Happy Friday,

May your unfailing love be with us, Lord, even as we put our hope in you.

Psalm 33:22

Biblical hope is not optimism – i.e., it’s not dependent upon a sunny disposition or wishful thinking. Biblical hope is the strength and resilience we gain when we reflect on the character promises of God. If we place our hope in someone or something else, it is as easily lost as misplaced car keys.

FWIW: After preaching last week on Gideon, someone said to me, “Do you know what the Bible never records people saying after they’ve heard from the Lord? ‘Of course. That’s what I was going to do anyway.’”

The Stats: After ten years of crunching census data, the once-every-decade report on the U.S.’s 370 religious bodies, 350K congregations, and 160 million adherents is in.¹ What does it say? Over the last ten years: 1) Mainline Christian denominations have declined (especially Presbyterians, who dropped 40%); 2) The number of “religious Americans” has grown by 7% – which is 0.5% less than the growth of the general population; and 3) Of religious groups, Evangelicals grew the most (9M), followed by Roman Catholics (3M). (Note: RCs grew in spite of closing 1,100 parishes). As helpful as this data is: It already seems dated. BC data – i.e., data collected Before COVID – does not seem very helpful.

Hellen Keller Denialism: Just when you thought the news couldn’t get any crazier, you discover there’s an Internet community comprised of people who reject the idea that Hellen Keller was deaf and blind.

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WOTW: Honorable mention goes to anti-tribes and its cousin epistemic-tribalism. Collectively they point out that there is a lot of tribalism out there. I also feel the need to recognize peer contagion, which hints at the way Social Media x Middle School = Big Trouble. Actual honors go to voluntold, which is developed in this WSJ article. While I’m sure the other terms are more important, I’m going with voluntold because, well, I’ve been voluntold more than a few times. BTW, you are free to ignore the WSJ piece. I’m not voluntelling you to read it. And one more thing, a few weeks ago I gave honorable mention honors to bespoke. I’d seen it four times in the same week, but I haven’t seen it since. I’m withdrawing its award. I bespoke too soon.

Quotes Worth Requoting: 1) Now, with God’s help, I shall become myself. Soren Kierkegaard; 2) The most important thing about you is what you think about when you think about God. JI Packer; 3) Every person needs three kinds of friends: a Paul, who can challenge and mentor us; a Barnabas, who can walk alongside us; and a Timothy, into whom we can pour our life. Howard Hendricks; 4) The biggest thing I’ve learned in my career and life is that when I focused on myself in life – in a job or on a team – it didn’t work out well for me. But when I tried to help other people it really worked out well. Tony Dungy

Steve Martin’s Atheist Hymn: As a long-time Steve Martin fan, I was surprised I’d not run into his lament before. It’s not as catchy as King Tut, but because I think Martin ends up making more of a point than he realizes, I’m including the link here.

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Without Comment: 1) Sometime this month India will pass China as the world’s most populous country; 2) 90% of Congress identifies as Christian, contrasted with 65.4% of U.S. adults; 3) According to Gallup, only 23% of Americans have a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in the presidency – the lowest percentage since 1975 – and only 7% have confidence in Congress.² 4) Unlike most Americans, White Evangelicals and Black Protestants think believing in God is necessary for morality; 5) The global population was five times larger at the end of the 20^th century than at the beginning, not because we “started breeding like rabbits,” but because we stopped “dying like flies;” 6) The percentage of Americans who say they are “not too happy” has more than doubled, while the percentage who say they are “very happy” has fallen to the lowest level in the five decades the poll has been conducted; 7) Barna says three reasons nonbelievers say they do not believe are: Past experience with a religious institution, the hypocrisy of religious people, and human suffering; 8) According to the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances, the average credit card debt for U.S.households is $9.3K, and according to this study, 40% of U.S. households have no money saved towards retirement; 9) In 2018, American Higher Ed brought in $700B in revenue – nearly a quarter of which now goes to administration; 10) Among the most common items on people’s bucket list are: Traveling to a specific location, learning a new language (or musical instrument), skydiving, completing a marathon and writing a book or screen play; 11) In 2014 Steve Kerr reshaped the Golden State Warriors by giving them a simple team goal: Pass the ball 300 times per game.

The Paper of Record: The NYT suddenly has a lot of Christ-followers writing for it: David French, Tish Harrison Warren, Esau McCaulley, Ross Douthat, David Brooks, et al. BTW, I recently ran across Brook’s 2004 column on the late John Stott. I remember being shocked to hear that Brooks knew about John Stott and later hearing that Stott had been praying for him – and quietly sharing the Gospel with him – for years.

Let’s Not Overthink Things: There are powerful truths that we overlook either because they are too obvious or too uncomfortable: 1) If we want to know which direction our life is going, all we really need to do is look at the things we do every day; 2) The rapidly declining mental health of our young suggests our society is not healthy; 3) Our wounds, past, failings and flaws do not define or disqualify us unless we hide behind them.

Resources: Click here for last week’s sermon on Gideon – it’s the first in our new series entitled, This is My Story. Click here for my interview with Roy Schwarz on all things Jewish.

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)

Happy Friday:

“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.
So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.” And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.

Joseph to his brothers
Genesis 50:20f

There are four domestic dustups in Genesis: Cain v. Abel, Isaac v. Ishmael, Jacob v. Esau and Joseph v. the other eleven. Only one ends well. It’s worth noting that their troubles confirm what we know from experience: Life is hard and good families take work. But there is something more for us to see: The one relationship that ends intact does so because Joseph – who was grievously wronged by his brothers – forgives them. His gracious act – which is the first recorded instance of forgiveness in literature – is the only way they could stay together. Have you forgiven anyone lately?

FWIW: 1) As I navigated TSA agents this week, I was reminded how glad I am that although their machines can see what’s in my luggage, they can’t see what’s in my heart; 2) It’s been a while since I heard someone complain that Christians are “too heavenly minded to be of any earthly good;” 3) In his book Agency, WSJ columnist Ian Rowe argues that the “four pillars” that lift children out of poverty are: Family, Religion, Education and Entrepreneurship; 4) We need to stop valuing cynics and pessimists over advocates and optimists. We also need to stop thinking the former is smarter than the latter.

Diversity Can Work: At the Economic Club of Chicago this week, Eboo Patel noted that hospitals prove that religiously diverse workplaces can work. Patel – the founder of Interfaith America and the author of several books – observes that if you go under the knife in Chicago, you’ll not only likely have a Hindu surgeon supported by a Muslim anesthesiologist and an Evangelical nurse; you’ll be at a surgical center started by a Catholic charity, cleaned by a Jehovah’s Witness and run by a Secular humanist.

Without Comment: 1) Russia claims that only one percent of the fake social media profiles they post are caught; 2) The NYT claims that one-third of last year’s shoplifting arrests in NYC involved 327 people who were collectively arrested more than 6,000 times; 3) There have been 13M abortions in the U.S. this year, which is equivalent to the populations of West Virginia, Hawaii, New Hampshire, Maine, Montana, Rhode Island, Delaware, South Dakota, North Dakota, Alaska, Vermont, and Wyoming – combined; 4) The median age of white Christians in the U.S. is 57; the median age of Hindus and Muslims in the U.S. is 36; and 5) Americans check their phones an average of 344 times per day – i.e., once every three minutes we are awake.

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Reader Comments: 1) A reader said that in the 80s he wrote his local school board frustrated over “a 10th grade curriculum that covered dating, sex, booze and the miracle of birth, but said not one word about marriage.” He then noted that the same topics are now covered much earlier than 10th grade, “but there is still nothing said about marriage;” 2) In response to GMAC’s question for each decade, one reader noted that we should start asking the question listed for those in their 80s – “Am I ready to die?” – in our 20s, because we are not promised tomorrow; 3) In response to my comments about Charlie Duke – the 87-year-old former astronaut who now spends time defending NASA’s claim to have landed on the moon – one reader responded, “This isn’t so much ignorance as it is rejection of government.”

Quote Worth Requoting: 1) The pupil dilates in darkness and in the end finds light, just as the soul dilates in misfortune and in the end finds God. Victor Hugo; 2) Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind. George Orwell

April 26: If you live in Chicago – where we celebrated all 4 seasons in about 36 hours last week – and you’re in need of a feel-good moment, come to 815 Broadway in North Chicago at 4:30 p.m. on April 26 to celebrate a new home opening of the ReNew Communities/Matthew Home initiative. The ceremony will take 30 minutes and leave you with a smile. BTW, if you live in the area and want to join the Christ Church running group on one of our Friday night runs – which are followed by pizza – click here. (Note, the course is out and back, which means everyone runs (or walks) at their own pace.)

Resources: Here is last week’s sermon from John 21. In it we explore the masterful way Jesus restores Peter. It is full of implications for how we understand ourselves and interact with others. And here is my interview with Dave Moore, in which we discuss the most important books and theologians of the 20th century.

Two Not So Funny Attempts at Humor: 1) My Mom is a big Snoopy fan. Me not so much, but I do think Schulz occasionally made good points. Click here to see if you agree; 2) Here is a joke I thought was funny. I hope it doesn’t get me cancelled.

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Yes!: National Review recently ran an article entitled, What a Democracy Can Lose without Christianity. I appreciated the article, but was especially taken by the comments by “Girl Mom”, who wrote: “People forget how extraordinarily brutal pre-Christian societies were. Rome, Carthage, Babylon, Aztecs, Pagan Europe, etc., were nothing but Strong-Devouring-the-Weak. And the atheistic regimes of the 20th Century – USSR and Communist countries everywhere, Nazi Germany – have demonstrated in blood what happens when you eliminate or severely undermine Christianity from your civilized polity. Women were pure chattel in most pre-Christian societies – usually in polygamous arrangements from which women could be easily dispatched, used for the purpose of breeding and pleasure for whatever strong men could collect them. Children were regularly and casually murdered, either through exposure, abandonment, or ritual sacrifice. Slavery was endemic around the world.” You can read her full comments here.

WOTW: Honorable mention goes to managed decline and Akiya (the Japanese term for the growing number of abandoned homes caused principally by the country’s declining birth rate). WOTW honors go to rapid unplanned disassembly in honor of the Space-X mishap. Note: I feel for Elon. More than a few of my sermons have suffered from rapid unplanned disassembly.

Closing Prayer: Good God, May we confess your name to the end. May we emerge unsullied and glorious from the traps and dark powers of this world. As you have bound us together in love and peace, and as, together, we have persevered through times of hardship, may we also rejoice together in your heavenly kingdom. Amen. (Cyprian of Carthage 200-258)

Happy Friday

Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.

Jesus, John 17:17

My grandparents held views that embarrass me. Yours likely did as well. There is a lot of that going around. Indeed, the views expressed on the editorial pages of the NYT fifty years ago – and in some cases five years ago – are anathema to those writing editorials today. Have you thought about what this means? Unless society suddenly freezes in place – and this cultural moment is recognized as the be-all and end-all always and forever – your views today may embarrass the you of five years from now. We need a perspective from above and outside our culture. “Thy word is truth.”

May the Party Continue: Anglican Bishop and prolific author, N.T. Wright, thinks we get Easter wrong. He argues that if Lent is “40 days of fasting and gloom” Easter should be at least a week-long festival, “including champagne after morning prayer as well as lots of alleluias and extra hymns.” I’m not sure my idea of a party lines up with Wright’s, but if we are going to be Easter people the resurrection of Jesus needs to be celebrated 24x7x365. He is Risen!

Freedom: It’s now common to think that more choices equals more freedom, and that more freedom is both a human right and a greater good. Reality disagrees. It appears that we can only entertain a certain number of variables before we grow anxious. Sometimes less really is more.

Five Apologies: Last year Gary Chapman – whose book The Five Love Languages has become an industry – rolled out The Five Apology Languages: The Secret to Healthy Relationships. Because I think some authors overwork an idea (Did you enjoy Chicken Soup for Left Handed Junior Varsity Wrestlers?), I was not predisposed to like the book. But I do. It turns out that we say – and hear – apologies very differently. Some want the guilty party to Express Regret, others want them to: Accept Responsibility, Make Restitution, Plan Change, or Request Forgiveness.

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Quotes Worth Requoting: 1) Never miss a good opportunity to shut up. Will Rogers; 2) In order to change the sex culture, we need a technology that discourages short-termism in male sexual behavior, protects the economic interests of mothers and creates a stable environment for the raising of children. We already have such a technology, even if it is old, clunky and prone to periodic failure. It’s called monogamous marriage. Louise Perry¹ 3) He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. John Stuart Mill.

Resources: Resources: 1) Here is a link to last Sunday’s Easter message (from John 20); 2) Here is a link to this week’s podcast interview with Gordon MacDonald (GMAC as he signs his emails, is a past president of Intervarsity Christian Fellowship and the author of many books, including Ordering Your Private World); and 3) Here is a link to sign up for the morning devotions – which are about five minutes long. On Monday I start a new series on Hebrews that will last several months.

The Questions of the Decade: In my interview with MacDonald, he listed the question we should ask in each decade of life. 1) In our 20s: What will I do with my life and who will I do it with? 2) In our 30s: How do I get organized to be effective? 3) In our 40s: How do I deal with the challenges I’m facing from growing children, aging parents and a demanding career? 4) In my 50s: How do I reorganize my life to make sense of the 20-30 years I have left? 5) In my 60s: How much longer can I keep doing what I am doing? 6) In my 70s: How do I live with the loss I’m experiencing? and 7) In my 80s: What will heaven be like and am I ready to go there?

Without Comment: 1) The U.S. (population 331M) has 800K law enforcement officers and 80K IRS agents. That is 0.24% and 0.024% respectively. 2) Undergraduate enrollment – which dropped 8% between 2019 and 2022 – is not rebounding as expected, suggesting that some who dropped out due to COVID are opting out for good; 3) As this piece explains, the number of part-time employees in the U.S. is growing. There are now 22M Americans choosing to work less than full-time.

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Happy (Good) Friday,

Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Paul, Romans 5:7f

On this Good Friday, it’s worth asking yourself if what you’re living for offers you the same level of commitment that Jesus does. Careers promise security. Material possessions present themselves as paths to comfort and peace. But have any of these things died for you? God-substitutes – i.e., idols – over-promise and under-deliver until they take everything and deliver nothing. Not so with Jesus. On this day, his commitment to you is a matter of record.

Don’t Believe It: In recent years, some have claimed that the Penal Substitutionary Theory of the Atonement is “Cosmic Child Abuse.” Nonsense. While the other atonement theories – e.g., Christus Victor, Moral Influence, Ransom, Mystical, etc. – help us understand all that Christ’s death accomplishes, the idea that Christ bore the wrath of God against our sin (i.e., the Penal Substitutionary view) is central. Is it scandalous? Absolutely. Is it “Cosmic Child Abuse?” Not at all. Jesus was very clear that he willingly lay down his life for us.

A Great Good Friday Hymn: If you’re looking for a great Good Friday hymn, let me suggest All Sufficient Merit by Shane and Shane.

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Apologies: Congrats to the three percent of you who got last week’s April Fool’s joke, and apologies to the 97 percent of you – including my mother-in-law – who missed the humor. If you set your clocks ahead – or believed that Sheri and I were going to spend Holy Week throwing oranges at each other in Italy – I’m sorry. To make it up to you, I’m including this important announcement from UVA.

More Moore?: Last month, Gordon Moore, one of the founders of Intel – and the one after whom Moore’s Law was named – passed away. (For the uninitiated, his law was named after his 1965 suggestion that during the next few decades, computers would double in power and drop in price every 18-24 months.) Some hold that per Moore’s definition, Moore’s Law is no more. That may be technically true, but we’d be wrong to think the tech revolution is slowing down. As reference: Apple has released more than 30 ever-more-sophisticated iPhones in the last fifteen years, and it’s likely that the laptop you now use has more memory than the combined total of all computers in the late 1960s.

Ugh: A few weeks back, I had a chance to chat with Charlie Duke – an Apollo astronaut and one of the four remaining men to walk on the moon. (You can watch my 2021 interview with Duke here). What is the 87-year-old Duke up to? “I spend more time than you’d think trying to persuade people that the moon landings were not faked and that the earth is not flat.”

A New News Rule: Late last year I set out five News Rules: 1) Start your day with the Bible NOT the news; 2) When it comes to the news, less is more; 3) Be skeptical of what you hear, especially if it confirms your biases; 4) Pay for your news; and 5) Think local. I am returning to the five to double down on number three. Things often seem worse than they are because both the radical left and the radical right emphasize the comments of the other side’s lunatic fringe. We do well to realize that while the actions and statements of the most extreme players are real, they do not represent the majority.

WOTW: As tempted as I am to list the words I think we should be seeing more of – e.g., Cold War – I select WOTW nominees from those I run across in print or are sent in by you. This week’s honorable mention accolades go to: Rak Chazak (a Jewish war cry), death-assigned gender (a term used in articles about Nashville shooter, Audrey Hale), sisu (a Finnish word meaning “a grim determination in the face of hardships,”) and reality-crisis. WOTW honors goes to double imputation. Yes, there is a lot of crazymaking going on out there, but your day should be most profoundly shaped by this truth: Not only are our sins imputed to Christ, but his righteousness is also imputed to us.

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Quote Worth Requoting: “If Christ is risen, nothing else matters. And if Christ is not risen – nothing else matters.” Jaroslav Pelikan, Yale historian of intellectual history.

Resources: Last week I interviewed Jordan “Gorf” Gorfinkel of DC Comics fame. For ten years, Gorf oversaw DC Comics – including the Batman franchise. He recently released The Koren Tanakh Graphic Novel: Esther. Initial sales have been so promising that Koren signed him to a contract to turn all 24 books of the Hebrew Bible into graphic novels. You can listen here.

24 = 39 = 66?:  BTW, if you’re wondering how Gorf can turn “all 24 books of the Bible” into graphic novels, when there are 66 books in the Bible: 1) He is referring to the Jewish Scriptures – i.e., the Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament, the First Testament, etc.; and 2) He mentions 24 not 39 (the number of books in our Old Testament) because the Hebrew Bible does not divide the books of Samuel, Kings or Chronicles into two (as Christians do), and they combine all 12 of the minor prophets into one book.

Without Comment: 1) One of the reasons Israel’s population is rising faster than that of other developed countries is because antisemitism is forcing them to flee other countries; 2) The word Lord is the most frequently repeated noun – and the 14^th most frequently repeated word – in the Bible. It shows up more than: they, be, is, not, him, them, it, with, and was; 3) UFC and WWE are combining to form a publicly traded company (stock ticker TKO) that has been valued at $21B;  4) The $30M spent on the race for the WI supreme court election suggests that juristsare becoming legislators (which is not a good thing); 5) Gallup reports that loneliness levels in the U.S. are dropping from pandemic highs; 6) Chick-fil-A – which makes almost double in revenue per location what a McDonald’s location makes – has an acceptance rate for operators lower than Stanford; 7) Given the high price of eggs, some people are choosing to hide colored Easter potatoes this year; 8) This much discussed interview between NYT journalist Kevin Roose and Microsoft’s Bing Chatbot is one of the more unsettling things I’ve read in a long time.

Closing Prayer: Good God, may we confess your name to the end. May we emerge unsullied and glorious from the traps and dark powers of this world. As you have bound us together in love and peace, and as, together, we have persevered through times of hardship, may we also rejoice together in your heavenly kingdom. Amen. (Cyprian of Carthage 200-258)

Happy Friday

“Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground.”

Exodus 14:15
The Lord to Moses

Some parts of the Bible seem to say, “Don’t just stand there, do something!” Meanwhile, others suggest the opposite, “Don’t just do something, stand there!” Exodus 14 is a call to the first. After the newly liberated Jews realized Pharaoh was coming after them – and had them trapped between his army and the Red Sea – they turned on Moses: “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die?” In response, Moses declared, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance of the Lord. He will fight for you; you need only to be still.” That sounds like the perfect reply to me. Way to go Moses! You’ve learned to trust in the Lord. Except… this wasn’t a don’t just do something, stand there moment. It was the opposite. God responded to Moses’s direction to the people by asking: “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground.” Lord, give us the wisdom to know which response is called for in addressing the challenges we currently face.

Crazy Days and Crazy Nights: I read the Parents’ Bill of Rights passed by the GOP, the counter proposal advanced by the Dems and the assessment of both by pundits on both sides. Expect public education to remain controversial until: 1) We agree on what constitutes as a good person; 2) We agree on what a healthy society looks like; and 3) We agree on whether parents or teachers have the final say. (Education has been controversial as far back as the ancient Greeks.) As an aside, I was encouraged by the Dean’s response to the chaos at Stanford Law School – where a federal judge was shouted down by petulant law students.

WOTW: Honorable mentions goes to: 1) Productivity Shame – the act of beating yourself up after failing to reach unrealistic goals; 2) Moral Muscle; and 3) Geriatric Millennial – those born between 1980 and 1985. Actual honors go to National Divorce. The idea that red states and blue states could go their separate ways makes no sense to me, but the term – and the sentiment – keeps popping up.

AI Update: Bill Gates recently said scary things about AI – and 1,000 AI experts (and Elon Musk) have called for a six-month moratorium on AI research – but I haven’t been able to get on to ChatGPT or Bard to see if I should be alarmed. That said, the more I fiddle with these tools: 1) The more amazed I am by what they can do; 2) The more amazed I am by what they can’t do; and 3) The less I trust them. AI in general – and these large language, neural network models – appear to be good at things we find hard, but struggle with much we find simple. They are also quick to just make things up. AI will change the world. One of the questions we should be asking ourselves is, how will it change us? Are you ready for what AI might bring? We often lack the moral muscle necessary to wisely integrate new technologies into our life. BTW, one of the things we can expect is that AI will be combined with other tech breakthroughs to push sex in new directions.

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FWIW: 1) You seldom hear fundamentalists admit that they might be wrong; 2) The news no longer comes at us 24/7. It’s more invasive than that. 3) There is something slightly odd about the secular world’s interest in thankfulness. Who are they giving thanks to?; 4) I was surprised this week when Microsoft Word flagged LGBTQIA as being misspelled. Then I realized it was holding out for the + at the end.

The Gulf Index: In Founding God’s Nation: Reading Exodus, Leon Kass argues that the newly freed Jews needed to master “the three basic needs of any people: 1) Sustenance; 2) Defense against attack; and 3) Provision of internal peace. The fireworks surrounding education this week leads me to think that while we are doing OK on 1 and 2, we are failing at 3. To that end, I am introducing a new metric: The Gulf Index, with which I attempt to measure the growing gap in the body politic. It will take me a while to calibrate things, but, if 1 = Utopia (not possible since Genesis 3), 9 = Civil War and 10 = National Divorce, I’m giving us a 7.3 at the moment. Abraham Lincoln, we need you.

Without Comment: 1) Facing recruiting challenges, the Navy has joined with the Army in allowing recruits “who don’t meet military fitness standards” additional time to get in shape; 2) This study suggests that – at least in some settings – money can buy happiness; 3) Barna claims that the number of pastors thinking about quitting has grown to 41%; 4) This study suggests that while college administrators are almost universally progressive, faculty are less so; 5) This graph shows that during the last twenty years, trust has gone down for every U.S. institution except the military; 6) Jesus Revolution – the Kelsey Grammer film about Chuck Smith and the start of Calvary Chapel – has now grossed more than many of this year’s Oscar nominees; and 7) This WSJ/NORC (National Opinion Research Council) poll reports significant declines in patriotism, religious faith, having children and other matters associated “with traditional American values.” (A graph of the results is here).

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I Will Be Out Next Week: Though I’ve never had an urge to run with the bulls, after the chaos of the last few years, Sheri and I have decided to head to Ivrea, Italy for the annual Battle of the Oranges. Wish us well.

On an Unrelated Note: Tomorrow is April 1 and the new date for Daylight Savings. Be sure to set your clocks ahead one hour.

Black’s Prayer: After the shooting in Nashville this week, Senate Chaplain Barry Black prayed, “Eternal God, we stand in awe of you. Lord, when babies die at a church school, it is time for us to move beyond thoughts and prayers. Remind our lawmakers of the words of the British statesman Edmund Burke: ‘All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing.’”

Closing Prayer: May God the Father, and the eternal High Priest Jesus Christ, build us up in faith and truth and love, and grant us our portion among the saints with all those who believe in our Lord Jesus Christ. We pray for all believers, for kings and rulers, for the enemies of the cross of Christ, and for ourselves we pray that our fruit may abound and we be made perfect in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. (Polycarp 69-155)

Happy Friday,

And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.

Revelation 21:21

Poor John. Charged with describing his vision of heaven using earthly words, he ends up talking about dragons, crowns, horns and “streets of gold like transparent glass.” As most know, gold is not transparent. The reason he uses this imagery is because at the time glass was rare and valuable. Our take-away is that, in addition to other amazing aspects of the life to come, it is so remarkable that the rarest of resources are used in the most pedestrian ways – i.e., to pave the streets. We are wise to understand John’s descriptions less as photographs than as signposts, and realize that what they are describing is beyond description.

It’s Worth Noting That: 1) Our goal isn’t merely to memorize Scripture, but to “learn it by heart.” We want to drive God’s Word so deep into our subconscious that it changes the soundtrack animating our life; 2) Given that parents – and grandparents – think about the future (and value different things) because they see it through the eyes of their children, the fact that a growing number of educators and legislators do not have children of their own is troubling; 3) Spiritual Disciplines are not about making us more precious to God. They are about making God more precious to us; 4) Yes, Jesus spent time with tax collectors and prostitutes. But it was the tax collectors and prostitutes who came away changed, not Jesus; 5) Angrily defending truth is not a Fruit of the Spirit.

Predicted: In his 1985 book, Habits of the Heart, Robert Bellah: 1) Noted that the U.S. fostered the most individualistic culture in the world; 2) Observed that our culture was counter-balanced by religious “denunciations of self-centeredness and calls to love our neighbor;” and 3) Predicted that if religion declined, American individualism would foster “social fragmentation, economic inequality, family breakdown and other dysfunctions.”

One of the Best Things: In this letter, a friend shares the steps he took to help his children navigate their passage to adulthood in a culture lacking formal rites of passage.

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WOTW: A college friend keeps nominating apricity – which refers to “the warmth of the sun in winter.” I keep not selecting it because Sheri and I do not live in Florida, like he does, so we have little opportunity to appreciate apricity. I am also declining to give honorable mention honors to humbly-confident (or confidently-humble), because I’m not sure what they mean or how they differ from one other. I’m giving honorable mention to moral hazard and contagion, which owe their latest 15 minutes of Warholian fame to SVB and Credit Suisse’s collapse. (I hope to have no reason to mention them again.) Meanwhile, the winner is…… the To-Don’t List, which Arthur Brooks writes about in this Atlantic piece. I have written “create a To-Don’t List” on my To-Do list.

From Last Week: 1) Several wrote me to affirm Classical Christian schools in general, and North Star’s Creed in particular; and 2) One man pushed back on my comments about Jesus and his disciples walking from Galilee to Jerusalem. He noted that the text says they traveled “in one Accord” (Honda).

The Question: The question isn’t, “Why are so many young men: not going to college, not moving out of the basement, not marrying the women they sleep with, not limiting their screen time, not saying ‘no’ to porn and not limiting their video game consumption? Those things are easy to do. The question we need to be asking is, “How do we rebuild the structures that call them forward?”

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Without Comment: 1) The odds of having a perfect NCAA bracket were 1 in 9.2 quintillion before Fairleigh Dickinson stunned Purdue; 2) 47% of Americans believe that pre-pandemic normalcy is unattainable for them;¹ 3) This article explores the causes of the 60% drop in the U.S. marriage rate over the last 50 years; 4) This week marks the 20^th anniversary of the start of the Iraq War and the 30^th anniversary of Ground Hog Day, the movie starring Bill Murray, not the Feb. 2 focus on Punxsutawney Phil; 5) This WSJ article notes that in the past decade, college enrollment has declined by 15%, while the number of apprentices in the trades has increased by more than 50%; 6) In 1994, fewer than a quarter of people in both parties rated the other party very unfavorably; now 62% of Republicans and 54% of Democrats have a “very unfavorable” view of the other party, and 20% – i.e., 60M people – think Republican- and Democratic-leaning states should split into separate countries; 7) According to Census Bureau data, more than 11% of Americans aged 18 to 24 lived with a romantic partner who’s not a spouse last year, the highest share ever.

Resources: Click here for my recent sermon exploring inner peace (John 16:33f) and here for the sermon on unity (John 17:23f).

Closing Prayer: Lord, because you have made me, I owe you the whole of my love; because you have redeemed me, I owe you the whole of myself; because you have promised so much, I owe you my whole being. I pray you, Lord, make me taste by love what I taste by knowledge; let me know by love what I know by understanding. I owe you more than my whole self, but I have no more, and by myself I cannot render the whole of it to you. Draw me to you, Lord, in the fullness of your love. I am wholly yours by creation; make me all yours, too, in love. Amen.(Anselm 1033-1109)

¹ https://news.gallup.com/poll/471953/not-expect-return-pre-pandemic-normalcy.aspx?utm_source=join1440&utm_medium=email&utm_placement=newsletter.

Happy Friday,

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, and the mountains quake with their surging, I will not fear.

Psalm 46

Psalm 46 – which many attribute to Isaiah – does not promise that God will keep us from trouble. It promises that he will sustain us as we face “earth-giving-way-and-mountains-falling-into-the-sea” level troubles. The incarnation is the ultimate example. May we learn to expect trouble and find our refuge in him.

Stay in the Game: This piece doesn’t fit neatly into normal Friday Update fare, but I sure enjoyed it.

AI: Between the unparalleled spread of ChatGPT, Microsoft’s efforts to usurp it, China’s moves into the AI space, and the bevy of over-hyped reports about it – including a WSJ piece in which the authors gushed that AI will help humans “define the purpose of our species,” I can’t keep up. I’ve stopped trying to read about AI and started asking ChatGPT to tell me what I need to know. What could go wrong?

Wisdom: AI jokes aside, I am hoping that one of the benefits of AI is that more people will realize that just as data < knowledge, knowledge < wisdom. My advice? In addition to rewatching 2001 Space Odyssey, read and reread the Book of Proverbs.

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Without Comment: 1) According to the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), while two-thirds of faculty over 55 years of age think it is unacceptable for a student to shout down a speaker, only 37 percent of faculty 35 and under think so¹; 2) Debates are underway about revamping Canada’s doctor-assisted suicide program. Initially expanded from those “facing death in the reasonably foreseeable future” to those whose illnesses “need not be terminal,” there are now efforts to expand it to include “mature minors, including those as young as 12;”² 3) Following the Ten Commandments is the best, safest and – over the long-haul – easiest way to live; 4) Silence is one of the least practiced practices; 5) Simple solutions seldom are; 6) A UPenn study concluded that the replacement cost of Philadelphia churches to communities and government would be $250M annually³; and, 7) Between Watergate and the 2020s, trust in American media has dropped from 79% to 16%.⁴

WOTW:  Thanks to those who nominated institutional neutrality, which is one of the new buzzwords in the halls of academe. I’m not selecting it because I can’t imagine what those in higher ed mean by neutrality. Trend-jacking, identity-protective cognition (our ability to “subconsciously resist factual information that threatens our defining values”), copypasta (a “block of text that is repeatedly copied and pasted in internet chat groups, often because it is amusingly ridiculous”) and doom loop were also nominated, but the winner is unbefriended. It’s a term used by hospital staff to refer to patients who have no family or friends helping them.  It’s an increasingly important word not just because those who are unbefriended have poorer health outcomes, but because it is being used increasingly often.  

Two Observations: I’m pondering two things that emerged from a men’s retreat I attended in CO last week: 1) Though we were surrounded by spectacular beauty, when asked to name a high point, several of the men mentioned small acts of kindness extended to them by other men; and 2) The single most common prayer request concerned the repair of strained relationships with adult children.

Noteworthy: 1) Some (many?) pols do not enter politics to pass legislation; they do so to become celebrities; 2) Young people used to go to college to learn from people who were older and wiser; today many go to college to tell those older than they are what they should be thinking and saying. And tragically, enough of the professors crave the validation of the young so much that they acquiesce; 3) It’s not just that there are people who have what you believe you need to be happy – and yet are not happy. It’s that there are people who believe that if they only had what you already have they would be happy.

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Words Matter: It’s not serendipity, it’s providence. It’s not Mother Nature, it’s creation. It’s not forgetting, it’s forgiveness. It’s not optimism, it’s hope. It’s not coincidence, it’s sovereignty. It’s not need, it’s desire. FWIW, when I asked for other examples, a youth pastor said, “It’s not delivery. It’s Digiorno.”

Quotes Worth Requoting: 1) To see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle.  George Orwell. 2) We find time for things that are important to us. Period. Scott Douglas, Running Times. 3) If you thought the religious right was bad, just wait until you see the irreligious right. Russell Moore.

Clean Up: 1) In the piece endorsing the film Jesus Revolution, I said its Rotten Tomatoes rating was 99%. That was the audience’s rating, not that of the critics; 2) I credited the hymn Is He Worthy? to Chris Tomlin, when I should have given credit to Andrew Peterson. My bad. FWIW, Peterson’s version is also profound. Do your soul a favor and take four minutes to listen to it.

Resources: Click here to listen to my conversation with Dr. Peter Williams – the principal of Tyndale House at Cambridge – about his book, Can We Trust the Gospels? and here to listen to my conversation with Dr. Michael Gleason – the author of When God Walked on Campus – on collegiate revivals in general and recent events at Asbury in particular.

Closing Prayer:  My God, you are always close to me. In obedience to you, I must now apply myself to outward things. Yet, as I do so, I pray that you will give me the grace of your presence. And to this end I ask that you will assist my work, receive its fruits as an offering to you, and all the while direct all my affections to you. Amen. (Brother Lawrence 1611 – 1691)

Happy Friday,

Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.

John the Baptist, Matthew 3:8

When religious leaders showed up to monitor John the Baptist’s preaching, he called them snakes and challenged them to prove their spiritual maturity. What did the “baptizer” demand they produce as evidence of their relationship with God? “Fruit in keeping with repentance.” We would do well to reflect on that statement. John 15 and Galatians 5:22 both come to mind, as does the word humility. But maybe the more profitable question to ask is, “If John the Baptist asked me to provide evidence of my faith in Christ, what would I point to?” What would you point to? If being a Christ-follower was suddenly declared illegal, would there be enough evidence from your life to lead to your arrest?

My Soapbox: Though segments of the press still warn that the world has too many people, there has been a spike in the number of articles sounding the alarm about the world’s lack of babies. Ross Douthat opens this NYT piece by stating, “There are two kinds of people in the world: Those who believe the defining challenge of the 21st century will be climate change, and those who know that it will be the birth dearth.” And in this WaPo piece, Nicholas Eberstadt talks about China’s headaches as they plunge into a population implosion. The ebb and flow of demographics are massively complicated. I call it out here to say that at some point we need to see the lack of babies as a symptom of deeper ills.

AI: Those who are worried that students will use AI to cheat on their homework need to realize that if they do not learn how to use AI to write their papers, they will have a hard time getting a job. As an aside, ChatGPT has cemented its place as the fastest spreading tech platform in history. It picked up 1M users in the first week, and 100M in the first two months. Some think its spread is creating another “iPhone moment.”

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Perspective: The rise in our standard of living over the last 100 years is so significant, that Larry Summers – a former Treasury Secretary under Clinton and a past President of Harvard University – argues that a poor college student today lives better than John D. Rockefeller did 100 years ago^[1]

He Is: I have really been enjoying this song by Chris Tomlin. It does a great job reminding us just how worthy the Son of God is of our worship and love. He alone is able break the seal and open the scroll (Rev. 5:2).

Quotes Worth Requoting: 1) In an age of distraction, focus is the new superpower. Cary Nieuwhof; 2) The journey of self-awareness is one of the longest journeys we take. Craig Smith; 3)Wrong does not cease to be wrong because the majority share in it.  Leo Tolstoy

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WOTW: Two weeks ago – after Biden snuck into Ukraine on a train – I missed the chance to select Rail Force One as the Word Of The Week. Likewise, though I did select gobblefunk last week – a Roald Dahl creation meaning “to play around with words” – I missed the chance to select the more ominous term sensitivity editor. (Cue references to Brave New World and The Twilight Zone.) Who knows what word I am missing this week. That aside, I have made a selection: In thisHBR study I was introduced to context switching – which is what you call it when you toggle between apps, your inbox, a spreadsheet, a phone call and your email. Apparently you are doing it 1,200 per day. (Never, I trust, while reading The Friday Update.)

This Week: Click here to listen to my interview with Dr. Evan Hunter about the church in Russia and Ukraine, and here for last week’s sermon on John 15 – which explores three approaches we can take to better navigate the challenges of the moment.

Remember the Beach Ball: You can hold a beach ball underwater for a long time, but eventually it pops up. The same is true of reality. False ideas may be popular for a season, but the beach balls of truth, beauty and goodness eventually pop up.

FWIW: I continue to hear good things about the prayer revival that started at Asbury University. Kudos to the school’s leaders who allowed it to remain a student movement while also ensuring that there was no hero other than Jesus. I have also heard good things about Jesus Revolution, the Lionsgate film that has a 99% rating from Rotten Tomatoes and earned more than double its domestic debut weekend projections.

Closing Prayer: Pardon us, O Lord, pardon us. We beg to shift the blame for our sins, we make excuses. But no one can hide himself from the light of your truth, which both enlightens those who turn to it, and exposes those who turn away. Even our blood and our bones are visible to you, who created us out of dust. How foolish are we to think that we can rule our own lives, satisfying our own desires, without thought of you. How stupid we are to imagine that we can keep our sins hidden. But although we may deceive other people, we cannot deceive you. And since you see into our hearts, we cannot deceive ourselves, for your light reveals to us our own spiritual corruption. Let us, therefore, fall down before you, weeping with tears of shame. May your judgments give new shape to our souls. May your power mould our hearts to reflect your love. May your grace infuse our minds, so that our thoughts reflect your will. Amen. (William of Saint Thierry 1065-1148)

^[1] Lawrence Summers, “Liberty, Optimism and Superabundance,” Cato’s Letter, Winter 2023, Vol. 21.

Happy Friday,

…to all who receive him, to those who believe in his name, he gives the right to become children of God.

John 1:12

At this moment, few things are as confused or as contentious as our identity. Some think we earn it. Others think we discover it deep “inside.” Still others think we are free to make it up – or change it as we want. The truth is altogether more mysterious, freeing and wonderful. In Christ, God gifts us an identity as his children.

Asbury and Beyond: What are we to make of what’s happening at Asbury, where thousands of students are spending hours in worship, repentance, and prayer? I see no reason to be cynical. While the true nature of a revival is best judged over the long term – i.e., when we can see if people’s lives are changed, how society is impacted, etc. – what is going on in Wilmore, KY and beyond seems to be a God-thing. May it spread.

No Assurance of Pardon: One thousand years ago, Christians developed their own calendar. One season within it – called Lent – is a forty-day period during which we are to focus on the way our sin sent Christ to the cross. It’s not just that Jesus died for “the sins of the world.” It is that he died for my pride, my greed, my lust, my anger and my smallness. During this time, we are also to stare death in the face. That is, though we live in a culture that does everything it can to ignore death and mask the effects of aging, we not only acknowledge the realities of sin and death, but we also acknowledge that our soul is dark. To be sure, the forty days between now and Easter (Note: Sundays are not counted.) are not as dark as they could be, because we know how the story ends. But we do not go quickly to the Good News during Lent. There is no assurance of pardon in an Ash Wednesday service.

Looking for a Lenten Reading?: During Lent, some people give something up (e.g., meat, social media) and some people take something on (e.g., an act of service, an additional spiritual practice). Those who do are not to imagine they are earning God’s love or contributing to the work of Christ. Instead, they are to understand that they are changing their life in order to better understand how broken we are and how glorious Christ’s gift is. At a friend’s suggestion, during Lent I am re-reading the first 100 hundred pages of Les Misérables, Victor Hugo’s epic novel about grace and the law. Why reread the first 100 pages? Because they focus on the formation of the priest who rescues John Valjean by his gracious actions. The question guiding the Lenten rereading of the first section of Les Mis is, how can I become more like that priest?

BTW: In the first entry I mentioned identity. According to Barbara Walter – a professor at UC San Diego’s School of Global Policy and Strategy and an expert on “bargaining theory and political violence” – when our politics sort us “by our identity rather than our ideology, we are marching towards civil strife and perhaps civil war.”

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What’s Missing? Years ago, after a week in Ethiopia, I arranged an eight-hour layover in London so I could take my then twelve-year-old son on a quick tour of the city. That was a mistake. Piccadilly Square is a bit much when you’re ready for it. When you’ve just spent a week in a mostly ad-free, mostly Muslim country – one in which many women over the age of twelve are hidden behind burqas – Piccadilly Square overpowers. The quantity and salacious nature of the ads are shocking. I found myself thinking, “Bringing a twelve-year-old boy here suddenly feels like an act of bad parenting.” But that is not my most powerful recollection of our layover. Those honors are held by an observation I made late in the day. Looking around I suddenly realized there were two things not on display in Piccadilly Square -things I had seen a lot of in Addis Ababa that were almost totally lacking in London. What were these two things: children and pregnant women. As ironic as this is, it’s now quite clear that among the by-products of the sexual revolution are: less marriage, less children and less sex.

WOTW: Today more people vote D because they hate R than vote D because they love D. And the same is true in reverse. The term for this is negative partisanship, and it garners honorable mention in WOTW honors. This puts it ahead of one hundred percent, which I am hearing one hundred percent more than a month ago. Maybe two hundred percent. But the actual award goes to gobblefunk, which was coined by Roald Dahl – the late children’s author famous for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, James and the Giant Peach, etc., etc. Gobblefunk, which is taken from Dahl’s The BFG, means “to play around with words or to invent new ones or meanings.” Alas, it comes to prominence this week because Dahl’s publisher is gobblefunking with his books. According to a report in The Telegraph, his publisher has, “cut all references to fatness, craziness, ugliness, whiteness (even of bedsheets), blackness (even of tractors) and the great Rudyard Kipling, along with any allusion to acts lacking full and enthusiastic consent. Some male characters have been made female; female villains have been made less nasty; women in general have been socially elevated; while mothers and fathers, boys and girls have dwindled into sexless ‘parents’ and ‘children.’…” This is wrong. One hundred percent.

Quote Worth Requoting: By far the biggest medical surprise of the past decade has been the extraordinary number of studies showing that the single best predictor of health and wellbeing is simply the number and quality of close friendships you have. The Social Brain, Tracey Camilleri, Samantha Rockey and Robin Dunbar. (BTW, I one hundred percent love this quote.)

Lights Out: A book group I’m in recently discussed Lights Out, Thomas Gryta and Ted Mann’s overlong account of GE’s decline following Welch’s retirement. Among those in our book group is one man who reported to Jack Welch for several years. His reflections on “Neutron Jack” were far more favorable than those offered by Gryta and Mann. Among other things, he noted that, “Though Jack had a PhD in engineering, he was all about people” and that, “After most business speeches, people clap politely. That was not the response to a speech by Jack. Even though he was only 5’5” and had a stammer, after he spoke people were ready to march into battle.”

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Jesus was a Level Six Leader:  My three major take aways from Lights Out were: 1) A successful succession is really hard to get right; 2) It’s not just NFP trustees who frequently fail to do their job; “world class” boards at some of the largest organizations in the world are often not doing their job; and 3) Jesus was a Level Six Leader. As you may know, according to Jim Collins – the author of Good to Great – there are five levels of leadership, with the highest being made up of those who – among other things – ensure the success of the organization after they are long gone. I am struck that Welch was tasked with picking from among the most competent business executives in the world and he got it wrong. GE today is a much-diminished entity. By Collins’ definition, Welch was not a Level Five Leader. Meanwhile, Jesus entrusted his movement to a group of misfits and also-rans, but after his investment in them, they managed to launch an organization that continues to grow 2,000 years later. On Collins’ five levels of leaders, Jesus was a Level Six. Maybe a Level Seven.

A Bad Day: BTW, the transition at GE took place one day before the 9/11 attacks, which sets up the best line in the book. It’s delivered by Jeff Immelt – the man who took over the company. After watching the second Twin Tower collapse, he said, “I realized that…a plane I lease, flying with engines I built, just crashed into a building that I insure, covered by a network I own.” And you thought you were having a bad day.

The Press On Podcast: In this week’s pod – available here – I interview Dr. John Dickson, an engaging author and the founding Director of the Centre for Public Christianity (2007-17). In addition to holding a PhD in Ancient History, John, who has published over 20 books, produced several television documentaries and taught at universities around the world, including Oxford – recently joined the faculty at Wheaton. In this conversation we focus on his book, Bullies and Saints, which explores the best and worst in church history – including the Crusades, Inquisition and child sexual abuse scandals.

Closing Prayer: Lord, I can see plainly that you are the only and the true source of wisdom, since you alone can restore faith and hope to a doubting and despairing soul. In your Son, Jesus, you have shown me that even the most terrible suffering can be beautiful, if it is in obedience to your will. And so the knowledge of your Son has enabled me to find joy in my own suffering. Lord, my dear Father, I kneel before you this day, and praise you fervently for my present sufferings, and give thanks for the measureless sufferings of the past. I now realize that all these sufferings are part of your paternal love, in which you chastise and purify me. And through that discipline I now look at you without shame and terror, because I know that you are preparing me for your eternal kingdom. Amen. (Henry Suso 1295-1366)

Happy Friday,

While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

The Apostle Paul ––Letter to the Romans

There are two views of humanity in circulation today. The first claims we are nothing more than the accidental exhaust of the collision of space, time and chance. Those in this camp argue we are: hairless apes, carbon-based bipeds, and the temporary pinnacle of the evolutionary process. There is no design behind us. We have no purpose or dignity. There is no such thing as good or evil. We need to grow up and realize we are alone in a universe of blind, pitiless indifference. The other message says the opposite. It argues that we are special and worth it. And it proclaims that we are not only beautiful – no matter what anyone says – but also that we are winners who can do anything we set our minds to. Ironically, many people simultaneously embrace both views. As Christ-followers we are called to see things differently – and it is not some middle ground. We are not asked to walk a path between pessimism and utopianism. Nor may we fall for either one. Indeed, as Christians we are to be both more pessimistic than the pessimist and more utopian than the utopian – pessimistic because we recognize that our sin cannot be expunged by education, social reform or medical intervention. And utopian because we believe that the transformation of our human heart that is begun in this life will be completed in the next. The cross teaches us two things: We are so valuable that God sent his Son to die for us; and we are so broken that the Son of God had to die for us.

Predicting Anger: A while back I drafted an Update entry predicting that some (many?) of the young women medically subverting their ability to have children in order to embrace their identity as a male will regret it. More than that, they will become profoundly angry. For various reasons (cowardice?) I did not run it. I raise it here because I suspect the CDC’s report about the epidemic of sadness among teen girls is related. Though it is unpopular to say so, reality wins. It is like a beach ball that can only be held under water for so long. Eventually it pops up. God have mercy.

TikTok Tics: This report notes the spread of tics among the young frequenting social media. It makes me wonder, given that we now know that digital technology fuels the spread of disinformation, political polarization and mental illness (especially among children), do we have the inner strength to dial things back?

One Hour: I’ve read a lot of personal productivity material, so trust me when I say, the easiest way to save time is to not bother reading much of it. There are a few insights – and here is one of the most helpful: You will be miles ahead if you free up one hour of uninterrupted time every day to work on your high-priority-but-not-urgent matters. Where do you find this hour? Although China has a good idea how you are spending your time, I do not. But I suspect you are wasting at least one hour a day in front of a screen.

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Five Keys: While I’m peddling advice, let me forward the five key “needs” a friend sought to instill in his kids. The need to: 1) Delay gratification; 2) Cultivate gratitude; 3) Remain humble; 4) Serve others; and 5) Finish what we start.

Wordle: The most interesting thing about Wordle is not that it’s swept the nation, given rise to new social protocols – woe to anyone who mentions the Wordle word out loud – or provides a daily touch point for millions of geographically disbursed families. The most interesting matter about Wordle is how hard it is to remember the word three hours later.

Asking Why: Given my growing number of friendsnow retired (or retiring), I find myself in more conversations about loss. FWIW, the most profitable of these conversations move past asking, “What is missed?” to asking, “What does what I miss say about me?”

2 Chronicles 7:14: If you’ve not heard, goods things are happening at Asbury College in Wilmore, KY. You can read reports about it here or here. You can also read Tim Keller’s Atlantic article noting that America is due for a revival here (although it’s behind a pay wall). Better yet, meditate on 2 Chronicles 7:14, where we are told that “if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

Quotes Worth Requoting: 1) You either win or you learn, that’s how I feel. Jalen Hurts, QB for the Philadelphia Eagles after their loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LVII. Hurts was citing Nelson Mandela, who said: “I never lose. I win or learn.” 2) When you think you know everything, they give you a bachelor’s degree. When you realize you don’t know anything, they give you a master’s degree. And when you realize you don’t know anything – and neither does anyone else – they award you a doctorate degree. Skye Jethani

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Without Comment: 1) Half of Americans say they are worse off than a year ago, the most since 2009; 2) California’s legal marijuana growers – unable to compete with the black market – are asking the State for help; 3) Last weekend’s Super Bowl was the third most-watched TV program ever; 4) For a $10 donation, the San Antonio Zoo will name a cockroach after someone you dislike and then feed it to an animal. (Their annual “Cry Me a Cockroach” campaign is intended for “exes who just won’t bug off.”); 5) Given that 3 in 4 college students believe that jokes may constitute hate speech, Chris Rock and Jerry Seinfeld will no longer perform on college campuses; 6) Now that Japanese declutter guru Marie Kondo has children, she talks here about giving up on extreme tidiness; 7) Thanks to AI, the hottest new programming language is English. In addition, conspiracy theories and disinformation campaigns can spread even faster due to AI; 8) Fewer than 2 percent of NCAA student-athletes go on to the professional level; 9) One-third of adults still sleep with a comfort object; and 10) According to this WSJ piece, out of 46 countries surveyed, the U.S. comes in dead last (29%) when asked, “Do you trust the media in your country?”

Housekeeping: As the readership of The Update has grown, I’ve been fielding more requests for me to cite my sources. I have resisted in order to keep the newsletter as short and casual as possible, but I’ve been worn down. Changes are coming. Stay tuned.

Podcast: Click here to access my interview with Dr. Chris Ganski about the Ascension of Christ.

Closing Prayer: How can we love life, when it holds so much bitterness and brings so much sorrow? Indeed, how can we call the daily struggle true life, when it brings physical pain and spiritual sadness in equal measure? Yet people cling to sinful activities as a source of comfort. They grasp desperately at the passing pleasures and vanities of the world. They do not readily abandon the desires of the body and the lusts of the eye. Lord, strengthen me with heavenly courage, that I may fight against pleasures and vanities that harm the soul. I do not expect or ask that trials and sorrows should cease. I ask only that, in your strength, I resist the temptations to seek consolation in sin. For I know that only by clinging to the gospel of righteousness, and by grasping at your eternal grace, can I ever experience true and lasting joy. Amen. (Thomas a Kempis 1380-1471)