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News

Saturday Selections – July 12, 2025

Josiah Queen's "A Garden in Manhattan"

On the crowded streets,
all the people that I see
Want them to know the Jesus that I know
If I'm the closest thing to a Bible that they read
Let the words they read be what You wrote
Father, help me to go

I'll be a garden in Manhattan,
be a river where it's dry
When my friends can't find the road,
I'll be a roadside welcome sign
Sunshine in Seattle,
be a cool breeze in July
Light in the darkness
I'll be a garden, a garden in Manhattan

Florida after dark,
I know it ain't quite Central Park
There's souls in my hometown You wanna reach
Oh, God, use me where You have me...

Climate hypocrisy tells us what the elites really believe

When global warming proponents like Oprah Winfrey, Bill Gates, and Jeff Bezos all jet off to an exotic locale to celebrate a wedding, you can know they aren't really worried about CO2 hurting the planet... or they wouldn't fly a hundred jets to a party. And as this article explains, EV cars are another hypocrisy gauge. They might make sense in some instances, but if they are being pushed whether they help lower CO2 emissions or not, then you know this is about show, not substance. As Bjorn Lomborg writes:

"In some parts of the world, like India, so much of the power comes from coal that electric cars end up emitting more CO₂ than gasoline cars...."

Now, to be fair, Lomborg himself is worried about global warming. But, as he highlights, the actions most governments take are not what would be needed to solve the issue if it did exist.

Parks Canada staff privately doubted Kamloops "graves" claim

“$12M spent by @GcIndigenous to find purported 215 children's graves at Indian Residential School was instead spent on publicists & consultants with no graves found to date...”

The legacy media is betraying Canada (10 min. read)

Soviet Union President Nikita Khrushchev is credited with saying, "The press is our chief ideological weapon." In contrast, US President George H.W. Bush is said to have said, "We need an independent media to hold people like me to account.” The dictator wanted to own the press so the government could use it to direct public opinion, while the US president touted the need for a press independent of government so it could hold those in power to account.

Our Canadian government spends massive amounts of money funding the country's largest media outlets, and these outlets not only don't denounce the proposition, but take the money. That tells you a lot about which direction our media is heading.

While readers likely won't mind this article's anti-Liberal Party bias, some might be put off by just how loud it is. But read it anyways for the money trail.

The Scopes Monkey Trial is 100 years old!

In 1925, a Dayton, Tennessee high school teacher named John Scopes was put on trial for violating a state law that forbade teaching evolution. The case made big news then – across both the US and into Canada – and made big news again in 1960 when a movie version called Inherit the Wind was made, which portrayed the town of Dayton as a bunch of creationist hicks who wanted to storm the jail to get Scopes. That film was then shown in classrooms across the US for generations, convincing many students that only idiots like those onscreen could ever believe Genesis is literal.

But the truth is, the whole town was in on it – they challenged the law to get some attention for their hometown, and recruited Scopes, who agreed to be charged, and in an ironic twist, he probably never even taught evolution in his classroom. In another ironic twist, as this article lays out, much of the scientific evidence marshaled for evolution during the trial has been overturned since (ex. vestigial organs, similar embryonic development). So, even if it had been a bunch of dumb hicks, dumb hicks siding with God are a lot smarter than a gaggle of reporters and scientists siding against Him.

Is Trump doing good or is he doing bad? Yes.

Jeffrey Epstein was a sex trafficker with ties to many of the most powerful people in the world. This, then, was a man who could name names, and topple empires... and then he died mysteriously in his jail cell – a purported suicide but one that happened when his cell's video cameras were broken. The country's reaction was telling. No one was buying the coincidence. This past week, Epstein's client list was supposed to be released and the news now is that there was no client list. As the video below details, this has a lot of conservatives, Christians among them, feeling crushed. They don't believe it, and want to know where the justice is.

Part of the disappointment comes from the tendency we have of making politicians our dividing lines. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were monsters... so we should love Trump? That doesn't follow. Canadian prime ministers Trudeau and Carney have a litany of sins, most recently trying to push murder as a treatment for mental illness. But does that mean we have to look past the shortcomings of Pierre Poilievre? Christians don't have to. Our dividing line is not a Trudeau or Trump, because our unswerving loyalty lies only with God (Josh. 5:13-14). So, yes, Trump continues to stand strong against gender nonsense, but the missing Epstein list has people wondering if the swamp can ever be drained, and as Mindy Belz (sister-in-law of WORLD magazine founder Joel Belz) highlights, his results-now approach has undercut processes that protect everyone from government overreach.

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News

Saturday Selections – July 5, 2025

On boys, and not failing to launch As singer Brian Sauvé wrote of his song Old Neptune, He's Roaring, "I wrote this... for my boys: Ari, Ira, Cyril, and Alfred. It's a call to go and run the race to win the prize, to do what Paul urged in Romans 2, to live for glory and immortality through the Lord Jesus Christ. It's for your sons, too." N.T. Wright gets it wrong on abortion and the unborn A recent public gaffe by this famous Christian intellectual highlights how few seem to understand the basic argument for the unborn's worth. Even the linked article, by two great Christian thinkers, John Stonestreet and Shane Morris, only gets it right in part. Yes, it is wrong to kill any innocent human being, but why? What makes a tiny human being of the same value as a big one? From where do we get our worth, and from where do we get this notion of equality? The secular world has no answer. But Christians know that there is one thing we all share, and in equal measure. What sets us apart from the animals, but not the unborn, is that we are all made in the very Image of God (Gen. 9:6). It's this foundational truth that N.T. Wright forgot, and that many other pro-lifers neglect as well. But it is this distinctly Christian point that is the only foundation for equality, and in raising it we highlight the antithesis – God's truth vs. the world's emptiness – to the glory of God. So ridiculous, it has to be God A husband whose wife has had to endure 98 surgeries shares how, in the midst of the craziness, they've been reassured that, "God is good. "Christ is near. "Grace is sufficient. "Even when nothing else makes sense. "Maybe especially then." An amazing, encouraging story... God's guidelines for sex aren't arbitrary This is a longer read, but it might shake how you think not only about sex, but how you think about politics, and conversations over the office cooler. Trevin Wax talks of sin as "our hearts bending inward, turning away from God." "The Latin phrase is incurvatus in se – a curving in on ourselves, where we grasp for God’s blessings but push away God himself." Does that not strike you as the popular Christian, Jordan Peterson-esque approach to public debate? We try to teach our world about how they can get some of the blessings of God by following His laws – turning away from pornography, envy, and adultery are all good for us and for our society – even as we pitch it to them completely separate of God Himself. It's what we do because we think our world isn't interested to hear what God has to say. But Trevin Wax seems to call this sin! The massive lies ChatGPT might be telling you A longer read, but this real conversation with ChatGPT takes increasingly bizarre turns. Even if you've already been regularly catching ChatGPT lying to you, this'll be the eye-opener! Would you rather be colonized by Aztecs or Christians? "The right of conquest" is the centuries-old (and longer than even that) notion that if a country conquers and manages to hold an area of land for a length of time it should then be understood as theirs. But many are rightly suspicious of this tradition, and Christians should be in particular, because this tradition runs right up against the 8th Commandment. Or, it would require the commandment be modified such that it says "Do not steal... unless you are bigger and stronger and can hold onto what you've stolen for at least so long." But if we don't like that kind of modification, we should also object to another alteration that's been proposed, though never explicitly: "Thou shall not steal what I stole." As Michael Knowles highlights in this video, we're all immigrants and "colonizers," even including the tribes that were supplanted. As Nathaniel T. Jeanson also highlights in his They Had Names: Tracing the History of North American Indigenous People, tribes fought against tribes, and one supplanted the next. In a very real sense, there are no original owners to give the land back to. Does that mean that it's okay then, to have taken land from the tribes that were here before? No. But it does recast them as, not simply victims, but also victimizers – what was done to them, their ancestors did to others to gain this same land. Let's get that into the land acknowledgements we hear so often: "Before we begin, I'd just like to acknowledge we are on the traditional hunting grounds of the --- tribe, who took these grounds from the ---- tribe, who in turn took them from other tribes, and so on, down through time immemorial...." Where does that leave us with treaty negotiations? I don't know, but I do know more honesty is better than less. If it is wrong for the Western world to have taken what they would by force of arms, then it is no less wrong when it was done by the tribes who were here before us. ...

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News, Pro-life - Euthanasia

MP says: No MAiD for the mentally ill

BILL C-218 PROPOSES TO SCRAP EXPANSION OF EUTHANASIA FOR MENTAL ILLNESS ***** MP Tamara Jansen has introduced a new bill that would repeal the expansion of euthanasia to those with mental illness. Four years into the conversation about euthanasia for mental illness, we can be incredibly happy that there is another proposal to eliminate one of the most egregious parts of Canada’s euthanasia regime. History of the planned expansion of euthanasia for those with a mental illness Euthanasia for those with a mental illness was first raised in Bill C-7 in 2021, which originally set a date of March 17, 2023 when euthanasia for those with mental illness would be legalized. After a report by a committee of the Quebec legislature recommended against euthanasia for mental illness and an expert panel report on euthanasia for mental illness noted significant risks, the government passed Bill C-39, which delayed the expansion of euthanasia for mental illness until 2024. As that date approached, former Member of Parliament Ed Fast introduced Bill C-314, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (medical assistance in dying). If passed, that bill would have repealed the expansion of euthanasia to those with mental illness as the only condition causing their request. Although that bill received unanimous support from the Conservative, NDP, and Green Party, along with 8 Liberals, it failed to pass by a vote of 150-167. As ARPA noted at the time, such a close vote, especially on a social issue dealing with a matter of life and death for those with mental illness, sends a message that Canadians have serious reservations about expanding MAiD further. If only nine more MPs had voted in favour instead of against, the bill would have passed 2nd reading and advanced to committee for further study. In response to the close defeat of the bill and in light of concerns raised by nearly every provincial government that they weren’t prepared, the government decided shortly after to delay the expansion of euthanasia for mental illness for a second time, this time until 2027. In the wake of the vote, the Conservatives – who had unanimously voted in favor of entirely repealing the expansion – were riding high in the polls, were expected to form government, and promised to repeal the expansion of MAiD to those with a mental illness. But Trudeau’s resignation and Carney’s ascension led to a different outcome in the recent election. With no Conservative government in charge of things and no commitment from the Liberals to revisit the issue, MP Tamara Jansen used her opportunity to introduce a private member’s bill on the issue. Her Bill C-218 is identical to the previous one introduced by MP Ed Fast and intends to permanently eliminate – rather than just delay – the expansion of euthanasia for the mentally ill. The tragedy of euthanasia for mental illness Every case of euthanasia is a murder. And every case of euthanasia in our health care system is fundamentally at odds with the central premise of health care of doing no harm. But extending MAiD to those with a mental illness is particularly tragic. Simple logic dictates that MAiD isn’t appropriate for people with mental illness. People who have a mental illness are not able to give fully informed consent to MAiD. By definition, their reasoning isn’t entirely sound, and so they should not be put in a position where they could choose to end their life. We should be providing suicide prevention – not assisted suicide – for those who are suicidal because of a mental illness. As a nation, we have poured resources into suicide prevention across the country, particularly for people with mental illness. Canada has a suicide crisis hotline to help people escape suicidal ideation. We should continue support suicide prevention rather than encouraging suicide assistance through MAiD. Indeed, offering suicide assistance undermines suicide prevention efforts. As a country, we raise awareness around mental illness and encourage people to seek help or treatment. For example, Bell Let’s Talk Day is all about reducing the stigma around mental illness and getting people the mental health care that they need. MAiD for mental illness entirely undercuts these efforts. Rather than encouraging people to access mental health care, legalizing MAiD for mental illness encourages people to end their lives instead. To really drive home the tragedy of euthanasia for mental illness, consider this story that we shared with young people at ARPA Canada’s “God & Government” conference a few months ago: It’s February, and as you’ve experienced it is cold, and snowy. Just behind Parliament Hill the wind howls across the Alexandra Bridge. It’s just after dinner time, and a man originally on his way home from the corner store is now standing on one of the struts that hold the bridge in place. Emergency vehicles have begun swarming around, the bridge has been cordoned off, and traffic is being redirected to the Portage Bridge further up river. A camera crew from Ottawa CTV station, craving a good story, hover just off the bridge, attempting to see what the commotion is all about. Paramedics prepare warming blankets and pull out supplies. Police officers and other personnel chat to each other through earpieces. They’re waiting for someone. A moment later, an officer jumps out of a police car that pulls up just a few feet away from where the man clings to the buttress of the bridge. “What’s your name, son?” the officer hollers over the whistle of the wind. “Can we talk about this right now?” “I just don’t think I can do it anymore,” the man shouts back. “I’m done with everything. My depression is simply too much to bear. I don’t have any desire to live anymore.” “I see,” the officer shouts back. “Well, if that’s the case…” The officer jogs up to the side of the bridge, snow crunching under his heavy boots until he stands near the railing where the man is just within reach. He hoists himself up onto the railing, reaches over and stretches until he has a hold of the bottom of the man’s heel. With a sudden jerk, he wrenches the man’s right leg high into the air. The man disappears into the darkness below. “We’re good,” the cop chirps into his radio, “it’s what he wanted.” The following morning’s headline in the Ottawa Citizen reads, “Heroic police officer supports a young man’s right to Die with Dignity, in the face of overwhelming and debilitating depression.” Virtually no Canadian wants to live in such a country. And yet, legalizing euthanasia in any form but especially euthanasia for mental illness, functionally puts our health care system in the exact same position. The road before us Bill C-218 again offers Canada the opportunity to step back from the euthanasia ledge and onto firmer ground that respects the value and dignity of very human life. We are grateful that another MP has taken up this issue and is pushing the government to repeal further expansion of euthanasia. The new Parliament after the spring election has a fairly similar makeup in government as when Bill C-314 – the previous proposal to scrap the planned expansion of euthanasia for mental illness – was voted on. Prime Minister Carney has not expressed where he stands on the issue of MAiD. Perhaps he will whip his caucus to defend the previous government’s law, but perhaps he will allow a free vote among his MPs on the issue. The fact that this is still a live issue and that now four separate pieces of legislation have arisen on this topic in just four years is a testament to your continual advocacy! ARPA groups across the country have worked hard to email and meet with your MPs, talk with your neighbors, and deliver nearly 250,000 flyers to spread the message of caring, not killing. This has contributed to the ongoing conversation, but with another bill on the table, we need to get back at it. Take a few minutes to email your own Member of Parliament expressing your support of Bill C-218 and ask them to support it as well. Copy Prime Minister Mark Carney, Minister of Justice Sean Fraser, and Health Minister Marjorie Michel on that email, encouraging the government to support the legislation as well. As Christians, we can continue to advocate for caring, not killing, in all circumstances. And we can continue to put pressure on our elected officials to do the same. Levi Minderhoud is a policy analyst for ARPA Canada (ARPACanada.ca) where this post first appeared. It is reprinted with permission. Picture credit: office of MP Tamara Jansen....

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Science - Environment

Creation stewards in a logging town

My little blue Kia Soul didn’t quite fit in, as I drove through the industrial section of the small forestry town of Houston, BC. Not only are trucks the dominant mode of transport, the industrial lots were filled with massive machines used to cut down and transport trees, some with tires the size of my car. I pulled into a property that also seemed out of place for this community, let alone the industrial neighborhood: a conservation center and fish hatchery. I stepped inside the Buck Creek Hatchery and Nature Centre, and, in a space about the size of a typical classroom, I was surrounded by God’s amazing creation on display. Animal hides and mounts, rocks, fossils, shells, bird nests, antlers, eggs, and aquariums had me looking in every direction. Like many other Christians, I have often felt a tension in my heart and mind over our role in ruling over and subduing the earth (Gen. 1:28), while caring for it (Gen. 2:15). I ask my children to not deliberately stomp on an ant, but I also don’t struggle with removing an anthill that is becoming a problem for our home. As I have grown older, I see many more examples of tension woven through life and the Scriptures. It means we need to take the time to listen, and to act with wisdom. So, I figured that agreeing to an invitation to meet with two Christian environmentalists in a resource-dependent town could be a good way to help me grow in navigating this tension over creation care. Marjorie Lieuwen and Cindy Verbeek welcomed me to the center and took me into a “hands-on” classroom, meant for teaching students about creation. The two shared how at different times, and through different means, the LORD had guided their steps to serve as nature stewards in the middle of a logging town. Cindy Verbeek standing in front of the Buck Creek Hatchery’s salmon mural. A common denominator As a young adult, Cindy spent a summer doing environmental studies at a field school in Michigan. It was during a time of prayer in the forest there that she was convicted to dedicate her life to this work. She then got involved with A Rocha, a Christian conservation organization that was started in Portugal in the 1980s. Her husband and she volunteered there in 1996, and she has served with the organization through various means since then. The couple moved to Houston in 2002, and Cindy began serving on staff with A Rocha from there. Promoting environmental care in a town that owes its existence to the development of natural resources, particularly logging, comes with challenges. Cindy explained that she started with efforts like a community garden, recycling committee, and farmers’ market. “But none of the things really fit. It didn’t fit me. It didn’t fit the context.” For example, she noted that people in Houston already had gardens that were larger than the community garden, and they already shared. Things changed when she got involved with the Pacific Streamkeepers Federation, introducing her to work with salmon. She floated the idea of a salmon hatchery in Houston “and all of a sudden people were coming out of the woodwork.” She explained that, “…salmon are a common denominator in our valley, in Western BC. We are all connected to salmon somehow. We either fish for them, or we love seeing them. We love eating them…. Everyone just loved salmon, and it took me a long time to understand the language of this community.” She and Regina Meints started a pilot hatchery in a shed in Regina’s backyard, raising 4,400 coho salmon. The experience made them decide they wanted to do this full-time and long-term, so they started making plans. “It started as a salmon hatchery,” said Cindy. “But I am an environmental educator. I love sharing and teaching people about creation, and so I wanted the nature center aspect added to it as well.” In 2017 the hatchery was built and in 2021, amidst Covid, the nature center was added on. But that also meant the expectations grew. “I was very quickly realizing that this project was way bigger than myself,” explained Cindy. Providentially, that was also the year that Marjorie Lieuwen landed in northern BC. From the prairies to the mountains Marjorie Liewen with quite the coho salmon during a broodstock capture for the hatchery.Picture credit: Marjorie Liewen Marjorie grew up in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Although the landscape is nothing like northwest BC, her dad is a birdwatcher, so their family got outside a lot. “Even when I was in Grade Four, I made this plan to start a burrowing owl sanctuary because I heard they were endangered in Manitoba.” That said, Marjorie didn’t expect her love of nature to translate so directly into a career. She completed a degree in biotechnology at the University of Manitoba, followed by a master’s degree at the Health Sciences Center at the same school, focused on finding cures and therapies for Rett Syndrome, a genetic disorder. Part way through her master’s degree, she made a trip to Houston to attend a wedding. On that trip she met Jason Lieuwen, who grew up in Houston, was a friend of the groom and had recently moved back to Houston after studying forestry in Prince George. Marjorie and Jason started dating long-distance, and then Marjorie decided to move to Prince George in 2021 to do some more schooling. They got married that June. That summer, she saw a job posting for the nature centre in Houston. It was a perfect fit. Marjorie’s education fits well with her role in overseeing the fish in the hatchery as well as stewarding the salmon in the Upper Bulkley River, which flows through the community. She works with local farmers, First Nations, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, and others to monitor salmon numbers and promote a flourishing population, specifically for coho and chinook salmon. In the 1970s, the salmon numbers plummeted in the Upper Bulkley and the river was closed to fishing. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans started a program that involved releasing coho and chinook hatchery fish, but the coho program was stopped in the early 2000s. “So, for about 10 years or so, there was no coho enhancement being done,” explained Marjorie. That changed when Cindy and other locals decided to start a hatchery. The Buck Creek hatchery is considered a “stewardship hatchery” because it is small, raising only about 9,000 salmon, and includes a special focus on educating and involving the community. They grow coho specifically because they are more robust and can better tolerate being handled by volunteers. Most hatcheries in the province are much larger, focused less on education and more on getting large numbers of salmon into the rivers and oceans. A not-so-unlikely pair Some may find it ironic that Marjorie, a self-described environmentalist, married Jason, a professional forester who worked for Canfor, the local mill in Houston which also happened to be the largest sawmill in the world at one point. This is a beaver dam after it has been notched to create an opening for salmon spawners to jump through. Picture credit: Marjorie Lieuwen But those who live in resource-based communities like Houston will testify that many of those involved in trades like forestry and mining care a great deal for the environment, as they see it up close and personally every day, and their lives are dependent on it. In other words, they are very much in touch with God’s creation, unlike the many who claim to be “green” but whose environmental care doesn’t go much further than virtue-signalling with their vote or through social media. “I think it's been really good for me to have that window into that world and to see how there are a lot of requirements that they have to fulfill,” explained Marjorie. “I was looking at a map once in Jason's truck, and there were these marks in a logging block. I asked what they were. ‘For critter piles’ he said. So I asked him ‘what are critter piles?’” Jason proceeded to explain how they make piles of sticks and debris for fishers, squirrels and other critters. “They aren’t legally required to do this, but this is an example of how forestry professionals implement recommendations from biologists to reduce the impacts of logging to the local ecosystem.” This also helps explain why the property where the hatchery and nature centre is built is owned by the Canfor sawmill. Canfor pays for the taxes, and charges $1 per year for the lease. Indeed, through its history, the community relied on the economic engine of the sawmills to keep their residents working. And although many in urban areas don’t witness it, the same applies to Canada as a whole. About 20 percent of our country’s GDP, and 1.7 million jobs, come from natural resources development. This development also opened up most of the country, creating the infrastructure (roads, railways, pipelines, hydro), that the rest of the population now depends on for daily living. But tension can quickly become unhealthy when the two sides (in this case resource development and care for the earth) aren’t united in an underlying ethic of respect. That is being felt in Houston today, as Canfor recently had to shut down the sawmill, unable to remain feasible under a NDP provincial government. Businesses like Canfor see the ever-growing list of red tape in BC and decide that they are better off investing in provinces or states that appreciate them. In contrast, a Christian ethic allows for civil discussion and listening. Cindy shared that: “it actually took a long time in this community to convince people that I wasn't going to chain myself to their logging truck. I wasn't going to tell them that they needed to quit their jobs in logging or mining or whatever. I personally think that we can do more good by working within the industry than by alienating the industry.” She shared that there were plenty of times in the past when she organized something like a bird walk, with nobody coming out. “I feel like I'm on the other side now. We're at a point in the community where I feel like people finally understand what it is that we're doing and embrace it.” Christian environmental stewardship Coho salmon are captured for hatchery broodstock using seine nets. Picture credit: Cindy Verbeek There is no shortage of environmentalists in BC, but so many are radical and secular. These sort vehemently oppose resource development, and sometimes even prioritize nature over humanity. But as Marjorie and Cindy exemplify, creation stewardship can go hand-in-hand with resource development. “We don't hide that we're Christian,” explained Cindy. “We're scientists. This is who God has called us to be. This is our outworking of our faith in doing conservation and creation care work.” This aligns with the opening chapters of the Bible, where God gave clear instructions to our first parents about how He wanted us to live on this earth. He called them to: “fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (Gen. 1:28). He also said that this creation was made for humanity, including as a source for food. As Art Carden and Caleb S. Fuller explain in their book Mere Economics, “that humanity is to ‘fill’ and ‘subdue’ suggests that creation is not a museum where only the daintiest white-glove treatment is permitted. From the beginning, God told people to develop and cultivate creation’s potential.” In the next chapter of Scripture, we read how “the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it” (Gen. 2:15). Our dominion over creation is to exemplify cultivation and protection. As Cindy explained, “There is definitely something different about humans as created in the image of God. We definitely have a different role in creation. But we are also made from the dust, and we also share that with the creatures…. You can't care for people without caring for the creation that supports the people.” She saw this first-hand in Uganda and Kenya, where creation had been severely degraded, hurting some of the poorest people in the world. “What they're doing to be able to feed their families is coming back in alignment with how God created that place to work rather than using European farming technology and techniques on a tropical ecosystem. They're going back to how God created that ecosystem to work in that location. Then, they're healing the soil, and they're healing the land, and they're feeding their families.” Cindy also referenced 2 Chronicles 7:14: “If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” The last words of that verse have had a big impact on her, as they convicted her that the healing is not just personal, but also extends to creation. “In Colossians it talks about how creation was created for, and in, and through Jesus, and that His death and resurrection were for the reconciliation of all things. It's all of creation.” Reflecting on my visit to the hatchery and nature center, I can see how this reconciliation explains why two environmentalists, and a nature center, can fit so well amidst a town devoted to harvesting trees and minerals from the earth. The tension between care and dominion is a healthy tension that God called us to in His very first words to us in Genesis 1 and 2. We can both care and exercise dominion. These can work in harmony when we recognize that God has purposefully put us where we are – be it Houston, or Winnipeg, or Halifax – and calls us to steward our lives and this world for His glory....

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Internet

We took the "No Screens Challenge"

… and now we’re changing our habits ***** Do you remember the last time you were without your phone for a day? Maybe you left it at your friend’s house, and couldn’t retrieve it till the next day, or maybe you misplaced it on your camping trip and it never showed up. How unsettling was that feeling? “What if someone needs to get a hold of me? How can I contact my friends about our schedules for tomorrow?” You likely felt very disconnected. Even more unsettling might have been how much you missed your constant companion. First thing in the morning, you had nothing to scroll on in those minutes between waking up and leaving the warmth and comfort of your bed. When you sat to wait for the meeting to start at work, you had nothing to distract you from the waiting; you might (shudder) even have had to start a conversation with someone! Gasp! Very different not long ago Just twenty years ago, none of us carried an electronic device with us at all times, or at least, not one as capable as today’s iPhones and Androids. As of 2020, 96% of Canadians aged 15 to 44 owned such a device, and 87% of citizens aged 45 to 64. So how are we being influenced by our phones? What habits have we developed that distract us from real life? Theologian David Wells summarizes the influence of smartphones in Tony Reinke’s book 12 Ways Your Phone is Changing You: “There is no doubt that life is more highly distracted, because we get pings and beeps and text messages. We are, in fact, living with a parallel, virtual universe, a universe that can take all of the time that we have. What happens to us… when we are almost addicted to constant visual stimulation. What is this doing to us?” Think about that phrase – “a universe that can take all of the time that we have” – how sad it would be if Christians allowed all of our time to be essentially squandered. A challenge personalized A few weeks ago, inspired by the Reformed Perspective “Screen Challenge” in the May/June issue, I joined a small group of Christians of varying ages in putting aside our screens for ten days. Our goal was to see how we could cope without them, and to discover if there were any habits we had developed that we would like to change. Each of us had slightly different, self-imposed regulations – only one of us was able to go entirely screen free, since his work didn’t need a phone or screen, and a flip phone sufficed for his needs. For my own rules, I still used my phone’s communication tools (phoning and texting), but I gave up any entertainment or passive consumption through screens – no Netflix, no TV, no YouTube, no Facebook, no Internet browsing, no Craigslist, not even electronic books. I didn’t even watch the Leafs get eliminated in the NHL playoffs, but I figured I can always watch that again next spring (sorry, I couldn’t resist!). Surprises Ten days is not very long – but it was long enough for most of us in our group to realize that we had developed some poor habits. At first, my hands would reach instinctively for my phone when I had a few leisure minutes, particularly in the evening, or first thing in the morning. For some of us this screen fast was an opportunity to build up some better habits. One of our group said that she was able to start each day with a lot more energy, because she jumped out of bed as soon as her alarm went off, instead of “mindlessly scrolling” for a time. Another decided to make his Bible the first thing he reached for in the morning instead of his tablet, reading an extra few chapters each day, and catching up to the schedule of his “Bible in a Year.” Almost all the participants said that they read many more printed books than they normally would have. Some visited a library for the first time in a few years, and some enjoyed “Books on Tape” in the car on their commute, rather than a podcast. (Remember when you used to stop in the driveway a few extra minutes because you just couldn’t wait to find out what happened next?) One Mom said that she stopped listening to podcasts, and didn’t really miss them, especially the ones with alarmist views, or fear-instilling content: “Instead, I found myself pulling out my CD collection and listening to uplifting music – so much more relaxing!” I was surprised at how much extra time I found in each day. I love watching soccer and hockey highlights, but it is amazing how watching just one set of highlights that should take about 10 minutes leads to a very interesting video about Nissans (they are amazing!), and then to a technology review, and then to coverage of an outrageous political statement, etc., etc.! My conscious decision to watch highlights of the Canucks game often leads to a lot of time wasted – I’m not making an active choice about what I want to watch next, but instead the YouTube algorithm keeps feeding me more and more and more, while I just watch passively. As one screen fast participant said, “This made me think about my time, what that should look like, even down time. It’s so easy to scroll and watch but it takes a lot more brain power and creativity to be productive (even conversation!).” A small number in our group did not complete the challenge: after less than 24 hours without screens, they dropped out. Perhaps they hadn't fully realized what they were committing to, or perhaps it was the wrong time to make such a radical change. (I hope they will be inspired to try again!) Most of us, however, were able to last the ten days, and all of us seemed to be glad that we did, because it forced us to look more closely at the relationship we have with our screens and devices. Being the boss It is difficult to “get by” in modern society without some kind of internet connected device. (Imagine trying to get on a “Swoop” flight without a phone!) But how can we make these devices better servants, and not allow them to become masters of our time? Here are some ideas to consider: Delete apps that you know are timewasters for you. Many of these will be apps that continue to “feed” you content based on their knowledge of your viewing preferences – Instagram, Facebook and YouTube are probably the top three for many adults. If you look up after 45 minutes on one of these apps, and can’t remember where the time went, or even what you watched, that’s an app you should delete! Put a timer on your phone to restrict data usage first thing in the morning, or after your evening meal. You can have a friend or sibling or spouse have the password so that you stick with your schedule. Don’t take your phone into your bedroom! Leave it to charge on the kitchen counter – you might have to invest in an old-fashioned alarm clock, but you will not regret it! Set a reasonable goal for how many minutes of “screen time” you are allowed per day, and monitor it daily. Practice a new household rule – we won’t watch screens alone; we’ll only watch content together (as a family, or as a couple). If you acknowledge that you too are spending too much time on your screens, and none of these ideas work, maybe you should trade your iPhone or Android for a flip phone, or a phone with no internet data. It’s radical, but why would you let that phone be your master? Let’s do this together In Ephesians 5, Paul tells the believers at Ephesus to: “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” The RP Screen-Fast Challenge is an opportunity to encourage one another to “make the best use of the time.” And, if we fill the time that was being wasted with better reading materials, including our Bibles, we will indeed better understand what the will of the Lord is! Good habits take time to develop, while it sometimes seems that bad habits stick to us instantly, like ticks embedded in our skin. (Can you picture your phone as a tick, engorged on your blood, and infecting you from outside?) If you haven’t taken the 10-day “No Screens” challenge yet, you should! Better yet, challenge your friends and family to join you, so you can encourage each other along the way. Your walk before the Lord will be less hindered by the cares and temptations of the world, and you will progress in godliness and virtue. If you don’t believe that statement – if you think I’m overhyping this – then try the challenge and see!...

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Am I lazy or just relaxing?

What does Proverbs say? ***** After a long and hard day at work or school, the last thing someone might want to do is more work. So, some don’t. Instead, maybe we’ll sit around on our phone, scrolling social media, catching up on the latest news. Then, when the weekend rolls around, doing house chores can be the last thing on our minds. So, some don’t. Instead, we’ve sat on the couch and binge-watched our favorite TV series to waste the day away. Taking a break isn’t a problem, but how much is too much? Relaxation can be good, but laziness isn’t. What exactly does the Bible say about laziness and how can we fight against it? And how do we determine whether we are being lazy or just relaxing? Laziness means excuses While the dictionary defines laziness as “the unwillingness to work or use energy,” the Bible has a more applicable explanation. Solomon, in Proverbs 26:13-15, pictures it in this way: 13 A sluggard says, “There’s a lion in the road, a fierce lion roaming the streets!” 14 As a door turns on its hinges, so a sluggard turns on his bed. 15 A sluggard buries his hand in the dish; he is too lazy to bring it back to his mouth. In Warning Against Laziness, Alistair Begg says of verse 14: “He can turn to his left, or he can turn to his right, but that’s about it. He absolutely loves it. He makes movement but no progress. Where you found him at seven in the morning you can find him later at eleven in the morning, and perhaps at three in the afternoon.” And what of the lion? The sluggard is happy making excuses for reasons not to leave his house. He becomes a procrastinator. As Begg notes: “And the longer they go on filling their mind with that kind of thing, they have imaginary reasons for their inactivity, and these imaginary reasons finally convince them of the fact that they can rationalize the fact that they don’t get up. Of course, the real danger is not the imaginary lion in the street. The real danger is the roaring lion, the devil, who loves to come and lull people into indolence and defeat.” The more excuses we come up with for avoiding tasks, the more we begin to think it isn’t a problem. A strong temptation Throughout the book of Proverbs laziness arises repeatedly. If God repeats a warning, we know that it matters for our spiritual lives and that it’s a tough temptation to overcome. Proverbs 24:30-34 gives us an image of how detrimental laziness is for our souls. We are given a description of the vineyard of a sluggard and as expected, it is overgrown with weeds, full of thorns, and the walls are in ruins. It is a testimony to his laziness. When challenged with the work and upkeep of his vineyard, this is someone who’d prefer “a little more sleep, a little more slumber.” He or she would rather have 5 more minutes of sleep than do the tasks God has asked of them. Laziness affects more than just vineyards. A few chapters earlier, in Prov. 21:25, we read that “The cravings of the sluggard will be the death of him because his hands refuse to work.” Laziness keeps the heart empty and provides opportunity for the devil to enter an open door. Laziness occurs when we do nothing productive for the soul and the mind. The truth of the matter is that we were made to work. Even in the Garden of Eden, Adam was given work to do, to tend the garden and name the animals (Gen. 2:15-20). We work to glorify God, and God has so created us that when we live out our purpose, it is good for us to work too. When we fail to obey the command to work hard, we are more susceptible to other temptations as well. We need to be working hard, whether that is in the home caring for our children, providing an income for our family, or doing our best in school so that we aren’t easily tempted. We need to be aware of laziness as a sin. It isn’t a joke because sin, left unchecked, separates us from God. It effects the wholeness of our lives, and it needs to be dealt with. Those hours spent on Instagram or Tik Tok are times that you could be enjoying communion with others, doing the tasks God’s set out for you, spending time with Him in His Word, and more. The point is that if you don’t discipline yourself to be diligent in your work, studies, in practicing hospitality, and in the reading of the Bible, as well as prayer, you will become lazy. Laziness is the default; it’s the result of not trying. Remember the Parable of the Talents, with the servant who buried his talent – the master took it from him and gave the talent away to someone who would actually do something with it (Matt. 25:14-30). God is not happy with the bare minimum from us. We need to make the most of every opportunity lest laziness hinder us from serving God wholeheartedly. Fight laziness with productivity What can we do to assure ourselves to not fall into this temptation? We can ask ourselves one simple question: Have I been productive today? If you can list off a number of things, then a break might be just the thing. If you ask this same question to your parents, or your spouse – “Have I done anything productive today?” – you’ll likely get an honest answer. Another good starting question could be “what does productivity look like in your home?” Learn from others what it means to be productive. Each individual has their own happy medium so there is nothing wrong with asking around. And if you are struggling with laziness here are some other tips that have helped me: 1) Pray – Ask God to show you when you aren’t putting in a good effort 2) Read what Scripture says about laziness and work 3) Listen to (or read) Alistair Begg’s “Warning Against Laziness” 4) Go for a walk when you can – keep yourself in shape 5) Call a friend whom you haven’t talked to in a while – put effort into your relationships Fight laziness by resting On the other hand, burning out isn’t godly either. Just because God calls us to work hard doesn’t mean we should work to a point of pure exhaustion at the end of the day. How can we ever thank Him if we’re too busy to see what He is doing? Jesus reminds us to rest, “And He said unto them, ‘come away by yourself to a desolate place and rest awhile’” (Mark 6:31). He says rest awhile. He tells his apostles that even the most active servants of Christ cannot always be upon the stretch of business and work. They too need some time to recharge. Christ understands how weary our lives are. He went through it every day during His ministry. We can turn to Him knowing He’s experienced exhaustion too. So He provides those free afternoons or evenings when there’s no homework taking over. He gives us the weekend for a change of pace from our daily work, and to go out with friends. He has even set aside a day every week where we can step away from our obligations and come praise Him in His house with fellow believers. We have an obligation to serve Him wholeheartedly and always, but this doesn’t mean working 6 days a week for every waking hour. It’s just that having a break doesn’t have to mean pulling out your phone to doomscroll. It might be as simple as taking a moment to consider every blessing that God has given, and express gratitude for them. It means being present with your family, teaching them the ways of their Maker and training them up in His word. When you feel deflated, read Psalm 23. God leads us to the still waters, not the raging sea. He restores our souls and gives us quietness of mind. How do I know it’s rest? The difference between rest and laziness might come down to its purpose. Laziness is an avoidance – avoiding the laundry piling up, the lawn that needs mowing, the taxes that need doing, the kids that need engagement, whatever it might be. Rest is about restoration, to make yourself ready again to do the work God has prepared for you. Rest will feel good, it will be enjoyable, and it’s God-given. When I find myself being lazy, I notice that it stinks. I feel sluggish. A sluggard man does not enjoy being lazy. In contrast, a busy man enjoys a day of rest. He is satisfied because he has completed the task to which God called him. Keep this in mind as you go about each day. Serve the Lord wholeheartedly with your hands and with your rest. We must be good stewards with the time we’ve been given glorifying God in our work. Laziness is serious; it is incredibly dangerous – the Bible has nothing good to say about the fate of the sluggard. So, when that snooze button is tempting you, think through who God is calling you to be, and how much more important obedience to Him is, than 5 more minutes of sleep. And because we aren’t alone in this race, we can be an encouragement to one another, reprimanding each other gently to stop putting off things until tomorrow. The difference between laziness and rest matters! God has saved us. He sent his Son to die for us, and we have only a limited time here on Earth to express our gratitude towards Him. So let’s repent from the opportunities we’ve wasted, and ask Him to help us take up “the good works which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Eph. 2:10)....

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Our forever home

Reflections on finding permanence from someone who has lived in 27 homes. ***** Home is Where the Heart Is. God Bless Our Home. Home Sweet Home. Have you seen or heard these slogans lately? Maybe on a plaque or as an embroidered craft on your grandmother’s wall? Maybe on a hand-painted sign? Or how about this. You’re searching real estate online and a beautiful property is described as “your new forever home!” Recently, I heard a Christian podcaster use that term – forever home – in reference to where she was living. It made me think a little deeper about how we bandy those words about. Perhaps a little carelessly? God understands Although the idea of finding the perfect place to live is universally appealing, what should our perspective as Christians be? We’re all going to die one day so the concept of finding a permanent place on this planet is fundamentally flawed. So where is our forever home? As believers we know that “our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Phil. 3:20). And yet God understands our earthly desire for home here and now. He promised the Israelites that one day they would enter a land flowing with milk and honey. They would build houses and dwell securely. Psalm 132:13-14 says, “For the LORD has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His dwelling place; ‘This is my resting place forever; here I will dwell, for I have desired it’” . If God desired an earthly dwelling place, then surely, He understands our desire for one. How do we live with our own intense longing and need for an earthly home, knowing that this planet ultimately is not where we will spend eternity? The conundrum set before us is to create loving spaces where we can raise families, practice the art of hospitality, and honor God… all the while remembering the words of Jesus in Matthew 6:19-21. “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Did you catch that last part? Sounds a lot like Home is Where the Heart Is, doesn’t it? My parents did an amazing job of keeping the tension between our earthly and heavenly homes foremost in the hearts and minds of their five children. Whenever we drove home from an afternoon of shopping, a visit to another family, or our annual camping trip, my mother sang an old-fashioned song… ‘Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam, Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home. But she always followed that up with… There's a land that is fairer than day, And by faith we can see it afar. To an impressionable, often sleepy young child, sitting squished between her older siblings in the backseat, that balance struck home. The yearning for a safe place at the end of a long tiring day became permanently intermingled with the conviction of knowing this world isn’t our final abode. Citizenship? Fast forward through the years and I’m in a car again. Over our 40+ years of marriage I’ve moved many times with my husband and have given a lot of thought to this subject. Each time we moved into a new place, I prayed for God’s hand of protection to cover us. Each time we moved out, I learned to hold our earthly possessions lightly, letting go of material things and clinging ever more tightly to heavenly treasures. My car is parked beside a booth. A uniformed guard perches on a stool inside. “Citizenship?” he asks brusquely. I’m at the border. Crossing the invisible line between two nations. On my way to visit our daughter who married an American and moved there fifteen years ago. Every time I’m asked that inevitable question, I want to answer “my citizenship is in heaven.” But then I remember that the agent posing the question has the authority to lawfully detain me or send me on my way. I dutifully answer “Canadian.” How much more can God, who has the ultimate authority, welcome us one glorious day into His everlasting kingdom… or banish us from His presence. Our forever home is not and never can be here on earth. One day, at the brink of eternity, we will all stand before His judgment throne, and our citizenship will either be in heaven or hell. Let’s be diligent to lay up our treasures where they rightfully belong. In our true forever home....

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“What can I do anyways?”

35 screen-alternative ideas ***** You can’t beat something with nothing (as Eph. 4:28, Matt. 12:30, and Matt. 12:43-45 make clear). That means if you want to do RP's 10-day screen-fast challenge July 21-30, it isn’t realistic to expect to manage without your phone if you haven’t made plans for what you’ll do the next time you’re tempted to reach for it. So here are ideas for what you and your family can do with your screen-free moments, minutes, hours, and days. Plan away Short-term - Using the list below and a brainstorming session with family or friends, create a list of activities for your 10 days of screen-free time. Medium-term - pull out a big piece of craft paper and along with your family create a list of items you’d love to do this summer. Long-term - Spend an hour writing out a list of 50 goals, big or small, for your future. Share and refine it with input from family and friends. On the homefront Clean one room at a time – you have 10 days, so what if you took on one room a day, and gave it the “clean, organize, and de-clutter” you’ve been meaning to do just about forever? Honey-do list - make your better half happy by fixing something. Hospitality Host a dinner for friends and do it up with candles. Make meal prep part of the entertainment by learning to make something new. Sushi anyone? How about calzones? Put on a games night, and invite your friends to bring along their favorites. Invite someone you might not normally interact with. Focus on games that allow for conversation (the less intense sort). Search for “board games” on ReformedPerspective.ca for our suggestions. Reconnect Is your family spread across the continent, or around the world? Pick up the phone and chat away – phone one person a day. Everyone loves a letter – make a package to mail away to grandma and grandpa. Read something awesome While your local library likely has too much weird stuff to want to take your kids there, you can reserve books to pick up. Before you turn off your computer to start your screen fast, be sure to check out RP’s recommendations for picture books, graphic novels, biographies, and novels for all ages. We have hundreds of nominees for you at Reformedperspective.ca/books. Remember to take a book with you wherever you go to fill in those spare moments when you used to play a phone game. New Testament Bible reading challenge anyone? If you read for a half hour each day, starting at Matthew, you could make it through most of the gospels in 10 days. Listen to a dramatized audiobook like the Chronicles of Narnia. Interview someone Interview your grandparents or parents or an inspirational someone you’d like to learn from… but first, alone, or together with friends or family, come up with a list of 20 questions to ask them. How did they meet their spouse? Was there an important lesson they learned the hard way? How have they seen God acting in their life? If they could go back in time, what would they tell their 15-year-old self? Etc. Interview your cat, dog, or even your favorite book, and imagine the answers they’d give. Be sure to write it all down, so you can share it with your family! Start (or share) a hobby Always wanted to learn to crochet, draw, or play the guitar? Get yourself prepped to give it a real go by either finding someone who will teach you, or finding a book or maybe even a video series (maybe that’s one of your exceptions?). Teach your kids, or a friend’s kids, how to sew, whittle, sketch, paint, or hit a baseball. Get some exercise Go for a long walk each day or head out on a hike with your spouse, family, a friend or two, or take the time alone to talk with God. Try something new. Pickleball anyone? Rock climbing? How about swimming? Or what about a program to help with your achy knees? Volunteer Babysit for a couple so they can have a nice evening out. Ask your oma if she needs any help around her house or yard. Deliver some Let Kids Be brochures door-to-door for ARPA Canada. Staycation Become a tourist in your own backyard and check out your local attractions – museums, zoo, historical sites, hiking and biking trails, playgrounds, thrift stores, and more. Build a fire in your backyard, roast marshmallows, make s’mores, stargaze, and swap tall tales. Reboot your gratitude Start a gratitude journal and journal daily – God has given us so much that we can easily overlook the blessings all around. Give Him glory by taking the time to see it all. Make it a family challenge to come up with 5 (or more, or less – see how hard or easy it is) events, people, or things that made you happy today. Write each one down on a notecard, accompanied by some related artwork, and post them to a hallway wall. For motivation’s sake, come up with a small reward (a Hershey kiss?) for each notecard, and a small penalty (one push-up per) for whatever each participants falls short of. Click away Create a photo scavenger hunt for your friends – a list of 10 items for teams to search out and find in the great outdoors and take a picture of to prove they found them. Items can be anything, but they should be possible, but hard, to find like a four-leaf clover, or something in nature shaped like a Z, etc. Take pictures for RP's summer photo contest. Find the rules and deadline by clicking here. An evening inside Read the same book together, out loud with one copy (taking turns, and maybe while doing a puzzle) or quietly with multiple copies. Be interruptible so you and your kids can share your favorite parts. Create your own game together. It can be whatever you like, but two easy and fun possibilities involve variants on Pictionary and charades. The first step is to create a “deck” of 100 things you’ll either draw or act out with every player contributing ideas. You can now divide into teams, or just take turns being the drawer or actor, with everyone else guessing. Mix it up by giving the option of acting or drawing the card. Play a round and get everyone to offer up a new twist on the rules and then vote on your favorite and play again. Write Write about your experiences doing the screen-fast and think about sharing it with RP! Write a letter to your younger self and share the 10 pieces of advice you’d want him to know. Falling asleep Fall asleep to a devotional. If you find it hard to get to sleep at night without a screen, try reading a devotional. Prayer, and then a few minutes reading, can help you hand off your concerns to God. If you’re married, take turns doing the reading. Couples can use the undistracted time at the end of the day to be fully present with their spouse – emotionally, spiritually, and physically. Turn off the screens and turn toward each other. Challenges Everyone loves a competition so create a challenge a day and recruit your family and friends. Examples could include doing 100 of anything (push-ups, squats, etc.) over a day. Or going 24 hours without saying anything negative (do a pushup/squat when you blow it). Track how many times you reach for or pine for your screen using a communal tick – maybe a sheet of paper on the fridge. See how you compare to your friends, and how your first day compares to day 10. Challenge your kids to find 10, 20, or even 100 things in their room (or the house) to throw out or give away. Plan out the next challenge that Reformed Perspective should do. Pictures by Hannah Penninga....

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Sliver Mustard's journey

Perhaps as many as a million people lived in Noah's Grove. A thriving community, it had begun small but had grown over decades and centuries. Children were born, grew up and had more children. Farms dotted the surrounding countryside and buildings edged the skyscape. Markets with fresh produce were held every Tuesday and Friday. Housewives milled about stands filled with round cabbages, bright yellow carrots, leafy greens and the like. And there were, as in all towns, the rich and the poor, the beggars and the bag ladies as well as the ones whose pockets were filled with clinking coins, the shy and the forward, the meek and the proud. The mayor of Noah's Grove was a portly man. Well-fed and financially secure, he possessed the gift of persuading people he was the right man for his job. Amiable, he ambled through the cobble-stoned streets greeting both children and adults alike. He wore a great, heavy golden chain about his neck, a chain much admired by the younger population of Noah's Grove. The head of the police in Noah's Grove was very much respected and recognized by all. Perhaps it was due to the fact that muscles rippled through the lining of his shirt. He wore a star on the lapel of his blue jacket. His broad jaw embosomed law and order and commanded obedience. Then there was the local judge – a man venerable and full of years. Grey-headed, thinning hair partly covered by a fur-lined beret, he walked upright - shoulders erect. His green eyes were so piercing that people avoided his glance. They were convinced that his eyes might ferret out every little misdeed they had committed. But he was only a human as they were human - and, as such, he was also prone to sin. There were also the bankers, the bakers, the butchers and the candlestick makers; the soldiers, the sailors and the craftsmen; and the list of Noah's Grove citizens could run on and on and on. An honest man Sliver Mustard, a street cleaner, was also a resident of Noah's Grove. A tiny seedling of a man, shriveled and old, he resembled the broom he perpetually held in his hands. It was his job to sweep some of the sidewalks and the streets of the town. He didn't look up much while he was cleaning, as he was always searching the ground for dust, for dirt, for any sort of refuse. He was a kindly type of fellow, an honest man, for whenever he found anything he considered to be of value, he would pick it up and knock at the door of the house in front of which he had been sweeping. "Pardon me. Have you lost this?" he would ask, holding up the particular object he had just found. Mostly people would glance at the item for an instant before shutting the door in his face. The recovered items were mostly trinkets, baubles, and in Sliver Mustard's rough, grimy hands they usually appeared rather dirty and worthless. Sometimes a small child would remember and recognize a lost necklace, or a toy and a smile of happiness would cross a little face as an eager hand reached for the article the sweeper held up. And in these rare moments the street sweeper felt as if he had performed a singular service which somehow outshone the stars he so admired at night. He sometimes wondered at the possibility of a star falling down from the sky into his gutter. Would he then be able to knock on the gate of heaven and ask God if He had lost it? Then, pondering upon this possibility, he would smile to himself, smile almost shyly, knowing in his heart that such a thing could not be. Who was he to return a thing to the Creator? For were not all things His? Invitations go out The letter carrier brought invitations one day - invitations from His Majesty, the King, for all the citizens of Noah's Grove. The content of these invitations was the same for everyone and commanded citizens to present themselves to be painted by the greatest artist of all times - Mr. Potter. The envelopes containing the invitations were deposited into the various mailboxes around town. Slipped into the black, open-mouthed slots, they were retrieved first by one person, then by another. Word traveled quickly. "You'll never believe who contacted me...." "I received a personal word from ...." The street sweeper heard the town's folk talk, listening as he swept out the gutters and cleaned the grey-mouthed cracks in the sidewalks. He was glad that the widow on the corner of Church Street had received a notice. She frequently smiled at him and was a kind woman. Sliver Mustard also rejoiced when a simple-minded fellow, a lad who helped the blacksmith at the forge each day, was ecstatically waving about an envelope. Sliver Mustard did not expect an invitation for himself. In the first place, he had no mailbox, and in the second place, what interest could Mr. Potter possibly have in him? Indeed, even if Mr. Potter did know him, why would he want to paint an old, grizzled geezer like himself – dusty, dirty and quite, quite unattractive? Yet there it was when he came home that evening. Outlined white and pure on the faded blue tablecloth of the kitchen table, it made every object in the one-room shanty flow with warmth. Sliver Mustard gingerly wiped his right hand on his pants, thereby making it even dirtier than it had been. Picking up the envelope between his thumb and forefinger, he carried it over to the chair and sat down. For a long while he did not move. He simply held onto the unexpected pleasure. It seemed to him this was enough. That he had been remembered - this was beyond belief. Finally, mustering up all his courage and strength, he opened the envelope. Or perhaps, the envelope opened itself in his hands. Later on, he could not quite remember. Fully expecting the note to read along the lines of "Sliver Mustard, perhaps next time I come to town...." or "Sorry, Sliver Mustard, but you do not meet the qualifications as I have set them...." But he read no such lines; he didn't read anything of the sort. The words that Sliver Mustard read were these: "This is to ask Sliver Mustard to present himself as he is, tomorrow afternoon, at three of the clock, at the hill." One shirt, no dryer Sighing deeply, Sliver Mustard leaned back in his chair. He had sat up straight for the reading of the letter but the words overwhelmed him. He stretched out his feet in front of him. He only owned one shirt, a shirt which he rinsed out every Saturday night, hung out to dry and put on again on Sunday morning. He bathed weekly in a nearby creek. There was hardly time to perform these ablutions now. As he contemplated his options, he knew that he had none. Sliver Mustard both longed and feared to go. He sat in the chair all of that night, dozing and waking at intervals. He sat as the dark hours crept by and as the light of morning dawned through the small window in the kitchen. Sliver Mustard still swept the streets that morning. It was his job after all. It was what the town was paying him to do and it would not be proper for him to neglect that job. Promptly at twelve he stopped, and, carrying the broom over his shoulder, headed home. He brushed his hair, regretted the ownership of a hat and rubbed a rag over his shoes. Then he washed his hands at the sink and ran a washcloth over his face. It was time to go. There was no doubt about it. It would never do to keep Mr. Potter waiting. Force of habit made him pick up his broom. Outside, Sliver Mustard trailed, by several miles, all the other people from town also going in the same direction. They were far ahead and he could just make out the glint of the mayor's chain as it shone in the noonday sun. He did appear to be last for when he turned his head, he could see no one behind him. As he walked, he noted with a bit of alarm, that it was later than he had thought. Picking up his steps, he pondered on the pitiful figure he must cut. Perhaps the invitation had been a mistake. But it had read, in unmistakably clear printing, "This is to ask Sliver Mustard to present himself as he is.... With a flower in his buttonhole The sun shone down hotly on Sliver Mustard's body and he began to sweat. Trudging on through what appeared to be endless stretches of road, he felt his shirt cling damply to his body. What a wretched figure he was! He sincerely wished that he was wearing a chain such as the mayor had. Not a gold chain - that would be a presumptuous thing for which to wish. But a metal chain, an inexpensive chain, one that would also glint and shine a bit. Surely the mayor, leading all the folks in Noah's Grove towards Mr. Potter, was a fine sight to behold - dapper and upright. He glanced at the fields around him and noticed a broken lily at the side of the road. Undoubtedly someone from town in his haste to see Mr. Potter had trampled on it. Stooping down, he picked the flower up. There was no door on which to knock and ask if someone had lost it. There was only a field of flowers. For a moment he was enthralled. How beautiful these flowers were! Dressed as the Creator had seen fit to dress them. "Have you lost this...?" He smiled and carefully put the lily in the buttonhole of his dirty shirt. No chain, but surely this was just as good. But as Sliver Mustard trudged on, the thought that Mr. Potter would be unimpressed with him weighed him down more and more. Surely, he would have to be! He fingered the frayed cuff of his sleeve. And for a moment he coveted the star embroidered jacket that the head of the police would be wearing. Still, he reflected a minute later, it would be hot walking in such a uniform jacket today. Sliver Mustard stopped to contemplate. And as he stopped, a bird alighted in his shoulder. It was a sparrow. A lily and a sparrow! What strangeness was this? There was no house here – no house at which he could ask "Excuse me, but have you lost this sparrow?", and he was secretly glad of it. Sliver Mustard kept on walking, embellished with a flower and a bird. "Clothes make the man." That's what people were wont to say and he understood that saying and sentiment. But was it true? Mr. Potter had not said it in his invitation. The words in Mr. Potter's invitation read, "This is to ask Sliver Mustard to present himself as he is, tomorrow afternoon, at three of the clock, at the hill." Clothes make the man? As he pondered, Sliver Mustard almost tripped over several clods of earth in his path. His scuffed shoes kicked the mud unintentionally and they flew ahead of him. Surely, most of the town's people had reached the hill by this time – had reached it clean and well-dressed. Would Mr. Potter be able to paint all of them simultaneously? He sighed and bent down, taking a rag out of his pocket as he did so, fully concentrated on rubbing a bit of a shine back onto his shoes. The lily touched his face as he bent and the sparrow chirped. "Why, Sliver Mustard?!" Startled, he looked up, finding himself face to face with the mayor, flanked by the police chief and the judge. How could he not have seen them coming? "On your way to the hill, Sliver? He nodded. The mayor's chain glinted, glinted so that it hurt Sliver Mustard's eyes. "You need not bother, Sliver," the mayor went on in a kindly sort of way. "You need not bother to go on to the hill." Sliver Mustard was puzzled as he stood up, stuffing the rag back into his pocket. What did the mayor mean? "Mr. Potter," the mayor continued, his voice heating up, "wanted me to take off my chain and my robe of office. Can you believe that? He wanted me to be painted without the symbols that define me. He told me to take them off." Dumbly Sliver Mustard shook his head. The police chief and the judge had walked on without bothering to speak and the mayor began to follow them. **** For a long time Sliver Mustard watched them - he watched them until they disappeared around a bend in the road. Then he turned. He smelled the lily and it was a sweet smell to him. He heard the sparrow on his shoulder sing and it was a song of fullness. In his heart he believed the words of the invitation, and he could see the words as clearly as if they had been written across the wide, wide overhead sky. "This is to ask Sliver Mustard to present himself as he is, tomorrow afternoon, at three of the clock, at the hill." So Sliver Mustard went on and on. At three of the clock he reached the hill. The watchman at the gate opened the gate and drew him in. And Sliver Mustard was painted as he was. Christine Farenhorst is the author of many books, including a short story collection/devotional available at Joshua Press here. She has a new novel – historical fiction – coming out Spring 2017 called “Katharina, Katharina” (1497-1562) covering the childhood and youth of Katharina Schutz Zell, the wife of the earliest Strasbourg priest turned Reformer, Matthis Zell....

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Internet

How to stay sane in an overstimulated age

Reconnect information and action ***** In today’s hyperconnected world, information comes at us fast and furious, from every direction, 24-7. We wake up to news alerts about a major earthquake in Japan or a political assassination in Ecuador. We open our social media feeds and, within the first minute of scrolling, see the latest grim headlines about war or rumors of war, the latest anger-inducing missive in this or that culture war debate, and the latest foolish oversharing from this or that uncle or college friend. Because we are human and emotionally wired, it’s natural that these things provoke us and inflame our hearts to want to do something. Yet what can we do with this abundance of troublesome information aside from being informed about it? We are overstimulated but underactivated. Information bombards us but action is elusive. I’m convinced this dynamic is one of the major sources of anxiety and mental unhealth in today’s information age, and it’s something Neil Postman warned about. More info than we can do anything with Postman talked about it in terms of what he called the “information-action ratio.” For most of human history, there was a high correlation between the information that filled human brains and the tangible actions they could take in response. “News of the world” was inaccessible to most people. The information that concerned them was closer-to-home realities of family, farm, or community: information with direct bearing on the actions of everyday life. But this all changed, Postman argued, with the invention of the telegraph. Suddenly, the “news of the world” was much more accessible to average people, who found it an amusing novelty. The problem, however, is that this influx of far-flung information “gives us something to talk about but cannot lead to any meaningful action.” As Postman observed, “For the first time in human history, people were faced with the problem of information glut, which means that simultaneously they were faced with the problem of a diminished social and political potency.”1 If Postman’s observations about “information glut” were accurate forty years ago, how much more are they today, when we’re speeding down the “information superhighway” faster than ever via our ubiquitous smartphones and ever-present Wi-Fi? And the resulting problem of impotence is even more pronounced than it was in Postman’s era. In today’s world, it’s not just occasional televised traumas that burden our souls; it’s the constant feed. “Breaking news” is no longer the alarming verbiage that signals a rare calamity; it’s the everyday parlance of twenty-four-hour news and social media publishers skilled at the art of clickbait. These media publishers are eager to garner eyeballs by any means necessary. Another school shooting. A salacious scandal. An election “shock poll.” A helicopter-filmed police chase. An Amber Alert for a missing child. But what are we to do with all these alarming headlines and triggering dings of “breaking news”? Media outlets don’t care about this question. Their only interest is that we have tuned in, clicked, and fallen for the pseudo urgency of the Important Information they’ve put on our radar. Making audiences “aware” – at best, helping them become “informed citizens” – seems to be the chief value proposition the news industry can offer in its defense. But awareness to what end? Is this tidal wave of chaotic information informing us merely for the sake of us “being informed”? Awareness as an end unto itself We’ve come to a point where, yes, the primary goal of most information mediated to us is that we should be informed and aware of it. Not educated or activated about important things happening in the world, mind you; merely aware. The benefits of an informed citizenry have long been trumpeted as a valorous purpose of the free press (and indeed, the benefits are real). But we also need to talk about the liabilities that come with an overinformed or trivially informed citizenry. In Amusing Ourselves to Death, Postman argued that TV had altered the meaning of “being informed” by “creating a species of information that might properly be called disinformation.” This is not the same as outright misinformation, he said. It’s rather misleading information, which “creates the illusion of knowing something but which in fact leads one away from knowing.”2 In Postman’s view, mass media (led by television) created a world of dilettante experts whose absorption of vast amounts of information – packaged to them as entertainment – gave them a false sense of know-how about the happenings of the world. Referencing this know-how (e.g., “I saw this news story about ____” or “I read this Atlantic article about ____”) became status markers. Information awareness took on a cultural cachet quite apart from its actionability. Fast forward four decades, and we now take it for granted that “awareness” is a value in its own right. The conversation starters might be different today (“I saw this TED Talk on YouTube about ____” or “I saw this TikTok about ____”), but the status it brings has only increased. Our ability to cite, allude to, or summarize secondhand information about a breadth of things (even if our grasp of the “thing” is actually wafer thin) turns information into a means of signaling our claim on that most coveted virtue, relevance. For digital natives who’ve lived their whole lives in a hyperaware, globally connected information ecosystem, it’s understandable that a word like woke would come into prominence as a shorthand for social justice. In the twentieth century, social justice “activism” involved tangible actions like volunteering or picketing in a real physical place; in the twenty-first century, someone can be an “activist” without ever getting off his or her phone. Activism (or “slacktivism”) moves from being primarily about doing to largely about saying: participating in the correct lingo, hashtags, and accepted speech (e.g., preferred pronouns) becomes the means of activism more than, well, actions offline. “Doing justice” becomes a discursive activity more than a tangible one. In this upside-down world, people can – and often are – accused of apathy and inaction for being silent (“silence is violence”) on social media, even if their offline, unpublished activities are thoroughly oriented around addressing the injustice they’re being accused of ignoring. So it goes in a world where discourse about a problem (talking about it publicly) occupies a higher social standing than actual efforts to solve the problem. This is problematic. Problem of being overinformed Five years after publishing Amusing Ourselves, Postman gave a speech to the German Informatics Society that elaborated on the information-action ratio. In the talk, titled “Informing Ourselves to Death,” Postman described how, for the average person in 1990, “information no longer has any relation to the solution of problems.” The way he described it could just as easily describe the average person in 2025: The tie between information and action has been severed. Information is now a commodity that can be bought and sold, or used as a form of entertainment, or worn like a garment to enhance one’s status. It comes indiscriminately, directed at no one in particular, disconnected from usefulness; we are glutted with information, drowning in information, have no control over it, don’t know what to do with it.... Our defenses against information glut have broken down; our information immune system is inoperable. We don’t know how to filter it out; we don’t know how to reduce it; we don’t know how to use it.3 Remember, Postman observed this “information glut” problem in the pre-internet era. How much more are we glutted with information today? If we didn’t have good “information immunity” defenses back then, we’re even worse off now – especially in the age of ChatGPT, deepfakes, political misinformation campaigns, and the resulting epistemological crisis. The information crisis we face is at least threefold: too much information that moves too fast and is algorithmically tailored to be too focused on me.4 In a sense, “being informed” is more of a liability than an asset in today’s world. The quality of digitally mediated information is simply too untrustworthy. What happens to us when we’re overinformed but underactivated? From my experience and observations, some common side effects occur. We become anxious – When a world’s worth of “breaking news” calamities, injustices, and apocalyptic headlines steadily feed our souls, we naturally feel anxious and on edge. We become angry – Rising blood pressure and seething anger follow when we’re constantly exposed to partisan clickbait, triggering troll provocations, and other forms of foolish talk. We become addicted – Algorithms easily figure out what types of information each of us can’t resist. Soon we’re scrolling and clicking like addicts, unable to resist the intoxicating allure of our favorite genres of “news,” trivia, or juicy gossip. We become numb – A diet of information disconnected from tangible action makes information abstract and surreal, disconnected from our real life. Eventually, headlines about a horrific mass shooting become things we scroll past as casually as we glance at a friend’s vacation photo. We become lonely – When we spend large segments of our lives binging on digital information far removed from local, embodied communities – even if it’s information we debate or discuss with others online – we become lonelier. The online influencer we listen to, or the interlocutor avatars we fiercely debate, are hardly substitutes for the know-and-be-known community we really need. We become delusional – Because of the algorithmic shape of information today, no two of us live in the same information universe. We all see things differently, in ways tweaked to please our preferences and biases. Naturally, this further entrenches us in echo chambers, deepening our confidence in our own rightness (however wrong we are). We become detached from reality – The cumulative effect of all the above is that an overinformed life becomes a pseudo real life. When awareness trumps action and we’re more compelled by narratives than by reality, our sense of the world becomes ever more surreal. Perhaps C. S. Lewis sums it up best in this letter to a friend, when he laments the dynamics of an information-action disconnect: It is one of the evils of rapid diffusion of news that the sorrows of all the world come to us every morning. I think each village was meant to feel pity for its own sick and poor whom it can help and I doubt if it is the duty of any private person to fix his mind on ills which he cannot help. (This may even become an escape from the works of charity we really can do to those we know.) A great many people do now seem to think that the mere state of being worried is in itself meritorious. I don’t think it is.5 Not only is Lewis right to challenge the social merit attached to “the mere state of being worried” (i.e., the social capital of awareness), but he hits the nail on the head when he says we should avoid fixing our minds on problems we can’t solve. This not only burdens us in all the ways described above but tends to distract us from the local problems we can help fix. Neglecting the local With all the energy we devote to keeping up with the goings-on of the world, we might neglect the people we can love and the problems we can address in our own backyards. For Christians called to love our neighbors and tangibly pursue mercy and justice, this is the crux of what’s wrong with an imbalanced information-action ratio. Such is the state of our mass-mediated information environment that your average twenty-first-century young person can tell you far more about national politics than local politics. He develops strong opinions about presidential candidates and Supreme Court cases but couldn’t tell you the name of the mayor or a city council member in his city, nor identify the most pressing challenges facing his proximate community. Of the millions of Gen Zers who posted a blank black square on Instagram in June 2020 (#blackouttuesday) to protest police brutality, how many have ever had a conversation with a police officer in their own neighborhood? Of the millions who changed their social media avatars to the Ukrainian flag in February 2022, how many have tangibly helped refugees or immigrants from war-torn nations in their own cities? Online hashtag actions are well intentioned. And maybe the viral power of such “collective online action” makes some difference. But as Lewis points out, the danger is that such actions “become an escape from the works of charity we really can do to those we know.” There are many reasons why everyone should strive for a more balanced information-action ratio. It’ll help your mental health and ground you in local life and embodied community. For Christians specifically, it’ll remind you of your creaturely limits and deepen your trust in a sovereign God who is omniaware in ways you can never be. And it’ll present more fruitful avenues for loving your neighbor and being a faithful witness in the particular place where God has situated you. Bringing balance to the ratio Christians should be countercultural by striving to reconnect information and action, modeling a healthier way of living for a world out of balance. How can we do this? Here are ideas for individual Christians and ideas for churches and leaders. For Individual Christians Audit your news and information diet – Make intentional efforts to reduce your intake of national and global information while increasing your intake of local information (which has more potential to be actionable). Don’t turn your ears off to the cries of the world. But listen more eagerly to the cries closer to home. Embrace your limits – As you become more “unaware” of the steady hum of information in the news that might be making others anxious, angry, and stressed, see this as an opportunity for resting in God’s sovereignty and praising him for his power. A world’s worth of burdens is too much for you – but not for God. Contemplating our limits in contrast to God’s unlimitedness is a fruitful path toward wisdom (see Ps. 90). Rejoice in how God designed you – You are an integrated mind and body. What comes into your brain has a natural outlet in your physical activities. You weren’t made to just be aware of faraway problems and global chaos about which you can’t do much. You were made to bring order to the chaos in your immediate vicinity. You weren’t made to be a gawker but a gardener (Gen. 2:15). Pray – Prayer is an important action we can take. When you inevitably encounter information about an injustice or tragedy in some far-flung part of the nation or world, don’t let the information sit idly in your troubled brain. Take it to the Lord in prayer. As much as our secular culture demands more than “thoughts and prayers,” Christians know prayer is actually potent and crucial. If we can’t do anything else in response to troublesome information, we can pray to the one who can. For Churches and Church Leaders Disciple people in media habits – Information intake should be a subject addressed in discipleship – not in a legalistic sense but as part of wisdom. Help the people in your church think through the amount and type of information they consume and how it’s shaping their souls. Promote localism – Church leaders should lead people (especially Gen Z and Gen Alpha) to prioritize the local, proximate, and offline as much or more than the distant, disembodied goings-on of the online world. Make the case for why a balanced ratio of information and action is not only a recipe for improved mental and spiritual health but conducive to a more effective Christian mission. Gather people for prayer – When some national or global calamity does occur, in such a way that most in your Christian community will be aware of and troubled by it, prayer is an appropriate communal response. Both in the regular church gathering and in impromptu meetings, the church can and should take the action of prayer. It’s an “action” in the truest sense, and one we should never neglect. Call people to take action – Churches should regularly organize opportunities for people to tangibly solve real problems in the community. Often this works best by establishing long-term partnerships with organizations already doing specific work that aligns with biblical neighbor love: crisis pregnancy centers, foster and adoption agencies, homeless shelters, food distribution centers, and so forth. There is no end to the needs in your own backyard. And if a national news headline happens to be about something happening in your city or community, then your church should spring into hands-on action. This is a rare opportunity for burdensome information about calamity to directly translate to tangible community service, in partnership with local organizations and civic authorities. Beauty of activated Church For much of my adult life, I was an overinformed news junkie. The onset of social media amplified this addiction – and my soul suffered as a result. Thankfully, I found a healthier way to live, in no small part because I rediscovered the beauty and necessity of the local church. Once I gave myself wholeheartedly to local church life, I came to see that the burdens and griefs of ten people in my small group were far more important for me to carry than the burdens and griefs of countless sufferers on social media. Not only could I see the actual tears on actual faces as they shared, but I could hug them and know them in their suffering – and help them through it. I also came to see that the tangibly activated local church is a far more satisfying and functional community than the virtually aware community of social media. Whether they’re distributing food in partnership with local food banks, mobilizing volunteers for a local foster and adoption agency, or simply rallying the congregation around the needs of the community (single moms, meal trains for sick families, house cleanup for elderly members, and so forth), a church’s localized, tangible action is beautiful to behold. And when troublesome news from distant places does reach our corner of the world – as it invariably will – the local church is where I go first to process and pray through it, even if no other “action” is possible in response. For centuries, the church’s “prayers of the people” liturgies have borne witness to the fact that in those instances where we can’t “do” anything with our hands to help, we can always drop to our knees and pray. Christians can model a different mode of living in an over-informed, underactivated world. It’s a mode that isn’t numb or ambivalent to the countless problems that plague our world but realistic about our limited scope and where we can best be used. It’s a mode that leads to calmer minds, more focused souls, and more engaged bodies. It’s a mode that syncs up with how we were created and resists the digital era’s many temptations toward god-like limitlessness. Content taken from “Scrolling Ourselves to Death” by Ivan Mesa and Brett McCracken, ©2025. Used by permission of Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, crossway.org. Endnotes 1 Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death, 20th anniversary ed. (1985; repr., New York: Penguin Books, 2005), 68. 2 Postman, Amusing Ourselves, 107. 3 Neil Postman, “Informing Ourselves to Death” (address to the German Informatics Society, Stuttgart, Germany, October 11, 1990), https://web.williams.edu/HistSci/curriculum/101 /informing.html. 4 I devote chapters to each of these three challenges in my book, The Wisdom Pyramid: Feeding Your Soul in a Post-Truth World (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2021), chaps. 1–3. 5 C. S. Lewis, letter to Dom Bede Griffiths (1946), quoted in Paul F. Ford, ed., Yours, Jack: Spiritual Direction from C. S. Lewis (New York: HarperCollins, 2008), 119....

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News

Faded road lines symbolize faded Christian values

Having a hard time seeing the lines on the road? You aren’t alone. The Federation of Canadian Municipalities is lobbying for changes to a rule from the federal government that has resulted in road lines that wear out after just a few months. The edict, which first came from the federal government in 2012, and was updated by the Minister of “Environment and Climate Change” in 2023, pronounced that chemicals in the paint called volatile organic compounds (VOCs) had to be significantly reduced. They made this decision because VOCs contribute to smog. Smog can irritate eyes and throats. But decreasing the VOCs meant that the paints simply don’t work like they used to. “It doesn’t stick as well, it’s not as reflective, and you can only paint in certain temperatures,” explained Tim Tierney, the chair of the city of Ottawa’s Public Works and Infrastructure Committee. And as Clark Somerville, councillor for the Town of Halton Hills explained to the Globe and Mail: “As the road painting is disappearing quicker, we are now spending taxpayers’ dollars to go out and repaint the roads more than what we had to before,” But it isn’t just a matter of money. The current rules “create a dangerous, dangerous situation – not only for drivers, but pedestrians in intersections” noted Tierney. In 2012, the year that the change took effect in Canada, the BC trucking industry saw a spike in complaints about line visibility. ”Drivers reported more difficulty finding roadway centre and edge markings — not a great situation for a loaded semi weighing up to 35,000 kilos,” explained John Ducker, writing for the Victoria Times Colonist. He also noted that the faded lines became the top complaint from motorists in the province. So why is this being covered in Reformed Perspective? Because it is another example of how everything is fundamentally a worldview issue. God entrusted the civil government with the duty of restraining lawlessness and promoting good order (Belgic Confession, Article 36). Keeping lines on the road keeps vehicles on the road and protects human life. But our federal government doesn’t have any objective standards for what constitutes justice and good order. Reducing smog, even in the majority of the country where smog isn’t an issue, trumps safety on the road. In many ways, the faded lines are an apt symbol of the faded Christian norms that this country isn’t interested in reviving, even to our own harm....

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News

Saturday Selections – June 14, 2025

Allison Eide's one-shot "In the Moment"  The song is great, but the video is even better – Christian artist Allison Eide got her friends together to create this epic non-stop, one-shot video. If you only had one day to live... ...what would you do with it? And where would your focus be? 13 questions to level up your family dinner conversations This is a free resource from the author of The Tuttle Twins books and TV series. Questions include: How many people do you think helped make this meal? What would we eat if we each had to produce all our own food? Would it be good if everyone who worked made the exact same wage no matter what job they did? The perspective offered is small government, rather than biblical, but the latter does line up with the former. So parents can make ready use of this, steering the conversation to test both the prevailing cultural take, and the counter-argument provided, against God's thoughts. AXIS free guide to teen slang AXIS is dedicated to helping Christian parents understand the culture their kids are growing up in. Their 13-page Guide to Teen Slang is one of their most popular resources, giving parents insider information on the often sexually-charged lingo their kids, or their friends, might be using. New study finds humans and chimps don't share 99% of our DNA ...and the way it is (not) being covered shows something too. Why should my boss get all the profits? God's law is written on our hearts, such that even the world knows adultery, murder and theft are wrong. But sins can put on disguises, and envy and covetousness love to masquerade as "fairness" or "justice." This video can help us see through this lie. Another discernment aid: I recently saw a tweet that asked, "If my rent money is paying for my landlord's mortgage, shouldn't I be part owner?" Matt Walsh responded: "This reminds of the time I bought a Big Mac and became CEO of McDonald's." ...

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Religion - Roman Catholic

The Way

Jesus told his disciples, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6) **** Many years ago, my husband and I, plus some of our children, traveled from Owen Sound, Ontario to Michigan, USA. We attended the wedding of a close friend and had a wonderful time. It was late afternoon when we left Michigan and I was assigned the task of holding the map and marking out the route we were to take back to Ontario. It was in those ancient days before cars were equipped with GPS. The beginning of our way home was fairly easy. The children were quiet and relaxed, and no one had yet attained the “Are we there yet?” syndrome. However, as it grew darker and the small print on the map became more and more difficult to read, things grew a little trickier. Eventually, as the hours drifted by, questions from my husband, such as: “Are you sure we turn left here?” and “Things don’t look familiar,” and “I don’t recall this town at all,” waxed stronger and stronger. Truth be told, it totally altered the atmosphere in the car from cheerfulness and unconcern to one of uncertainty and skepticism as to my abilities to be a pilot. The climax of this trip was reached when we drove under a blue, overhead sign which welcomed us, in large white letters, not to Ontario, but to Indiana. We, consequently, arrived home a little late, but our marriage was intact. *** Pope Francis, the 266th pope of the Roman Catholic Church, went on the last lap of a journey in April of this year, 2025. He died. His journey, like the journey of all living souls, had been woven throughout his life with many twists and turns. He had been equipped with a map as well. However, the map he chose to carry was a trifle skewed. Consequently, his direction resulted in being a little lopsided, a trifle off kilter and amazingly crooked. There were a number of turns Francis should have totally avoided. When he came to the “Sola Scriptura” sign, he wrongly headed toward “Scripture and Tradition.” When there was a clear indication that no tolls would be required at the “Sola Gratia” causeway he calmly swerved off into “Grace and Cooperation.” At the neon lights proclaiming “Solus Christus” he shrugged, turned his steering wheel the opposite way, repairing to “Christ and the Church.” At the roundabout, which clearly pointed to the fact that the first right, “Sola Fide,” should be taken, he took the left turn, pushing for “Faith and Good Works.” And when he came to a flashing yellow light indicating “Soli Deo Gloria,” he braked, scratched his head and sighed. Then, although he took the flashing yellow light into account, he turned back and took the alternate route of “Glorification of the Saints.” Francis’ driving ability was almost certainly hampered by his bound hands. They had a rosary wrapped around them. Or perhaps the pallium he wore – the sleeveless cape bearing six black crosses and made with the wool from two lambs – somewhat hindered his arm movements. Or, most probably, the white cloth draped over his face, weighed down with a collection of medals and coins from his reign as pope, blinded and handicapped his capacity for sound judgment. Jesus told His disciples in the specific map instructions of John 14:6 (and He is also telling us): “I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” This was an excerpt of a devotional chapter from an upcoming book by Christine....

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