you I can see and find my way to the Heavenly Father. O Holy beautiful and glorious One, be my Lord, my Savior, my Redeemer, my Guide, my Consoler, my Comforter, my Hope, my Joy, and my Peace. To you I want to give all that I am. Let me be generous, not stingy or hesitant. Let me give you all I have, think, do, and feel. It is yours, O Lord. Please accept it and make it fully your own. Amen (Henri Nouwen, 1932-1996).