Happy Friday:

But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.

Joshua, Joshua 25:14f

 
We live in a world of choices. If you think I’m wrong, order a Coke. Did you want regular or diet? Classic, vanilla, cherry or lime? Caffeine free? A diet cherry caffeine free? Was that small, medium or large?  By the way, did you want ice? Of course, some decisions matter more than others. Indeed, some decisions do not matter at all. One of the things we need to do if we hope to navigate this moment is to save our decision muscles for things that matter. Joshua points to a question that should remain top of mind: choosing who we will serve. 
 
A Second Critical Decision: While I’m here let me note that one of the other big choices we make is how we see ourselves. Are you a child of God? A cancer patient? An alcoholic? The guy who was unjustly fired? The woman who was cheated on? Something else? Who do you see when you look in the mirror? We get to decide what defines us. We need to choose wisely.
 
Travels: I’ve paid the full idiot tax for being out of the country for three weeks and that is OK. Israel delivered. As I have said before, in addition to finding it smaller, safer and more political than they expected, first-timers almost all also find it more spiritually enlightening and invigorating. In terms of Ghana – which was the second half of my trip – I saw a lot of poverty, a lot of discipline and a lot of joy. What I did not see were many cell phones. 
 
Resources: Speaking of Ghana, I came away very encouraged by the thoughtful, holistic, Gospel-centered work our partners there are doing. Here is my interview with the Executive Director of International Needs – IN – Ghana. (And while I’m listing resources, here is last week’s sermon on Wisdom from James 3).
 
Overheard: 1) Intellectual conflict is to be encouraged; personal conflict is to be resolved; 2) The current mantra in China’s Tech industry is 996, as in “employees are at their desks from 9 AM to 9 PM six days a week;” 3) Nature will turn girls into women. It takes a healthy culture to turn boys into men; 4) First we shape our institutions, then our institutions shape us; 5) When the situation points to incompetence and stupidity on the one hand, or a conspiracy on the other, bet on the first; 6) The giant in front of you is never bigger than the God who lives in you.
 
Without Comment: 1) Only 60% of Americans now believe it is immoral for married people to have sex outside of marriage, down from 91% in 2001; 2) Death rates among American children rose 10.7% between 2019 and 2020 and another 8.3% between 2020 and 2021; 3) Couples with joint checking accounts are happier than those who have separate accounts; 4) The share of US adults who are “extremely proud” to be an American is essentially unchanged from last year’s 38% record low; 5) Nearly 1 in 4 history journal citations are inaccurate; and 6) 10.8% of people 65 and over have some level of Alzheimer’s dementia.
 
I’m Available: I was going to list the Saudi’s $776M one-year offer to French soccer phenom Kylian Mbappe under This Week’s Sign that the Apocalypse is Upon Us. But Mbappe turned them down. Sooooo, I am using this space to let the Saudis know that I’m available. BTW, keep this info away from Christ Church interns. We do not pay them quite as much as the Saudis are offering Mbappe.
 
Humankind: I get pushback for giving too much ink to human depravity and not enough to happy things. Fair enough, but since I’m not a cat-video guy, I have to look elsewhere. Here is David Bote’s 2018 walk-off home run in the bottom of the 9^th with two strikes.  (Yes, yes, yes. I realize I’m reaching back five years to get a highlight from the Cubs, but the Cards are doing so poorly that their fans can’t point that out).
 
WOTW:  I collected quite a list of WOTW candidates while I was out. Most – such as consensual non-monogamy; post-antibiotic; stolen focus, cognitive warfare, techno-determinism and Neocolonialist Environmentalism – all share a dark, foreboding quality. Given the encouragement to be more positive, I’m pushing them aside for something happier. I considered granddaughter – a word that consistently makes me smile – but I’m going with Gratitude Parade instead. I’m also suggesting that you host your own today. (Note: when ancient historians are given a chance to live at any time in history they all choose today!)
 
IS2M: 1) Being told to “be true to yourself,” “you do you,” “go with your gut” or “follow your heart” often means, “feel free to yield to temptation;” 2) It is increasingly clear that secular materialism does not lead to the first amendment.
 
Closing Prayer: Father, thank you for the grace that has preserved my life to this moment. Now give me enough love for this day—a sense of love from you (so I’m not scared or driven), a welling up of love for you (so I’m not proud or selfish), and a resulting love for others (so I am not cold or distracted). Let your Spirit illumine my mind and enlarge my heart for that. And because it means nothing to begin well if one does not persevere, I ask that you would continue and increase your grace in me until you have led me into full communion with your Son Jesus Christ our Lord, that I may see his beautiful and great glory. And as I laid down in sleep and rose this morning only by your grace, keep me in a joyful, lively remembrance that whatever happens, I will someday know my final rising—the resurrection—because Jesus Christ laid down in death for me, and rose for my justification. In Jesus’s name. Amen. (Timothy Keller – 1950 – 2023)

Happy Friday,
 
“My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.”

James 1:19-20

 
I find people are quite quick to speak, even quicker to become angry, and rarely listen, especially when there is a computer or cellphone screen serving as a shield. I wish I could say that wasn’t true of me also, but it is. However, I’ve learned to ask myself why. Why am I angry? Am I angry because of an opposing opinion? Then I need to allow others to be different than I am. Am I angry because this person has said something that is untrue, nonfactual, or just wrong? Then I can ignore it and move on. Am I angry because this person is harming someone else with their words? Then I can lovingly confront them. But sometimes, I’m angry because God is trying to teach me something that I’m opposed to learning. In that case, I need to confess and let the Holy Spirit work on my heart.
 
Guest Writer: This week, Mike’s Friday Update is written by Kate Gleich. Kate is the Associate Director at Christ Church Crossroads in Grayslake, Illinois. She lives in North Chicago, Illinois, with her husband of 17 years and her four boys (ages 8, 9, 14, and 14). This month, she and her family are enjoying the hot Florida weather while she works remotely, the boys swim, and her husband enjoys a well-earned sabbatical.
 
WOTW: The runner-up this week is an idea rather than a word. The idea is Occam’s razor: the simplest explanation is usually the best one. You can see my thoughts on simplicity below. The first-place word of the week goes to evangelastic: the stretching of scripture to fit one’s view. I recently read a book by Sue Edwards, who credits her seminary friend, JoAnn Hummel, with coming up with this word. I wonder how often I do this, allowing myself to try to form God in my image rather than accepting that I’m made in His.
 
Quotes Worth Requoting: 1.) “The measure of you as a leader is not what you do, but what others do because of you.”- Howard G. Hendricks; 2.) “Sometimes me think, what is friend? And then me say: a friend is someone to share last cookie with.”- Cookie Monster; 3.) “We cannot give our hearts to God and keep our body for ourselves.”- Elisabeth Elliot; 4.) “…most people aren’t toxic. They just see things different than you do.” – Carey Nieuwhof; 5.) “You have to date your friends.”- George Gleich (my late father-in-law)
 
IS2M: 1) Accountability matters. I’m currently trying to get back into running, but running in Florida means getting up early if you want to somewhat beat the heat. When my alarm goes off, I want to hit snooze. But what I want more is my running partner back home to see my run on Strava; 2) Simplicity is key. On my first day of college, in my first class, my professor drew a circle on the board. She put two dots and a swoop inside of it. Then she asked the class what it was. After a few ridiculous “smart” answers, someone called out, “it’s a smiley face.” It was, in fact, a smiley face. Overcomplicating something to look smart often just makes you look dumb; 3) Morning people. You’re probably either a morning person or a night person. It’s doubtful you’re both. It’s possible you’re neither.
 
Without Comment: 1) In an age of an epidemic of loneliness, people are turning to apps for online friend-making; 2) McDonald’s isn’t grimacing at its new viral sensation, The Grimace Shake, even though its popularity looks different than expected; 3) Another year, another Ivy League scandal. Harvard is facing a lawsuit surrounding legacy admissions; 4) Don’t have the money to travel the world or the legacy to be educated at Harvard? “Travel” and learn through reading the top-rated books by a local author in each country around the world; 5) A new study by the Pew Research Center shows that there are a record number of 40-year-olds who have never been married in the U.S.

Closing prayer: Loving Lord and Heavenly Father I offer up today all that I am, all that I have, all that I do, and all that I suffer, to be Yours today and Yours forever. Give me grace, Lord, to do all that I know of Your holy will. Purify my heart, sanctify my thinking, correct my desires. Teach me, in all of today’s work and trouble and joy, to respond with honest praise, simple trust, and instant obedience, that my life may be in truth a living sacrifice, by the power of Your Holy Spirit and in the name of Your Son Jesus Christ, my Master and my all. Amen. (Elisabeth Elliot, 1926-2015)


P.S. In conjunction with his recent trip to Israel, Mike is re-interviewing several Middle Eastern leaders. In this podcast he speaks with Dr. Salim Munayer, who has spent the last 30 years working in reconciliation work.

Happy Friday,

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him,
‘This is what the LORD says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me.

Exodus 9:1

The first thing to note from this iconic passage is that God did not say, “Let my people go.” He said, “Let my people go so that they may worship me.” The second point that must be made is that the freedom celebrated throughout the Book of Exodus – a book very much about the Law in general and the Ten Commandments in particular – is that freedom is not found in the absence of rules or responsibility. Au contraire. It emerges in cooperation with good laws. A train is only able to enjoy being a train when it stays on the tracks.

Worth Noting: 1) If you want to do a biblical study on leadership, the Bible spells it: s-e-r-v-a-n-t-h-o-o-d; 2) We are called to hope, not just because despair is a sin, but because God wins. The end is certain; the gates of Hell crumple. Count on it; 3) Pride and ministry are polar opposites. The first ultimately kills the second; 4) At the end of this month, we’ll be closer to 2050 than to 1996; 5) The only thing you need to do to have a garden full of weeds is nothing.

Sports Trends:  The PGA’s sellout to the Saudis is the latest example of money changing corrupting sports. However, as excerpted from the press conference following the Sooners Softball Team’s World Series victory, there are athletes whose love of sports is motivated by something other than money.

Quotes Worth Requoting:  1) “Don’t worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you’ll have to ram them down people’s throats.” Howard Aiken; 2) “There are no solutions, only trade-offs.” Thomas Sowell.

Thirty is Not the New Twenty: This recent Pew study reminds me that while it may be harmless (and funny) to claim that sixty is the new forty, it’s not harmless to tell young people that thirty is the new twenty. For more on this, watch this classic TED Talk by Meg Jay, Why Thirty is Not the New Twenty. FWIW, my Dad – who told me that seventy was the new fifty – later told me, “Eighty is eighty.”

Running Into the Fire: I’m a fan of Robert P. George, the American legal scholar and public intellectual who directs the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton. George – who has law and divinity degrees from Harvard and a Ph.D. from Oxford – is the author of many books, including Conscience and Its Enemies: Confronting the Dogmas of Liberal Secularism, which I handed out a couple of Christmases ago. I mention all this as a backdrop to my encouragement that you read “Running into the Fire,” his recent article in National Review.

COVID: According to Dr. Marty Makary at Johns Hopkins, 67M people got COVID, 6.8M people died from the disease, and 13B doses of vaccines were administered. Of course, all of these stats – and a dozen related matters – are not only contested, but they also serve as fault lines dividing family, friends, neighbors, and churches. Why bring them up? Because the competing medical, political, legal, economic, theological, and humanitarian narratives surrounding COVID provide an opportunity for us to grow. The pandemic was hard. Not everyone listened well, thought clearly, or extended grace. Given that other pandemics will likely follow, it would be ideal if scientists and legislators learned from the last one. Whether they do or not, we can. Work on listening – and extending grace to – those you got sideways with during the last three years. The goal is not to change their mind but to expand your heart.

Resources: In this week’s podcast, I talk with Jon Ferguson, who (along with his brother Dave) has: 1) Planted a thriving church; 2) Launched a church-planting network; 3) Launched a conference for churches that plant churches; and 4) Written several award-winning books. I’m a big fan of their suggestion that we BLESS our friends and neighbors, which is spelled out in their book, B.L.E.S.S.: Five Everyday Ways to Love Your Neighbor and Change the World.(B.L.E.S.S. stands for 1) Begin with prayer; 2) Listen; 3) Eat together; 4) Serve; and 5) Share your story.)

WOTW: Honorable mention goes to hallucinations, which is being used to describe the crazy thoughts generated by AI which are happening often enough that some have taken to calling ChatGPT, “Chat LSD.” Actual WOTW honors go to civilizational challenge, which is the term describing the drama associated with the indictment of former President Trump. (BTW, you can read the 49-page indictment here.)

Prayer Request: 1) Given the civilizational challenges we now face, I’m asking you to join me in praying for our country. To be clear, I believe there is a path forward, but it seems that peacefully navigating the legal issues and political theater would require an unusual amount of wisdom and good behavior IF we were starting in a healthy place; 2) Last weekend was the first of two weekends in which Renew is standing up four homes. This weekend over 200 volunteers (skilled and otherwise) will be serving. Good weather and safety are among the things I am asking you to pray for.

Closing Prayer: Look upon us, O Lord, and let all the darkness of our souls vanish before the beams of your brightness. Fill us with holy love, and open to us the treasures of your wisdom. All our desire is known to you, therefore perfect what you have begun, and what your Spirit has awakened us to ask in prayer. We seek your face, turn your face toward us and show us your Glory. Then shall our longing be satisfied, and our peace shall be perfect. Amen. (Augustine of Hippo, 354-430)

Happy Friday,

The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, “When you are helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the delivery stool, if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.”

Moses, Exodus 1:15-16

Exodus 1 records the first instance of antisemitism, but it’s noteworthy for more than that. A big deal should be made over who is named — the Hebrew midwives who refused to kill the Jewish boys — and who is not — the “king of Egypt.”  Trust me, the king wanted to be remembered. However, he has been forgotten while the poor women are celebrated. Let’s score this: self-important Egyptian thugs 0, courageous female slaves 1.

I Can’t Resist: While I am celebrating the comeuppance of bullies, I can’t resist noting that while Nero and Caesar were being lauded — and Peter and Paul were being persecuted — today we name our sons Peter and Paul and our dogs Nero and Caesar.

WOTW: Honorable mention goes to deglobalization and decivilization, two words Peter Zeihan coins in his book, The End of the World is Just the Beginning. (FWIW, I think Zeihan makes some good points but channels too much Chicken Little.) I am also giving honorable mention to lethologica, which refers to “the ‘tip of the tongue’ feeling you get when you can’t retrieve a word but sense you’re about to.” I’m reserving WOTW honors for whoever coins the term for what you feel when you realize that, even with all of the safeguards you have in place, you are so technologically clumsy that you managed to lose the document you were working on, for example, a mostly written Friday Update. (Asking for a friend.)

Romans 3:23: RE: Zeihan’s book, in a footnote on page 72, he wrote, “I’m sure there are a few ideologues and/or economists reading this wondering what I think about “true” or “pure” communism: the idea that the state exists to be an impartial mechanism for distributing goods and services from those with ability to those with need. Since the time of Karl Marx, no one has tried it…and no one ever will, simply because people are people and under such a system those with the ability will either turn into sloths or defect. Disagree? Grow up. Or go off to your own planet and populate it with something that isn’t human.”  Saying “people are people” and suggesting that if you want a world to work, you need to populate it with “something that isn’t human” is another way of saying, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” The Gospel is Good News, but only to those who understand they have a problem.

Worth Noting: At the prompting of a friend, I asked ChatGPT to write two poems: one about George Soros and one about the Koch Brothers. Thinking that something had gone wrong — and ChatGPT had mistakenly written one about God and the other about Satan — I tried again. Intrigued with the results, I started playing around with names and keeping score. FWIW, ChatGPT likes Nancy Pelosi, Mike Pence, AOC, Amy Coney Barrett, Hillary Clinton, Chris Sununu, Stacey Abrams, and Chuck Schumer, but not Ted Cruz or Josh Hawley. It is neutral on Mitch McConnell and Chris Christie and slightly down on Kevin McCarthy. It has nice things to say about The New York Times, USA Today, CNN, MSNBC, and NPR but nasty things to say about FOX. It loves the ACLU and Planned Parenthood. It’s neutral on National Review and The Federalist Society. Try this exercise for yourself. Given the dynamic nature of AI, you may get different results. But be forewarned, the poetry is awful, and at some point, it all starts to sound the same.

Pentecost: Two weeks ago, we celebrated Pentecost — the day, fifty (pente) days after Passover, that is remembered for the arrival of the Holy Spirit and the birth of the church. Peter preached a brilliant sermon on the first Pentecost. It’s worth noting his approach. When asked by the non-Christian crowd to explain what was going on, Peter answered by unpacking the Bible, not by explaining how he felt about things.

Exodus Humor: In advance of the upcoming fall series, I’m spending a lot of time in Exodus. As previously noted, the book is profound, foundational, and suddenly trendy. FWIW, it’s also the subject of a lot of humor. This Exodus cartoon made me smile.

Reader Mail: 1) More than a few were unmoved by my appeal to The Hermeneutic of Embarrassment, and still think I messed up by citing Haidt’s claim that young, liberal, white girls are more depressed than others; 2) Everyone who cared enough to comment about Prohibition agreed that our common narrative about that era is misleading; and 3) A few forwarded commencement addresses they believe deserve another listen: a) Here is a link to Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts’ remarks at his son’s 6th-grade graduation; b) Here is a link to George Marshall’s 1947 Harvard address in which he laid out the Marshall Plan.

The Church in Action: Not since Dr. Seuss’s Yertle the Turtle has so much good theology come our way via turtles. I really, really, really wish this was more true of today’s church.

Screens Are Up, but TV Is Down: I’ve heard a lot about — but not seen any of — Succession. Including some who feel the need to rage about its importance and popularity. As a public service announcement, I want to note where it fits in the canon of “all-time most popular TV.” Of the 30 most-watched TV broadcasts of all time, 22 are Super Bowls, four are news events (e.g., 150M watched the Apollo 11 Moon landing), and only three are primetime television programs: the 1983 finale of M*A*S*H (106M viewers), Roots (Part VIII) and The Day After (tied at 100M), and Dallas’s 1980 Who Done It? episode garnered 83.6M. The 1993 finale of Cheers drew 80.5M, and the 1998 finale of Seinfeld got 76.3M. How many watched the finale of Succession? 2.9M.

Cain Killed Abel: Years ago, I learned that “Cain killed Abel because Abel wasn’t able to defend himself.” Yes, but no. Cain killed Abel because he let sin (anger and envy) fester in his heart. How are you managing those two character assassins? FWIW, I preached on the Spirit of Cain last weekend. It is here.

Prayer Request:  This weekend marks the first of Renew Communities’ two Big Builds. If all goes well, we’ll frame and roof four of the eight houses we will be working on this summer. We have all the volunteers we need (skilled and otherwise). Please pray for: good weather, the safety of the workers, and a positive witness to neighbors — i.e., Matthew 5:16, “…let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” (Here is a two-minute video of our last Big Build.)

Closing Prayer: Let your goodness, Lord, appear to us, that we, made in your image, may conform ourselves to it. In our own strength we cannot imitate your majesty, power, and wonder; nor is it fitting for us to try. But your mercy reaches from the heavens, through the clouds, to the earth below. You have come to us as a small child, but you have brought us the greatest of all gifts, the gift of eternal love. Amen. (Bernard of Clairvaux, 1090-1153)

Happy Friday:

Blessed are those who fear the Lord, who find great delight in his commands.

Psalm 112:1

Some suggest we can rid ourselves of all fear; the Bible recommends a different approach. Just as it instructs us to rightly order our loves – placing God first – it instructs us to rightly order our fears – again, placing God first. This surprises some, but true freedom doesn’t come from no fear; it comes from living in light of a Holy God, who owns everything, including our very lives. As the Proverbs declare, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

TK: I’ve been hearing a lot from Tim Keller fans. Some have forwarded articles. Others have sent favorite sermons. And some – like Russell Moore in this CT editorial – have noted that they already miss his perspective. (FWIW, I was most moved by a Tweet that simply read, “Gandalf isn’t supposed to die.”) If you’d like to read a bit more about TK, I recommend this National Reviewpiece. If you want to read a lot more, I suggest Collin Hansen’s biography, Timothy Keller: His Spiritual and Intellectual Formation. BTW, while no single person is likely to fill his role, there are a growing number of women and men of significant faith, insight, and stature to draw encouragement from. This Atlanticpiece on Gary Haugen provides one example.

The 18th Amendment – Take Two: I’ve seldom heard Prohibition described as anything but a misguided, priggish, moralistic disaster. However, the more I learn about what actually happened and why, the more it seems like a somewhat successful, pro-woman, anti-domestic-violence movement. If you want to learn more, start here.

Commencement Addresses Worth Listening To: Commencement addresses can be their own kind of awful. If you recently suffered through anything that included “Webster’s defines,” a quote from Dr. Suess, or something about turning lemons into lemonade (or, as I heard, turning lemons into whiskey sours) – you can cleanse your palate with one of the classics – e.g., Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s 1978 address at Harvard, Steve Jobs’s 2005 address at Stanford, David Foster Wallace’s 2005 address at Kenyon College, etc.).  FWIW, though it does not rise to being a classic, I thought this addressby Ian Rowe, just delivered at Atlanta’s Classical Academy, was much better than most. Of course, you could skip all the speeches and reread the Book of Proverbs – it’s the best advice that can be passed along to the young.

Hermeneutics 201: If I say, “Sure, the Brewers have a better record than the Cubs, but the Cubs are a better team,” the one thing you can be sure of is that the Brewers have a better record. Why?  Because people do not admit to things that undermine their claims unless those claims are undeniably true. Historians call this “the Hermeneutics of Embarrassment” and rely on it to navigate competing historical accounts. (Note: the HoE is behind Christians making a big deal out of both the Romans and the Jewish authorities admitting that the tomb was empty). I mention the HoE here to answer a question raised by several readers. A few Friday Updates ago, I was asked, “Why would you cite reports claiming that liberal, white girls are more likely to be depressed than their peers? You’re normally more balanced and non-partisan than this.” The reason I cited this stat is because: 1) it strikes me as important; and 2) it was brought to my attention by Jonathan Haidt, who, in addition to being a reputable social scientist, describes himself as “a liberal, New York, Jewish atheist.” In other words, given the HoE, this is not a stat he would cite if he did not think it was true.

Five Brief Asides: 1) If you want to explore the mental well-being of young, white liberal females, Haidt cites several sources: this Columbia University study; this survey from sciencedirect.com. You could also look at this articlethat references his comments; 2) My goal is not to be “balanced or nonpartisan,” it is to “understand the times” (I Chr. 12:32),” and reflect on it from a Christian worldview; 3) Haidt’s book, The Coddling of the American Mind, is worth reading; and 4) one of the challenges of a newsletter like this – in which my goal is to be as brief as possible, is that I try to cover complex, layered topics.  Please know that I am very open to hearing from you when you think I get it wrong.

Quote Worth Requoting: “… the church is the only thing which saves a man from the degrading slavery of being a child of his age.” G.K. Chesterton

Miracles: A few weeks ago, I shared this interview with Molly Worthen, the Yale Ph.D. in religion who’d written skeptically about faith for years before shocking everyone – especially herself – by coming to faith in Christ. I offer her Dec. 2022  NYT guest essay on medical miracles as a coda on her conversion.

Without Comment: 1) Thirty-eight percent of US teens list TikTok as their favorite social media platform, with over 60% of them saying that if forced to choose between losing it or the right to vote, they’d give up their vote; 2) according to this report, the US now has more 60-somethings than it does children under the age of ten; 3) In recent weeks, several reports suggest that boys are growing more conservative during High School while girls are growing more liberal; 4) among Stanford University’s 16,000 administrators, about 600 work in development; and 5) on an unrelated note, the NYT reported that Baby Boomers – who are now mostly in their 70s – will turn over $70T (that is $70,000,000,000) to their heirs (or to Stanford).

AI Update: Too much mind-bending stuff is happening to keep up with AI. Some of it is good – e.g., AI is not only helping scientists develop powerful antibiotics, but it is also helping the paralyzed walk. Some is scary – e.g., AI fine-tuned algorithms make social media even more addicting. I read a report suggesting that AI will soon be able to “read our mind.” I doubt that is true, but I’m pretty sure the voice inside my head started to sound like Rod Sterling. (BTW, you can read more about AI in Genesis 11:1-9).

Resources: Few countries are as old, confusing, or important as Israel. In this podcast, I go to 30,000 feet to look down on the history of the Holy Land from Abraham through the present.

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

The rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them.
Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant.

Jesus, Matthew 20:25f

I asked a friend if he’d noticed how many strong men currently occupied the world stage. “Think about it,” I said. “Putin, Xi, Erdoğan, Orban, Lukashenko, Modi and a half dozen others. That’s more than normal.” His response? He laughed. And then he said, “It has always been this way. ‘The rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them.’” Oops. Right. There is no holiday from history or human nature. Tragically, remembering the first part of Christ’s statement is not the difficult part of this passage. It is embracing the second half. “Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave – just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

The Lakelight Institute: Last fall we launched the Lakelight Institute, with a goal of recovering timeless wisdom for modern life, especially in the arenas of work and culture. Two weeks ago, our first class of Fellows graduated. You can learn about the Institute here, watch a 3-minute video on the Fellows Program here, or sign up for our monthly newsletter here. (This month’s issue is focused on the power of beauty.)

Quote Worth Requoting: Twenty years from now the only people who will remember that you worked late are your kids. Sahil Bloom

IS2M: 1) I read about evidence of the spike in anxiety, depression and PTSD, but I am not reading about the more serious mental health issues I observe; 2) Christians in America need to prepare to move from being a subculture to being a counter culture; 3) Too many people ask if Christianity works rather than if it’s true; 4) It doesn’t seem to matter what is going on, complainers complain and thankful people are thankful; 5) One of the benefits of immigration is that it helps populate the country with people who have a more grounded understanding of life, something often missing from the elite on both the left and the right; 6) When I was in middle school, I had to worry about minor things; peer pressure to cut class or steal beer, I did not have to navigate the sexual chaos of the moment; 7) Big Tech is starting to be viewed like Big Tobacco; 8) Watching Bud Light and Target posture and then pivot (making everyone mad and shedding market value in the process) leads me to believe CEOs are looking for ways to keep their company’s head down. They are also citing Michael Jordan’s famous 80s statement, “Republicans buy shoes too.”

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Without Comment: 1) In 1969, 48% of students walked to school; today 11% do; 2) The U.S. averages one fatal shark attack every two years, meaning Americans are 120x more likely to be killed by their lawnmower than they are a Great White; 3) White evangelicals are now twice as likely to oppose school vaccines as they were in 2019; 4) According to this report on religious persecution, last year 360M Christians lived with some level of daily persecution; 5,621 Christians were killed for their faith and 2,110 churches were attacked; and the most dangerous countries in which to be a Christian unfolds as follows (from 10 down to number 1) Sudan, Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, Nigeria (where more Christians were killed than all the other countries combined), Libya, Eritrea, Yemen, Somalia and the most dangerous of all, North Korea; 5) When Americans are asked to name the major brands with the worst reputations, three of the seven most cited are social media companies; for a list of the top ten brands, click here; 6) 100 years ago, Christians made up 25% of the population of Jerusalem. Today it is 2%; 7) 7.3% of workers tested positive for marijuana following workplace incidents in 2022, up from 6.7% in 2021.

WOTW: The WSJ’s use of Diet of Darkness in this alarming article about Tik Tok, almost led me to replace the WOTW with the POTW (Phrase Of The Week), but I’m resisting. I’m also not giving honorable mention to drag laurate– a new award announced by London Breed, Mayor of San Francisco. Drag Laurate is too SF and too predictable. I am granting honorable mention to friendshore (relocating supply chains away from risky countries – e.g., China – to friendlier ones), goblin mode and algospeak (the way TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. rely on algorithms to moderate content). WOTW honors goes to roorback, which is “a defamatory falsehood published for political effect.” I have a feeling it may trend in the next 18 months. (BTW, 500 roorbacks were posted on Facebook in the time it took you to read this Update.)

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Resources: Click here to listen to last week’s sermon on Encouragement (from Acts 4:32) or here to listen to The Optiv Theology Podcast, on which I was interviewed on service, evangelism and futurism.

Tim Keller, RIP: As you likely know, prominent NYC pastor, cultural apologist, mission strategist and best-selling author, Tim Keller passed away last week. His death – which is a painful loss – has generated a lot of press. I read much of it – including comments by George W. Bush. If you want a flavor of what was said, here is David Brooks’ NYT piece. But, you’d be better served by reading any of his books. Reason for God put him on the map. Prodigal God is outstanding, as are his works on suffering, prayer and marriage.

Closing Prayer:  O Prince of Life, teach us to stand more boldly on your side, to face the world and all our adversaries more courageously, and not to let ourselves be dismayed by any storm of temptation; may our eyes be steadfastly fixed on you in fearless faith; may we trust you with perfect confidence that you will keep us, save us, and bring us through by the power of your grace and the riches of your mercy. Amen. (Gerhard Tersteegen 1697-1769)

Happy Friday,

Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life.

Psalm 143:8

When life is hard it can feel as though the Lord has pulled back. When life is easy it can feel as though he is cheering us on. The first is wrong, the second may be. Like pilots who trust their instruments, we must trust what God has revealed in Scripture. And we should realize, if we do not trust it when it tells us things we do not want to hear, we are less likely to trust it when it tells us things we do want to hear – e.g., the depth of his love for us.

Misattributions: Abraham Lincoln did not say, “If you look for the bad in mankind expecting to find it, you surely will.” Vince Lombardi did not say, “Winning isn’t everything; it’s the only thing.” Mark Twain did not say, “The coldest winter I ever spent was summer in San Francisco.” Bill Gates did not say, “Be nice to nerds. Chances are, you’ll end up working for one.” Tocqueville did not say, “America is great because it is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great.” St. Francis did not say, “Preach the Gospel. If necessary use words.”  Gandhi did not say, “Be the change you wish to see in the world,” And Machiavelli did not say “The ends justify the means.” John F. Kennedy did say that the Chinese symbol for crisis is the combination of the characters for danger and opportunity but he was wrong. Which brings us back to Abraham Lincoln, who did say, “You can’t trust everything you read on the Internet.”

Without Comment: 1) Though only 3.5% of high school athletes play a Varsity sport in college, an E&Y study finds that 52% of the women who move into a C-suite job played competitive sports in college; 2) Over 7B Prager videos have been downloaded since the company started 10 years ago (1.2B in 2022 alone); 3) The national debt currently stands at 31T, which is about $94K for every person in the country; 4) This Columbia University study suggests that in addition to being more patriotic and more religious, conservative teenagers are generally happier than their liberal peers; This survey suggests that liberal, white girls are more likely to be depressed than their peers; This article notes that just over 50% of liberal, white girls have been told they have a mental health issue; 5) This report notes the U.S. Capitol Police’s claim that threats against federal law makers are up 400% in the last six years; and 6) This you.gov survey suggests that Ds and Rs are deeply divided in what sources they trust for news, but they both trust the Weather Channel most of all.

WOTW: Technology shock, post-antibiotic age and mommune (single women living together in nonromantic relationships in order to help each other raise their children) all receive honorable mention this week. Full honors go to pneumonia front (a Chicago weather event where temps drop at least 20 degrees in 20 minutes – i.e., like this past Tuesday!).

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Quotes Worth Requoting: 1) How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. What we do with this hour, and that one, is what we are doing. Annie Dillard; 2) Ideas have consequences, and bad ideas have victims. John Stonestreet

Resources: Click here to listen to last week’s Mother’s Day sermon; here for my interview with Jason Brown (CEO of Marketplace Chaplains) or here to read chapters four and five from FutureView, my 2016 effort to predict the next five years. Few things are harder to read than dated books on the future, but for the most part I stand by these chapters, which explore advancing technology, including AI.

The DeChurched: News is leaking out about The DeChurching of America, a soon-to-be-released book based on a study of the 40M Americans who “used to attend church once a week but now attend once a year (or less).” The 40M break into three groups: The Mainline – who started leaving in the 70s, the Roman Catholics – who started leaving in the 80s, and the Evangelicals – who started leaving in the 90s. Of the 15M Evangelicals who are now dechurched, 8M are labeled “Cultural Christians” and are noteworthy for at least two reasons: 1) Only 1% of this group believe that Jesus is the Son of God; and 2) Most of them are waiting to be invited back.

Exodus is Trending: What do Dennis Prager (conservative radio host and founder of Prager University), Jordan Peterson (Canadian intellectual and professional provocateur) and Leon Kass (distinguished academic and political philosopher) have in common? They are talking and writing about Exodus – Moses’s 3,400-year-old account of the Jews flight from Egypt. P, P and K are not unique in speaking about Exodus. Rabbis and pastors do so all the time. But their interest is noteworthy. Why Exodus? Why now? I think that as society fragments, we are seeing renewed interest in the legal and religious framework God revealed to the Jews. (When all else fails, read the instructions.)

Minimum Wage: What percentage of the U.S. workforce do you think works for minimum wage?

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Evil: To those asking why I haven’t commented on SatanCon – the annual gathering of Satanists which held a convention in Boston earlier this month: 1) I know little about them; 2) I suspect they’re at least as comic as they are dangerous; and 3) I am less nervous about evil that announces itself as such than I am evil that presents itself as good. BTW, I am especially concerned about the latter that resides in my own heart.

IS2M (It Seems To Me): 1) Given the rise of young adults who struggle with anxiety, depression and narcissism, our efforts to boost self-esteem were either too little or too much. I think the latter; 2) People had a lot more fun at the beginning of the sexual revolution than they’re having now; 3) Claiming the West is important (to say nothing of claiming the West is the best) will get you cancelled, but Joseph Henrich is right, the world is WEIRD – i.e., it is shaped by cultures that are (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich and Democratic); and 4) Fifteen years ago there was a debate about what to call the first decade of the 21^st Century. Nominations included the Oughts, the Naughts, the Naughties, the Zips, the Preteens, the Ohs and the Oh-Ohs. Remarkably, no winner has definitively emerged, but this week I heard several pundits reference the decade and they all called it the “Oughts.”

The Answer: According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics, less than 2% of the U.S. Work force works for minimum wage (1.9% in 2019 and 1.4% in 2020).¹ Compensation is complicated – and there are some who work for less than this – but this number was much lower than I expected. I was not surprised, however, to learn that working a minimum wage job in the U.S. (i.e., $30K/year) puts you in the top 5% of the world’s income. You can figure out where your salary places you here.

Closing Prayer: Forgive me my sins, O Lord, forgive me the sins of my youth and the sins of my age, the sins of my soul, and the sins of my body, my secret and whispering sins, my presumptuous and my crying sins, the sins that I have done to please myself, and the sins I have done to please others. Forgive me those sins which I know, and those sins which I know not. Amen. (Unknown Author – 6th century).

Happy (Ascension) Friday:

Do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who
mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also.
If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them.

Jesus, Luke 6:27f

Most know that Christ commands us to love our enemies. Less attention is paid to the ways he told us to do so. Some of the specifics seem reasonable – i.e., Do good to, bless, pray for, etc. These don’t cost much, and they likely make us look magnanimous, so we can comply. But, turn the other cheek? Are we expected to ask the person that just punched us in the left jaw if they’d like to take a swing at our right? Walk a second mile? Give them the shirt off our back? We’re talking metaphorically here, right? No. Christ’s life suggests he was serious. Has it cost you anything to follow Jesus lately? Are you ready to pay a higher price tomorrow?

BTW: Though I think Dorothy Sayers was on to something suggesting that God has endured three great humiliations – the stable, the cross, and the church! – the Bride of Christ has done more right than she gets credit for. Because my defenses of the Church have used contemporary examples, let me direct you to two from the early church. In The Epistle of Diognetus, a 2^nd Century writer said this of Christians, “They are evil spoken of and yet are justified; they are reviled and bless; they are insulted and repay the insult with honor; they do good yet are punished as evil-doers. When punished, they rejoice as if quickened into life.” There is also Emperor Julian’s famous 4^th Century rant. Furious at the number of Romans deciding to follow Jesus, he complains that Christians are winning people over by “serving strangers, especially the poor.” He later says, “It is a scandal, that there is not a single Jew who is a beggar, and that the godless Galileans (his term for Christians) care not only for their own poor but for ours as well.”

Be Encouraged: 1) Dr. Molly Worthen – PhD from Yale, noted scholar at UNC/Chapel Hill, and culture and religion contributor for the NYT – recently came to faith in Christ. In this 90 minute interview with Collin Hansen, she shares her ironic and encouraging journey to Christ; 2) I recently heard from a pastor who had a moral failure and had to step away from ministry ten years ago. The pain and fallout from his sin was significant, but his repentance was real, which allowed the restoration process to work. His note of thanks to those of us involved in his restoration is one of the more encouraging things I’ve received recently.

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Without Comment: 1) According to Google Analytics, 32% of internet porn is viewed by women; 2) 20% of American 30-year-olds have damaged their hearing, thereby fueling steep growth in the sales of hearing protection and hearing aids; 3) Studies out of Denmark suggest that cannabis now causes 20% of the new cases of schizophrenia in young men; 4) According to Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, loneliness poses health risks as deadly as smoking up to 15 cigarettes/day; and 5) In spite of investing $200B on prenatal policies between 2006 and 2021, South Korea’s birth rate fell from 1.1 to .81.

Resources: Last weekend I opened my sermon – which was preached at High Point Church in Madison, Wisconsin – with a 90 second clip from Top Gun (the one filmed when Cruise was 24, not the one filmed when Cruise was in his late 50s but looked and acted like he was 24). I did so to argue that the Church should resemble an aircraft carrier not a cruise ship, battle ship or floating hospital. You can listen to the sermon here. Click here to listen to my interview with Gerard Long about his journey with suffering (as always, his energy, hope and joy are infectious); and click here to listen to my interview with Chris Ganski on the Day of Ascension.

Quotes Worth Requoting: 1) If natural selection means the survival of the fittest and the sacrifice of the weakest, Christianity is about the sacrifice of the Fittest (Jesus Christ) for the survival of the weakest (us). George Scrivener; 2) There is a lot of practical atheism out there. That is, people who say they believe God exists but behave as if he does not. Scott Chapman

Prayer for a Leader: A friend ran across this prayer in his father’s papers. His Dad – an Episcopal priest – had drafted this prayer to pray at the installation of the church’s bishop in CA in the 80s. I suspect you know someone you could pray this for. Keep him in good health. Sustain him through times of testing. Sharpen his mind to cut clearly and cleanly through complicated issues. Enlarge his patience to deal with fools. Quicken his appreciation for genuine sanctity. May his wisdom be appreciated, and his mistakes not counted too heavily against him. Preserve his integrity so that even his mistakes will be honest errors. Reward his efforts with successes, and may he be honored for them. Keep him humble, despite success, and everlastingly grateful for your merciful love.

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WOTW: A reader made a “Coronation Day” nomination of spiffingly splendid. While it sounds like something HRH might say – and while I am aware that C.S. Lewis argued that “Where men are forbidden to honor a king, they honor millionaires, athletes or film stars instead.” – I think spiffingly splendid is spiffingly awful. I’m also dismissing wimmin – which a policy guide at the University of Texas (Austin) briefly advanced as a preferred way to refer to women (it allowed you to mention women without mentioning men). I am giving honorable mention to CUD (Cannabis Use Disorder), which seems like something worth making note of. And I’m giving actual WOTW honors to book banning. FWIW, I am not selecting book banning because the American Library Association issued their annual shout out against censorship. I am listing it so I can remind everyone that book banning is what happens when the government makes it illegal to own certain books. It is not what happens when parents argue that certain books are not age appropriate for children. Finally, bespokemakes a return appearance. In an apparent effort to join Fifth-Third Bank and Ruth’s Chris Steak House for enterprises with baffling/bizarre/quirky names, I saw that Bespoken Cuisine recently opened in Chicago. One can only hope that their food is more tasteful than their name.

I stand corrected: I have long maintained that the word retirement is not in the Bible. It turns out it is. “The Lord said to Moses, ‘This applies to the Levites: Men twenty-five years old or more shall come to take part in the work at the tent of meeting, but at the age of fifty, they must retire from their regular service and work no longer.’” So, Levites over the age of fifty are invited to step down. The rest of us – including those who no longer need to work to support themselves – are encouraged to find ways to serve others.

Closing Prayer: O gracious God, I am fully aware that I am unworthy. I deserve to be a brother of Satan and not of Christ. But Christ, your dear Son died and rose for me. I am his brother. He earnestly desires that I should believe in him, without doubt and fear. I need no longer regard myself as unworthy and full of sin. For this I love and thank him from my heart. Praise be to the faithful Savior, for he is so gracious and merciful as are you and the Holy Spirit in eternity. Amen. (Martin Luther 1483-1546)

Happy Cinco de Mayo Friday,

Consider one another more important than yourself.

Paul, Philippians 2:3

Theologians rightly spend a lot of time in the first half of Philippians 2. Not only are this chapter’s first eleven verses home to one of the early church’s first hymns, it is also the place where Paul shares about the dual nature of Christ. Remarkably, the majestic theology found here plays a supporting role to Paul’s main point. What is that? What could possibly draw attention away from the hymn’s celebration of Christ? It is the declaration that we must value the well-being of others ahead of our own. Saint Paul highlights the divine nature of Jesus – and his scandalous descent into slavery and death – in order to make it clear that we too are to “consider others more important than ourselves.”

A Missed Opportunity: Last week I noted that 65% of Americans think it’s possible to be moral without being religious. I should have added that this means they think both George Washington and John Adams were wrong. After all, GW argued that “religion and morality” were “indispensable supports” to democracy. And JA wrote that “our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people,” and is “wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” A society of free people is only possible if said people police their own behavior; our Founders believed this only happens if they believe they will one day stand before a just God.

An AI Update: I’ve previously noted that although I’ve been listening to podcasts, reading articles, talking with power users and playing around with the programs, I am unable to stay current with ChatGPT, Baird and their sister enterprises. That said, while I’m pretty sure both those who say it will change the world more significantly than fire and those who claim it will end human life by next Thursday are both oooooooverstating things just a wee bit – it will be disruptive. AI may not replace as many jobs as some claim, but by taking over a lot of tasks it will reorder most of them. It will also force us to spend more time trying to tell the real from the fake. Just to prove my point, here is an AI aided clip in which Richard Nixon announces the failure of the Apollo 11 moon landing.

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Without Comment: 1) According to the CDC, the percentage of U.S. adults who smoke cigarettes has dropped to an all-time low of 11%, down from 42% in the mid-60s; 2) In 1992 the average age of a U.S. senior pastor was 44. Today it is 52; 3) In Forbes’ recent ranking of the happiest countries, Israel jumped into fourth place; 4) According to this FIRE survey of collegians: 41% of men and 58% of women identify as liberal, 31% of men and 27% of women identify as moderate and 28% of men and 15% of women identify as conservative; 5) In 2000, the median worship attendance in the USA was 137. Today it is 65; 6) According to this CDC report, the percentage of teens  who are sexually active has dropped almost in half since 1990; 7) Daniel Patrick Moynihan coined the phrase “defining deviancy down” when the percentage of children born out of wedlock had climbed from 5% in the 60s, to just less than 30% in the late 90s. Today the national average is around 40% and it is as high as 70% in some urban settings; 8) Though close to 65% of Americans believe that living together before marriage improves a couple’s odds of relationship success, this report stands in a long line of studies that document the opposite. The evidence is so strong it has a term: “the cohabitation effect;” 9) According to this Time magazine article, there are twice as many security guards in the U.S. as there were twenty years ago;¹ and 10) According to Louise Perry (the secular, liberal author who wrote The Case Against the Sexual Revolution), Gen Z is populated by 11-26 year-olds who will have seen “thousands of adults having sex” before they kiss anyone.

Quote Worth Requoting: Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important. C.S. Lewis

Question: If forgiveness was a graduate school course, would you be receiving a passing grade? Are you expecting God to be more forgiving with you than you are with others?

WOTW: Last month’s Quiet Quitting has given rise to Bare Minimum Mondays. (As I have noted before, I am pretty sure you and I are the only two people working a full week anymore, and to be honest, I am not so sure about you.) Other words that made honorable mention are ignorant arrogance and church hurt. Though it’s a bit of “inside baseball,” I’m giving actual WOTW honors to the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon, which is term that describes frequently noticing a word after you learn it.

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The New “Gas Station” Questions: When I lived in the PNW – and Microsoft and  Starbucks were regional startups – there were always rumors about what questions they asked in job interviews. The one I remember was, “How many gas stations are there in the U.S.?”  No one was expected to have an answer. Indeed, it was assumed that no one actually knew. The question was asked to see how you would respond. With that in mind, I was interested when a friend sent me this list of the hot interview questions: 1) What are five things you do every day, beyond eating and sleeping, that demonstrate who you are? 2) Imagine your boss just said “no” to your request. How would you try to convince your boss to say “yes”? 3) When did you say “no” to a previous boss? Why? 4) What are your personal goals? 5) How confident are you that you will achieve your personal goals? What makes you say that? 6) What would you recommend to someone who wants to achieve your personal goals? 7) What are the hardest things you’ve accomplished? 8) What confusing situations have you encountered? How has working through confusing situations changed you? 9) When was the last time you were discouraged? How did you move forward? And 10) When was the last time you were angry? What does your anger tell you about yourself?

Names: Two things jumped out at me from this year’s list of the most popular baby names: 1) Mike – which has long enjoyed a place in the top ten –  is M.I.A.; and 2) Half of the boys names are biblical: Noah, James, Elijah, Lucas and Benjamin. The second point reinforces the trope that 2,000 years ago, Nero and Caesar were on everyone’s lips, while Paul and Peter were little-known fanatics. But today, we name our sons Peter and Paul, while we name our dogs Nero and Caesar.

Resources: Click here to listen to my interview with former NFL QB Jeff Kemp, about his upcoming book, Receive (which is due out this Fall). In it Jeff explores ways men can follow Christ’s example. BTW, you can click here to see his book Men Huddle, which outlines his approach for helping men help men.

Cinco de Mayo: Having already noted that it’s May 5^th, let me back up to note that it’s May – and May is the new December. Pace yourself.

Closing Prayer: Merciful God, we know that we deserve to have your anger poured out upon us; yet in your infinite love you have chosen instead to pour out the grace of your Holy Spirit. May your Spirit so enlighten our hearts, that we may show the same merciful love to others that you have shown to us. Amen.(Thomas Müntzer 1490-1525)