Category: What he Wants

This goes over a few things that Jesus wants.

Unshakeable Sovereign: Why the Nations Rage Against God

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Army with colorful banners gathered beneath angels and a radiant throne above mountains

The One True King

Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.

Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel. Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.

Unshakeable

This Psalm reveals the futility of humanity resisting God’s authority. Nations may rage, leaders may rebel, and the world may try to reject His rule, yet God remains sovereign and unshaken. The psalm points to the power and kingship of Jesus Christ, the Anointed One, who will reign with justice and truth. It is both a warning and an invitation: turn from pride, submit to God, and place your trust in Him. True peace, security, and blessing are found not in human power, but in surrendering to the Lord.

The Chosen One

“The Reign of the Lord’s Anointed,” is considered a royal psalm that focuses on the sovereignty of God and the victory of His chosen king. It tells us of the rebellion against God’s authority, His divine intervention, and ultimately the establishment of God’s righteous rule.

Defiance

It begins showcasing how the nations and rulers will conspire against the Lord and His anointed one, the king whom God has set on Zion, His holy hill. The writer is in awe at the defiance of these rebellious nations, wondering why they would gather and plot against the Lord and His chosen ruler. We see this again when John is seen in Revelation 19:19 And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army.

Comic Releif

God responded to this opposition laughing from heaven, and mocking their pointless attempts to overthrow His authority. God proclaims that His son is the anointed king on Zion, giving Him dominion over the nations. Which was told and heard in Matthew 3:17 behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

Getting to Know Him

Do you want eternal life? Do you want to enter heaven through the only guide that can help you navigate your way there? To enter His home, get to know Him better, and make Him your Lord and Savior CLICK HERE…..

Harnessing Discipline for Spiritual Growth

The pain of discipline may sting today, but we are reminded that endurance turns today’s struggle into tomorrow’s strength, producing a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who refuse to quit. 💪📖🔥…

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Finding Unshakable Hope in a Shaking World

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Warmly lit cabin in a rugged, snow-capped mountain valley

When life feels shaken and uncertain, God remains our unchanging refuge—the sure foundation beneath us when everything else seems to shift. His Word reminds us where lasting strength and security are found:

Scripture: Hebrews 12:26–28; Psalm 46

Introduction

Currently we are living in a time when it feels like everything is shaking. Nations are trembling. Economies feel uncertain. Families are under pressure. Even long-held beliefs seem to be questioned daily. Many people are asking, “What if anything can I trust anymore?”  

When an earthquake strikes, people will instinctively look for doorframes, foundations, and open spaces. When the earth is shaking, what matters most is not what looks strong, but what actually is. There are buildings that appear solid and can collapse if their foundations are weak.

The bible  tells us this is not new. God warns that there will be seasons when everything that can be shaken and will be shaken so that what cannot be shaken may remain. Spiritually, we are in an earthquake moment. Systems we have trusted, financial, political, cultural, even religious, are trembling and seem to be breaking down.

We are anxious because we tend to build our security on shiny things never designed to hold up when tested. Spiritually, we are in an earthquake moment. People are anxious because they built their security on things never designed to hold it. Scripture tells us this is not unexpected. God warned that shaking would come but not to destroy His people, but to reveal what can truly stand.

GOD USES SHAKING TO REVEAL FOUNDATIONS (Hebrews 12:26–27)

The writer of Hebrews highlights that there will come a moment when God will “shake not only the earth but also the heavens” (Hebrews 12:26). This language is not a poetic exaggeration it’s a theological reality. Throughout the Bible, shaking always accompanies divine intervention. At Sinai, the mountain trembled when God descended in power. At the resurrection, the earth shook as the stone was rolled away. Shaking signals that God is at work, removing what is temporary so that what is eternal may be revealed.

Hebrews 12:27 clarifies the purpose of the shaking: “so that what cannot be shaken may remain.” God is not trying to destroy His people; He is refining their foundation. The shaking exposes what we have trusted that was never meant to bear the weight of our hope—wealth, systems, leaders, cultural stability, even religious routine. When these things tremble, it reveals whether our faith rests in them or in God Himself.

Refuge

GOD REMAINS A REFUGE IN THE MIDST OF CHAOS (Psalm 46)

Gods truth is powerfully answered in Psalm 46. The writer of this psalm begins not with the denial of chaos but with a declaration of confidence: “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1). You can see that God is not described as a distant observer, but as being very present.

Even when the earth gives way and mountains fall into the sea, God remains our refuge, not because circumstances are calm, but because He is the same yesterday and today and forever. (Hebrews 13:8)

Psalm 46 does not promise a world without troubles; it promises we have a God who is unmovable within it. “The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; He utters His voice, the earth melts” (Psalm 46:6). The powers on earth will rise and fall, but when God speaks, all of creation responds. What feel so extremely overwhelming to us is still under His authority.

THE UNSHAKABLE KINGDOM WE ARE RECEIVING (Hebrews 12:28)

We can see in Hebrews 12:28 where it turns doctrine into devotion: “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful.” As Christians our hope should not be rooted in the stability of the world, but in the permanence of God’s Kingdom. His Kingdom is not threatened by chaos, political turmoil, economic uncertainty, or cultural decline. Our hope has been established by Christ and secured through the blood and His resurrection, and will endure forever.

When we belong to this unshakable Kingdom that allows us to live with confidence even when circumstances collapse. Our gratitude becomes an act of faith, our worship becomes an anchor and our obedience becomes a declaration that our trust is not in what we see, but in the God who reigns above it all.

When everything seems to shake, God should never be our last resort, but should be and needs to be our sure foundation. It will never be a question of whether the world will shake; the Bible assures us that it will. The question is whether or not our lives are built on what can be shaken, or on the Kingdom that never will be.

HOW SHOULD WE RESPOND?

When the world shakes:

  • God is not panicking
  • God is not absent
  • God is not defeated

An anchor does not stop the storm, it keeps the ship from drifting. Faith doesn’t remove shaking, it keeps us steady. This is not a season to despair, it is a season to anchor deeper.

What’s being shaken may be:

  • False securities
  • Misplaced hope
  • Cultural idols
  • Shallow faith

But the Kingdom of God stands unshaken.

Prayer

Prayer


Dear Heavenly Father, I thank You that Your mercies are new every morning and that great is Your faithfulness (Lamentations 3:22–23). You go before us and You are with me; You will never leave me nor forsake me (Deuteronomy 31:8).

Nothing that is ahead is hidden from You. Lord, I commit this year to You, I am trusting You with all my heart and leaning not on my own understanding (Proverbs 3:5–6). I acknowledge that all of my plans are subject to Your will, and I say with humility, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that” (James 4:15). Order my steps according to Your Word (Psalm 119:133).

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me (Psalm 51:10). Transform me by the renewing of my mind, so that I may discern what is good, pleasing, and perfect in Your will (Romans 12:2). Let Your Word be a lamp to my feet and a light to my path in every decision I face (Psalm 119:105).

We ask for Your peace to guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:7). Heal the brokenhearted and bind up my wounds (Psalm 147:3). Teach me to forgive as I have been forgiven (Colossians 3:13), and to walk in love, just as Christ loved (Ephesians 5:2).

Prepare me for every season this year brings. When trials come, help me to count it joy, knowing You are producing endurance in me (James 1:2–4). When blessings come, keep me humble and thankful, remembering that every good and perfect gift comes from You (James 1:17).

I will seek first Your kingdom and Your righteousness, trusting that what I need will be provided (Matthew 6:33). I dedicate this year to You, asking that my life will bring You glory in all that I do (1 Corinthians 10:31).

I pray this with confidence in the name of Jesus, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). In Jesus Name Amen.

Getting to Know Him

Do you want eternal life? Do you want to enter heaven through the only guide that can help you navigate your way there? To enter His home, get to know Him better, and make Him your Lord and Savior CLICK HERE…..

Why You Can Trust the Bible as God’s Word for Eternity

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Open book, coffee, candle, and plant on a wooden table by window

The Bible is trustworthy because it is God’s eternal Word, it faithfully reveals His truth and guiding us toward Him. As we consider the evidence and message of Scripture, may we approach its pages with open hearts and discover the hope, wisdom, and life it offers.

Never let good books take the place of the Bible. Drink from the Well, not from the streams that flow from the Well. 

Amy Carmichael

Today I am going to start with prayer I want direction from God not input from outside sources, even myself. Dear Heavenly Father, as I begin this series into what the Bible is please guide us. Lord show us what you intended us to learn and give us the lessons and understanding so we know exactly what You want us to know. In Jesus Name Amen

Time and time again so many, even myself, have asked the question. What is the Bible? The secular definition of the Bible is: “the sacred scriptures of Christians comprising the Old Testament and the New Testament” The Bible is the direct word from God. It is direction for our lives and it is the one and true testament revealing to us the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Bible helps us understand what’s to come, what we can expect and ultimately eternity. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 ESV 

When we are told that it was “breathed out by God” this is in referring to the Holy Spirit: But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. John 14:26 ESV And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. Isaiah 11:2 ESV This is how with a little bit of history and faith we know we can trust the bible. As we read and learn we will see and understand how factual the bible really is: The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they then gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.  Psalm 19:7-11 ESV  

It is so awesome to know that we have been given a book that is like a Service Manual used by professionals to diagnose problems for every little item around us. Example of service manuals are automotive repair, vacuums repair, dishwasher repair, how to grow a garden, encyclopedias, the list is huge. This manual that we have been given helps us understand the situations that we face every day. Fear (Psalm 23:1-6), anger (Proverbs 14:29), dismay (1 John 5:19), Love(1 Corinthians 13:4-8), Depression (Psalm 34:17-18), Politics (1 Thessalonians 4:11-12), Laws (Romans 13:1-7), Relationships (Ephesians 4:29). The list really could never end, if you are going through something in your life it is discussed in the bible. We are told that, and shown,  For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Hebrews 4:12 ESV

Getting to Know Him

Do you want eternal life? Do you want to enter heaven through the only guide that can help you navigate your way there? To enter His home, get to know Him better, and make Him your Lord and Savior CLICK HERE…..

Trusting God Amid Life’s Storms

 Storms often reveal what we truly believe about God’s presence and power. He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? How is it that you have no faith?” Mark 4:40 Focus:When…

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For God so Loved the World

“God loved you enough to send His Son, Jesus loved you enough to give His life, and through faith, you are offered a hope this world can never take away.” “For God so…

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2 Timothy 3:12 

Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted Paul was reminding Timothy that following Christ does not guarantee an easy life. When we choose to live our…

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John 15:18–20

“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not…

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Galatians 1:6-10

“When truth becomes negotiable, faith becomes vulnerable so know the Gospel, stand on God’s Word, and seek His approval above the world’s applause.” “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him…

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Navigating Faith: Finding Guidance in Prayer; Psalm 119:15

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Open Bible, closed Holy Bible, tea, glasses, and notebook on wooden table
praying man

I will meditate on your precepts, and consider your ways.


Dear Heavenly Father, be my guide and protect me from these things that surround me that I do not understand or that influence me in ways that are not from You. Lord I want to be and act as close to You as You’ve always wanted Your children to be. Lord give the strength to stand against the evil in this world, the distractions and influences. Help me to not fear and worry about these issues that continue to affect everything around us. Thank you Lord for Your protection, direction, and love. In Jesus Name Amen

Getting to Know Him

Do you want eternal life? Do you want to enter heaven through the only guide that can help you navigate your way there? To enter His home, get to know Him better, and make Him your Lord and Savior CLICK HERE…..

Man says monkey threw his cat into pond before attacking him in Yamaguchi

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close up photo of a monkey

After several months of bears dominating reports of startling wildlife encounters in Japan, it seems as though the nation’s monkeys have decided to take that notoriety as a challenge. We’ve recently been talking about the dreaded Troop T1, a group of monkeys that’s been running amuck in the town of Yugawara in Kanagawa Prefecture, where they recently surrounded and attacked a man who was out for a morning stroll on the city streets. Now comes an incident on the opposite side of the country, in Yamaguchi Prefecture, where a monkey not only attacked a man, but also reportedly decided to maybe drown a cat.

The man in question is a 49-year-old resident of the town of Shunan. He isn’t necessarily a pet owner, but he says there’s a stray cat that’s made its home in his garden, which has a pond. While the man was at home on Tuesday, at around 3:40 in the afternoon, he heard the sound of a loud splash coming from the pond, which he says was caused when a monkey came into the garden and threw the cat into the water. While the man was rescuing the cat, the monkey, an adult roughly 50 centimeters in height, scampered up onto his roof and stared down menacingly at him. It then jumped back down to ground level, and when he turned away from it, leapt onto his back and clawed at him, leaving long scratches on his skin through the thick work clothes he was wearing. The monkey then ran off, and the cat seems to have survived the encounter without suffering any severe injuries. The Tokuyama neighborhood of Shunan, where the man lives, isn’t a major urban area, but it’s far from undeveloped countryside, and his home borders a fairly sizable road.

This isn’t the only startling monkey incident the town has had recently, either. On September 8, in a separate part of Shunan, a monkey grabbed and tore the clothing of a local woman. Police have been stepping up patrols in the area and calling on residents to be cautious. Experts warn that should anyone run into a wild monkey, they should avoid provoking the animal, and also avoid making eye contact (as monkeys can perceive that as threatening behavior) while calmly leaving the area.

Source: Man says monkey threw his cat into pond before attacking him in Yamaguchi – Japan Today

But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear.
1 Peter 3:15

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Protecting the Vulnerable: A Church’s Responsibility

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Stone chapel entrance with open wooden doors, chairs, coats, and boots

Good intentions do not excuse harmful outcomes. When churches prioritize growth, image, or outreach over safety, they step into dangerous territory. This is the blind spot Scripture repeatedly warns us against. The church is called to take the gospel into all the world, but mission becomes dangerous when it blinds us to the responsibility of protecting the vulnerable. A church that sacrifices safety for success has already stepped outside the will of Christ.

Scripture: Matthew 18:6, Proverbs 22:3, Acts 20:28, Jeremiah 6:14, James 1:27, Psalm 82:3–4

There is a growing blind spot that has become common in many churches. This is something that is rarely admitted publicly out loud but is painfully real. In our zeal to grow, serve, reach, and expand, some churches have unintentionally allowed harmful environments to develop because mission has become more important than vigilance, reputation has become more important than righteousness, and numbers have become more important than nurturing. This is not simply an oversight, it is a spiritual crisis.

Jesus made His priorities unmistakably clear. In Matthew 18:6, He warns, “If anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a millstone tied around his neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea.” You cannot read that verse and tell yourself that child safety is optional or not important. You cannot hear Jesus’ tone and think that He is soft on negligence. Christ is forceful, direct, and unwavering: the vulnerable matter to Him, and harming them is severely judged and a detrimental mistake.

Sadly many churches operate as though those words are symbolic instead of literal. When warning signs go unreported or confronted because “we don’t want to cause trouble,” the mission becomes negligence. When leaders silence concerned parents because “we need to trust our volunteers,” the mission becomes inadvertence. When reputations are protected while children are placed at risk, mission becomes negligent, sloppy and thoughtless. This is the blind spot the Bible has warned us about. We need to listen to those who are concerned, they see something that we might not. 

The writer of Proverbs 22:3 declares, “The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and pay the penalty.” Wisdom does not wait to act; wisdom does not minimize danger; wisdom does not hide in the comfort of denial. A prudent church examines its ministry environment, policies, and leadership practices with humility and seriousness. A simple church keeps doing what it has always done and hopes nothing goes wrong.One of the most tragic patterns in church history is the willingness to tolerate harmful behavior in the name of unity, grace, or mission.

We have seen this come to light so much recently, and we need to. Churches that have tried to hide what has happened instead of confronting it. Others that have attacked victims instead of being their protectors. Some that have plugged their ears and hummed so they thought they could have some sort of plausible deniability.  This is the same error God condemned in the leaders of Israel. In Jeremiah 6:14, He rebuked the leaders for saying, “Peace, peace,” when there was no peace. They were pretending all was well while they allowed the vulnerable to suffer. God called this false peace. Today, when churches refuse to confront danger because it is uncomfortable, difficult, or reputation-damaging, these churches are also practicing and participating in what is false peace.

“During the early days of the Salvation Army, William Booth and his associates were bitterly attacked in the press by religious leaders and government leaders alike. Whenever his son, Bramwell, showed Booth a newspaper attack, the General would reply, “Bramwell, fifty years hence it will matter very little indeed how these people treated us; it will matter a great deal how we dealt with the work of God.” 

W. Wiersbe, The Wycliffe Handbook of Preaching & Preachers, p. 185.

There is nothing godly about pretending that harm does not exist. There is nothing Christian about ignoring risk. And there is nothing righteous about allowing potential predators to remain unchecked in a congregation because “we don’t want to hurt feelings.”

The apostle Paul offers the opposite vision of leadership in Acts 20:28: “Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers.” A good shepherd does not simply feed the sheep, they guard the sheep. They set boundaries. They watch for wolves. They do not leave the gate open in the name of hospitality.

A church that does not guard its children is not practicing biblical leadership.

James doubles down and goes even further. In James 1:27, he writes, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress.” Basically, if your faith does not protect the vulnerable, your faith is defective. If your church does not shield the innocent, the church is not practicing pure and faultless religion.

If you believe that God’s word is true, then mission, real mission, biblical mission, must involve meaningful protection.

The psalms echoes this reality with prophetic clarity in Psalm 82:3–4: “Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.” Our mission, the church’s mission, should include defense. The mission includes intervention. The mission includes rescue.

The church can create an unintentional blind spot when outreach starts to eclipse oversight, when building well intention programs overshadow building safety, when enthusiasm outruns discernment, and when forgiveness is misapplied to dangerous situations. There are things God calls us to forgive, but there are also things God calls us to confront and remove. Grace is not permission to enable harm.

Truth is if a church that does not feel safe for children it is not faithful to Christ. A church that does not build boundaries around the vulnerable is a church that does not walk in holiness. A church that ignores warning signs is not practicing wisdom.

Not everything is lost, there is hope. If there are blind spots they can be corrected. Cultures can be renewed. If it is a lack of policies they are repairable. Leadership can be strengthened. And churches can reclaim their calling to be sanctuaries not just in name, but in practice.

The church must adopt the posture of Christ, fiercely protective, deeply loving, unafraid of confrontation, and absolutely committed to righteousness. This means training volunteers, enforcing boundaries and reporting credible concerns immediately. It means creating clear policies that support and empower parents to speak and choosing integrity over image.

The mission flourishes in environments of righteousness, not recklessness.

When mission becomes negligence, the gospel message itself is compromised. Growth, outreach, and influence mean little if they come at the expense of safety and integrity. Scripture consistently places faithfulness above expansion and obedience above appearance. The church must be a place where the vulnerable are defended, not exposed. Safety strengthens witness. Protection strengthens credibility. Responsibility strengthens impact. A church that guards its children guards its future, honors its Savior, and reflects the very heart of God.

Application

Let mission, ministry, and growth never outrun vigilance, choose protection, wisdom, and righteous responsibility in every part of church life.

Thought to Ponder

Where have I allowed comfort, silence, or fear to overshadow responsibility, and how is God calling me to act with greater courage and clarity?

Prayer

Dear Heavenly Father, open my eyes to every blind spot and forgive me where mission has overshadowed wisdom. Give me the courage to protect, the discernment to see danger clearly, and the strength to act without hesitation. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Getting to Know Him

Do you want eternal life? Do you want to enter heaven through the only guide that can help you navigate your way there? To enter His home, get to know Him better, and make Him your Lord and Savior CLICK HERE…...

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Finding Strength in Faith: The Church’s Mission Today

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Stone church on a rocky hill overlooking a lake and mountains
in front of a fire

When the world is shaking and systems are failing, God reminds us that the Church is not an afterthought in crisis, but His chosen instrument for hope, truth, and redemption

When you were born, your mother brought you to church…When you were married, your wife brought you to church…When you die, your friends will bring you to church…Why not try coming to church on your own sometime?

Source Unknown.

Scripture: Matthew 16:18; Ephesians 3:10

Throughout history, when moments of crisis have arrived it has never stopped the work of God, they have revealed it. Because of extreme persecution it scattered the early church, but the gospel still spread. Empires rose and fell, but Christ’s Kingdom endured. Pandemics, wars, economic collapse, and moral confusion have come and gone, but the Church remains, not because of buildings, budgets, or cultural favor, but because Jesus Himself sustains it. He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arm, and carry them in his bosom. He will gently lead those who have their young. (Psalm 40:11)

Today, there are many believers that feel unsettled. The world seems louder, angrier, and more unstable than ever. Our trust in institutions is eroding. It seems like truth feels negotiable. Fear always travels faster than faith. In moments like these, it’s easy to ask, Where is God? But the Bible invites us to ask a better question: Where is the Church?

Jesus never promised His followers an easy and calm world, He promised His presence in a broken one. In Matthew 16:18, Jesus declares, “I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Gates are defensive structures. This means that the Church was never meant to retreat and hide; it was meant to move forward with truth, love, and courage. Crisis does not weaken the Church, it should clarify its mission.

When the early church started it did not grow because it was comfortable. It grew because it was faithful. We see In Acts, that believers faced persecution, imprisonment, and martyrdom, yet they prayed boldly, shared generously, and loved sacrificially. Acts 8:1-8 confirms that when persecution scattered the believers, they “went everywhere preaching the word.” What the enemy used to try and silence them, God used to multiply them.

Saul was consenting to his death. A great persecution arose against the assembly which was in Jerusalem in that day. They were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except for the apostles. Devout men buried Stephen and lamented greatly over him. But Saul ravaged the assembly, entering into every house and dragged both men and women off to prison. Therefore those who were scattered abroad went around preaching the word. 

Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ. The multitudes listened with one accord to the things that were spoken by Philip when they heard and saw the signs which he did. For unclean spirits came out of many of those who had them. They came out, crying with a loud voice. Many who had been paralyzed and lame were healed. There was great joy in that city. (Acts 8:1-8)

Ephesians 3:10 says that through the Church, “the manifold wisdom of God” is made known, even to spiritual powers. This means the Church is not merely here to react to the world’s chaos; it is here to reveal God’s wisdom in the middle of it. The Church is God’s plan to display hope where despair reigns, truth where lies dominate, and light where darkness presses the hardest.

Having this calling requires clarity. The Church has to remember what it is, and more importantly what it is not. The Church is not a means to control people, a social club, or a motivational platform. It is the Body of Christ, commissioned to unapologetically proclaim the gospel, make disciples, care for the broken, and stand for truth without compromise and without cruelty. When the Church forgets this, it loses its voice. When it remembers this, it becomes unstoppable.

So then you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God, being built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the chief cornerstone;  in whom the whole building, fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord;  in whom you also are built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:19-22)

Crisis can expose our foundations. It will reveal whether our faith is built on convenience or conviction. In times of ease, it’s easy to blend in. In times of pressure, the Church must decide whether or not it will reflect the current culture surrounding it or reflect Christ. Romans 12:2 calls believers not to be conformed to the world but transformed by the renewing of the mind. That renewal is not abstract, it shapes how we speak, love, serve, and stand firm.

In times of crisis, the Church is called to be more than a building or a program, it is called to be a living witness of hope. When everything is breaking apart, fear rises and certainty fades, the people of God are meant to stand steady, anchored in truth and united in love. Crisis has a habit of revealing what is real. It will strip away comfort and expose whether faith is shallow or rooted.

The Church should not mirror the panic and confusion of the world, instead it needs to model trust in God’s sovereignty and direction. Prayer becomes even more urgent, the Bible becomes essential, and the church family becomes vital. Through disaster, poverty, tribulation, and hardships, believers are reminded that the Church grew strongest not in ease, but when the pressure was on. When believers cared for one another, spoke truth boldly, and refused to compromise the gospel.

Through crisis it also helps refine the Church’s mission. It pushes the church outward, toward compassion, generosity, and courageous, unyielding service. The Church becomes the refuge for the overwhelmed and weary, a voice for truth, and an unquenchable light in the dark places. Rather than retreating, God’s people are invited to rise, serving faithfully, loving sacrificially, not backing down from the message of Jesus, and proclaiming hope that cannot be shaken.

Let’s consider how to provoke one another to love and good works, not forsaking our own assembling together, as the custom of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. (Hebrews 10:24-25)

In every generation, crisis tests the true Church. And in every generation, God has proven Himself faithful, using uncertain times to strengthen His people and advance His purposes through unwavering faith and submissive hearts.

This four-week series will explore what it means to be the Church when the world is in turmoil. We will look at why the Church matters more than ever, how believers are called to be salt and light, how to love the world without becoming like it, and how to stand firm without becoming harsh. These are not theoretical ideas, they are survival skills for faithful discipleship.

Now is not the time for the Church to shrink back. Hebrews 10:39 reminds us that we are not those who draw back and are destroyed, but those who believe and are saved. God has placed His people in this generation, in this moment, for a reason. We are not late. We are not unprepared. We are not forgotten. The same Spirit that empowered the early church dwells in us today.

The question before us is not whether the world is in crisis, it is whether the Church will rise to meet it with humility, courage, truth, and love. The darkness does not need more commentary. It needs light. And Jesus has already declared who that light is: “You are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14).

God is calling His Church to remember who we are. Not spectators, not survivors, but witnesses. If fear has silenced your faith, if weariness has dulled your hope, or if compromise has replaced conviction, this is the moment to return to Christ’s true one and only mission. Ask God to renew your courage, refocus your purpose, and recommit your life to being part of His work in this generation.

Thoughts to Ponder

  1. When you look at the current state of the world, do you respond more with fear or faith?
  2. How do you personally view the role of the Church in times of cultural or moral crisis?
  3. In what ways might God be calling you to step forward rather than pull back?
  4. How can the church better reflect Christ to a hurting and divided world?

Prayer

Dear Heavenly Father, You are the builder and foundation of the Church. In a world shaken by fear, chaos, confusion, skepticism, doubt, and division, anchor me in Your truth. Renew my courage where I am weary, my love where we have grown cold, and my faith where doubt has crept in. Teach me to stand firm without bitterness, to speak truth with grace, and to shine Your light in dark places. Use us, Your Church, for Your glory in this moment. I trust You, and I will follow You. In Jesus Name Amen

Getting to Know Him

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Aurora seeks boundary change to address encampment near navigation campus

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A jurisdictional issue along the Aurora-Denver border is throwing an unexpected wrench into efforts to clear a homeless encampment outside Aurora’s Regional Navigation Campus. Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman says city leaders recently discovered the encampment sits on a small piece of land that is technically within Denver city limits, even though it is adjacent to the Aurora-owned campus at East 40th Avenue and Chambers Road. The campus was purchased by Aurora to provide shelter, services and support for people experiencing homelessness. 

“When we bought the property, we assumed that 40th was the boundary between the city of Aurora and the city of Denver,” Coffman told CBS Colorado. “And it is except for a small piece, and that piece right now has an encampment on it.” Coffman said some of the people living in the encampment were previously receiving services at the Regional Navigation Campus but were asked to leave after failing to follow program rules. The mayor said Aurora wants to address the camp not only because of its proximity to the campus, but also because of concerns from nearby residents and businesses on both sides of the city line. “We obviously want to be good neighbors not simply to the businesses of Aurora, but the residences and businesses in Denver which are right across the street,” Coffman said. Coffman said the jurisdictional boundary matters because Aurora and Denver have different policies for abatements.

“We have very different guidelines for abating an encampment than Denver does,” he explained. A spokesperson for Denver Mayor Mike Johnston’s office said the two cities are working together so the property can be managed under a single set of rules. Denver also noted the encampment highlighted by Coffman appears to be largely within Aurora. Coffman said Aurora is pursuing a boundary adjustment that would transfer the property into Aurora’s jurisdiction. “We need to clean it up, but we need to have the authority to do it by virtue of having jurisdiction over this area,” Coffman said. “So we’re going to go forward with this boundary change and working with Denver.” Both Aurora and Denver officials say they expect the matter by the Regional Navigation Campus will be resolved between the two cities in the coming months.  

Coffman said Aurora completed a similar process earlier this year. He explained the city worked with neighboring Centennial on a land transfer involving Regis Jesuit High School, allowing Aurora to annex property connected to the school’s planned expansion. “So we know how to do it; we know there’s a precedent for it,” Coffman said.

Source: Aurora seeks boundary change to address encampment near navigation campus – CBS Colorado

Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.
Romans 13:8

Faithful to the Gospel When the World Wants You to Change It

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Angry people pointing at someone

Not every message that sounds Christian is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. When the world pressures us to change God’s truth to make it more acceptable, we must remember that faithfulness to Christ sometimes means standing alone.

“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.  As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.” Galatians 1:6-10

Right after Christ was crucified Galatia was already beginning to turn away from the Gospel they had received. In these verses Paul emphasizes that even if someone, even an angel from heaven, proclaimed a different gospel, that message was to be rejected. He then makes the issue personal:

Galatians 1:10: “For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God?”

This letter written to the Galatians is worthy of our attention because the Gospel message is too important to be changed. Paul was “astonished” that Galatian believers had heard the message of salvation through Jesus Christ. They had just received the god news of Christ but already other teachers were persuading them to embrace a different message. Paul understood that changing the Gospel, even slightly, could change the entire foundation of Christian faith.

The Gospel message is not a collection of ideas that we can modify whenever the current culture changes. It is the good news that sinners are reconciled to God through Jesus Christ. We are saved by God’s grace through faith, not by creating our own version of Christianity. 

One of the substantial dangers that Christians face is the desire for human approval. It is human nature to want people to like us, accept us, and agree with us. Paul asked a question every believer should regularly ask: “Am I seeking the approval of people or of God?”This very important question challenges us to examine what influences our beliefs. 

Are we allowing Scripture and God to shape our lives, or are we allowing culture, social media, friends, celebrities, or even religious personalities to determine what we believe? Do not forget what we have been told: Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. Hebrews 2:1

Faithfully following Christ does not mean being rude, argumentative, or unnecessarily confrontational. A Christian is called and directed to speak the truth in love. But love does not require us to compromise biblical truth, love requires us to live and be it. Sometimes love means standing behind what you believe, even when it seems uncomfortable.

There will be times when following Jesus means you will be misunderstood. Everyone has seen that at times having biblical convictions can make us unpopular. There may even be moments when standing for truth costs us relationships or opportunities. Jesus told us: “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. John 15:18-20 When we decide to follow Jesus we need to understand and grasp that: Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted 2 Timothy 3:12

When we have felt the unsureness, the attacks, loss, and doubt keep in mind our ultimate audience is not the crowd.

It is Christ.

In Galatians 1:10 we can see that we have been challenged not to simply reject false teaching; it is to develop a heart that values God’s approval above human praise. A knowing and faithful Christian will ask, “What does God say?” before asking, “What will everyone else think?”

Thought to Ponder

Whose approval has the greatest influence over my decisions, God’s approval or the approval of people around me?

Journaling

Whose approval am I seeking most, God’s or people’s, and how does that desire influence the choices I make, the things I say, and the way I live out my faith? What is one area where I need to stop seeking human approval and begin seeking to faithfully please God?

Prayer

Dear Heavenly Father, help me to always remain faithful to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Help me to be able to discern and recognize teachings that contradict Your Word and courage to stand for truth when it is unpopular. Keep me from changing Your truth simply to gain acceptance or avoid criticism. Help me learn how to speak with both conviction and love. Lord, my greatest desire is to honor You rather than impress people. Give me strength, protect me, and keep my heart grounded in Your Word and my eyes fixed on Jesus. In Jesus Name Amen

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North Texas man finds more than $128,000 on top of a bank’s ATM; and returns every dollar

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Chase ATM displaying stacks of U.S. dollar bills

A routine trip to a Lewisville ATM could have changed one man’s financial life a bit. Instead, it revealed something rich about his character. Lewisville police say a 37-year-old man found a bag stuffed with $128,514 in cash sitting on top of a Bank of America ATM on West Main Street on Aug. 3. There was also a smaller bag containing 19 checks. Not a dollar of the cash was missing when the police got it. “I’ve never had a case like this before, ever,” Lewisville Police Detective Gina Miller said.

According to a police report, the man and a 42-year-old woman had gone to the ATM to withdraw money when they spotted the bags. The information on one of the bags pointed to Chick-fil-A. The man, who is a barber in Lewisville, asked not to be identified. He told CBS News Texas he couldn’t speak about the incident. Police said he was the person who called 911. Police say he drove to a nearby Chick-fil-A, believing the money might belong to the restaurant. A manager told him it did not. Inside the cash bag was a bank receipt showing exactly how much money was supposed to be there: $128,514.

That’s exactly how much police counted. An officer counted the money twice and verified the total with a digital currency counter before the cash was sealed and secured in the Lewisville Police Department property room. “I think to find that kind of money, or that amount of money, is certainly rare,” Lewisville Police Chief Brook Rollins said. “That’s very unusual. And then to not find it connected to any criminal activity is certainly unusual.” How $128,514 was left behind at a Lewisville ATM Police reports show the money belonged to Bank of America and was being handled by its cash vendor, Brinks.

Investigators said a Brinks technician serviced the ATM and was supposed to take the money, but accidentally left the funds on top of the machine. Police found no indication that the cash was connected to a crime. “The bag was just sitting there,” Miller said. “There was no indication of a crime occurring. It looked like it was just left there by accident.” Bank of America has since recovered the money. Brinks declined to discuss the specifics of the incident, saying in a statement that, as a general practice, it does not comment on law enforcement matters involving the safety of its employees or others.

Lewisville police want to honor the man who returned the money Police say they now want to recognize the man whose decision made the unusual case even more remarkable. Miller has handled cases involving people returning wallets, IDs and other lost property. But six figures in cash? “I’ve had cases where good Samaritans have turned in property that they found, wallets, IDs, things like that,” Miller said. “But in the case of $128,000, I’ve never had somebody turn in that kind of money before.” Rollins said the episode also demonstrates how much police departments depend on the communities they serve. “We are one half of the equation, the police; the other half is the community,” Rollins said.

As for why the man handed over a bag containing enough cash to make almost anyone stop and stare, Rollins offered a simple explanation. “I just think he just thinks it’s the right thing to do and doesn’t think it goes beyond that,” Rollins said. For Lewisville police, the case came with no robbery, no theft and no missing money. Just $128,514 — and one man who decided every dollar belonged to somebody else. Miller said there is no “Finders keepers, losers weepers.” The detective said people have to do due diligence to return what’s discovered or end up in trouble with the law.   The man told CBS News Texas that if the police department honors him, he’ll gladly attend a private ceremony.

Source: North Texas man finds more than $128,000 on top of a bank’s ATM — and returns every dollar – CBS Texas

Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Hebrews 13:5

Hunted for Following Jesus

In some communities, Muslims who leave Islam to follow Christ face rejection, threats, violence, and even death because of their faith. For Muslim-background believers, choosing to follow Jesus can…

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Police in Algeria Arrest 12 Christians during Worship

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Special force police in Algeria raided a worship service at a humanitarian shelter on Sept. 4, arresting all 12 Christians present on suspicion of holding an unauthorized, non-Muslim religious service, sources said. The House of Refuge shelter in L’Ayaida, 36 kilometers (22 miles) east of Oran, serves as a haven and restoration center for vulnerable women and their families. It housed a worship hall before authorities ordered its administrative closure in October 2019, but Christians have continued to meet for church services in one of the separate apartments on the shelter premises.

The premises have been under surveillance for some time, sources said. After law enforcement officers raided the site with a search warrant, the 12 detained Christians were transferred to the Bethioua police station about 40 kilometers from Oran. During the operation, police seized all Christian literature, mobile phones and identity cards of those present, said the sources, unidentified for security reasons. The women were released to be questioned the following morning, while the men were held until late at night, some until 3 a.m. Christians fear the detainees could be charged under Ordinance 06-03 governing non-Muslim worship in Algeria, which heavily criminalizes collective worship outside the officially approved state framework or any action deemed to “shake the faith of a Muslim.” 

The restrictive law exposes them to heavy fines and substantial prison sentences. Punishment under the 2006 law can range from two to five years in prison and fines of 500,000 to 1 million Algerian dinars ($3,745 to $7,490). It requires non-Muslim worship buildings to be licensed, but all applications to do so have remained unattended. The arrested Christians were not yet brought before a prosecutor, who would then quickly take them to court for judgment. Christian support group Open Doors has reported that nearly all of the 47 official churches affiliated with the Protestant Church of Algeria (EPA) have received administrative closure orders or have been sealed by the authorities. More than 50 Christians have been prosecuted for their faith in recent years, according to the organization. The Sept. 4 raid was part of a long-standing pattern of judicial harassment against Christians in Algeria, particularly in the Oran Region. In 2021, authorities convicted Pastor Rachid Seighir and Nouh Hamimi and closed their bookstore.

Also notable were the harsh five-year prison sentence handed down to Hamid Soudad, imprisoned for January 2021 to July 23 as part of a five-year sentence for “insulting Islam” related to Facebook caricature, before he was ultimately pardoned in 2023. EPA Vice-President Youcef Ourahmane was sentenced on appeal in May 2024 to one year in prison simply for organizing a spiritual retreat; originally he had been sentenced to two years and a fine. Pastor Ourahmane is the founder of the Timothee School and the L’Ayeida refuge center. These cases and significant events all attest to the persistence of a policy aimed at criminalizing the Christian faith and its structures within the country. According to Christians in the Béjaïa, Tizi Ouzou, and Bouira regions, authorities in the past month have been seeking to permanently resolve the “church issue” in Algeria. To this end, special envoys were appointed and sent across the country to meet with various leaders who were not affiliated with the EPA. Their mission was to identify and approach congregants, urging them to join a new Christian association project intended to replace the EPA.

This maneuver aims to orchestrate a reorganization under strict state control, paving the way for the potential reopening of places of worship subject to conditions rigorously imposed by the government. The number of Christians in Algeria is estimated at about 150,000 people, 0.3 percent of the total population of 48 million, according to Open Doors. There are 8,000 Catholics, while Methodists, Anglicans and Mennonites are made up mostly of foreigners, including diplomats. Algeria ranked 20th on Open Doors’ 2026 World Watch List of the 50 countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian.

Source: Police in Algeria Arrest 12 Christians during Worship – Morningstar News

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.
Jeremiah 29:11

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3 boaters rescued from capsized catamaran on Lake Michigan

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Three boaters were rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard and the Berrien County Sheriff’s Office after their catamaran capsized on Lake Michigan.  The Coast Guard Sector Lake Michigan command center received calls around 4 p.m. Monday of a capsized 16-foot catamaran with two women and one man aboard.

Three children standing on a makeshift floating platform in the water, holding a large surfboard overhead, with a boat partially visible in the foreground.

U.S. Coast Guardsmen assigned to Coast Guard Station St. Joseph approach a man and two women holding onto a capsized catamaran about one-half mile offshore Roadside Park in Coloma, Michigan, Sept. 21, 2026. After Berrien County drone operators located the capsized vessel, the Coast Guard boat crew rescued the individuals, who were all wearing life jackets. (U.S. Coast Guard photo, courtesy Station St. Joseph) U.S. Coast Guard

Berrien County drone operators found the catamaran about a half-mile offshore, and a Coast Guard vessel from the St. Joseph station reached the stranded boaters by 4:30 p.m.  All three boaters were wearing life jackets and holding onto the overturned vessel, the Coast Guard said.  

“This rapid rescue highlights both the value of local agency partnerships and the lifesaving impact of proper safety gear,” said Commander Aaron Dorrian, search and rescue mission coordinator for USCG Sector Lake Michigan. “The Coast Guard urges every boater across the Great Lakes to prioritize safety by always wearing your life jacket, monitoring local weather conditions, and carrying reliable means of communication.”  

Source: 3 boaters rescued from capsized catamaran on Lake Michigan – CBS Detroit

The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Romans 13:9

Isaiah 45:2

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Injured Pelican Knocks on NOAA Fisheries Office Door Looking for Help

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Brown pelican beside a carrier outside a wildlife rescue center

A pelican in Florida came knocking for help, quite literally, using its beak. NOAA Fisheries Service The unusual encounter happened at the NOAA Southeast Fisheries Science Center in Panama City, Florida, when employees heard a distinct tapping sound coming from the door. When they went to investigate, they found a pelican waiting on the stoop with fishing line wrapped around its wing, a deeply embedded fishhook, and cactus spines stuck in its left foot.

Fortunately, the bird had come to the right place. According to NOAA, the pelican had a double-barbed treble hook deeply embedded in its right wing, along with several feet of monofilament fishing line wrapped around it. Luckily, the staff included expert animal handlers who quickly stepped in to help. They carefully snipped the hook’s barb, removed the hook, and unwound the fishing line from the bird’s wing. They also removed the cactus spines from its foot. The entire operation took about 10 minutes, and biologists said the pelican remained surprisingly calm throughout the process. “It must have known it was in good hands!” the organization shared on Facebook.

NOAA Fisheries Service Once the fishing line and hook were removed and the bird received a clean bill of health, the pelican was ready to return to the wild. It took to the sky, finally free from the painful fishing gear that had been weighing it down. Whether the pelican intentionally sought out help or simply happened to find the right doorstep, one thing is certain: It couldn’t have picked a better place to knock.

Source: Injured Pelican Knocks on NOAA Fisheries Office Door Looking for Help

My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.
1 John 3:18

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Pentagon releases more UFO files, including documents on secretive military program

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Archivist reviewing classified documents in Archive Room 48, marked Restricted Access

The Pentagon on Friday released its sixth batch of files on unidentified anomalous phenomena, or UAP or UFOs, including dozens of documents detailing a military program that commissioned studies of warp drives, wormholes and injuries that researchers linked to possible encounters with unknown craft. Friday’s release includes a total of 71 files — 67 provided by the Defense Department and four from local law enforcement in Colorado. There are 55 PDF files, 15 video files and one audio file. Most of the files — 64 out of 71 — contain redactions. The dates of the documents range from 1952 to 2025.

What’s in the latest UFO files? The most noteworthy documents deal with a secretive military initiative known as the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program. The Defense Intelligence Agency established the program in 2008 to study various aerospace threats decades into the future. The initiative ended in 2012.  One document describes the goals of the program and requirements for contractors who would work on it: “One aspect of the future threat environment involves advanced aerospace weapon system applications. The objective of this program is to understand the physics and engineering of these applications as they apply to the foreign threat out to the far term, i.e., from now through the year 2050.

Primary focus is on breakthrough technologies and applications that create discontinuities in currently evolving technology trends.” The release includes 37 “Defense Intelligence Reference Documents,” or DIRDs, produced under AAWSAP, dealing with topics like warp drives, wormholes, antigravity, negative mass propulsion and invisibility cloaking. All 37 have been publicly available for years, including through Freedom of Information Act releases by the DIA. But Friday’s versions include some details the agency had previously withheld, like the names of the agency offices that produced the documents. In notes accompanying the documents, the Pentagon says the DIRDs are “best understood as reference and synthesis products rather than as original research” and that they “should not be read as implying current validation of the concepts discussed.”

While most of the DIRDs examine ideas that are typically the domain of science fiction, one is a 38-page highly technical study from 2010 analyzing “evidence of unintended injury to human observers by anomalous advanced aerospace systems.” Researchers recounted that “three previous fit and active individuals experienced an anomalous [‘irregular, incongruous and inconsistent with their domain’] aerospace-related event” and suffered a range of medical symptoms in the aftermath, including heat and redness on their skin and hair loss. One of the individuals showed “signs of radiation illness” and “over several years developed signs of malignant transformations.”

The document did not identify the source of the exposure that led to the symptoms, but said the three individuals were “antennae engineers.” The author compared the cases to 42 published and roughly 300 unpublished incidents of conventional radiofrequency injury where the source of the radiation was known. “Sufficient incidents/accidents have been accurately reported, and medical data acquired, as to support a hypothesis that some advanced systems are already deployed, and opaque to full US understanding,” the author found. Most of the videos in Friday’s disclosure are similar to those from previous releases: grainy footage captured by military cameras of unexplained objects zooming across the screen at high speed. One unexplained incident from 2022 shows a UAP “traveling at various speeds between 80-180 miles per hour.”

An accompanying report on the encounter shows operators were flying a mission in the Middle East when they spotted various objects at unknown altitudes. The crew reported that the objects were between 1 and 2 meters in size and were “flying spora[d]ically within the target area.” Another video captured over the Middle East shows roughly half a dozen objects flying in tandem. The report says there were “six small spherical objects” that “seemed to be agile” and were “frequently changing direction.” The incident remains unexplained. Four of the videos originated from local law enforcement in Colorado who submitted reports to the Pentagon’s office that investigates UAP. The Pentagon said the partially blurred footage was captured by cellphone cameras in October 2023. “The reporting officer described the phenomenon as ‘silent’ and as featuring ‘red, blue, and green flashing lights,'” the military said in notes accompanying one of the clips.

The historical files include an hour-long audio recording and transcript of remarks by Air Force officer Edward Ruppelt from 1952 in which he explains the service’s investigation into UFO incidents. In the presentation, Ruppelt revealed that roughly 20% of the 800 UFO reports the Air Force had investigated were still a mystery. “We’ve gone through these reports and come up with the fact that about 20% are very good reports offered by very reliable people and … just absolutely no conclusions can be drawn,” Ruppelt said.

Ruppelt would go on to run Project Blue Book, an Air Force program that investigated UFOs from 1952 to 1969. Several other files related to Project Blue Book were also included in Friday’s disclosure. On Monday, the Pentagon announced the creation of a legal waiver that would allow current and former employees previously bound by nondisclosure agreements to share UAP-related information with the government.

Source: Pentagon releases more UFO files, including documents on secretive military program – CBS News

But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
2 Peter 3:8

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Wanda the therapy donkey brings joy to Pennsylvania seniors: “She’s like Ariel from ‘The Little Mermaid'”

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Gray donkey grazing in a mountain valley beside a winding road and cottage

She spent her first 12 years in the wild, wandering through Arizona, but after being adopted by Kelsey Parisi last year, Wanda the donkey acclimated to life on the farm in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, quite quickly. “Begging for cookies and yelling to come into the barn every day,” Parisi said. “She’s like Ariel from The Little Mermaid, I want to be where the people are. So anytime she sees someone she walks up to the gate, and she wants to be involved.” Parisi said after only a few weeks, Wanda’s true personality came through.

She started taking her to summer camps and local stores on pet days, and she’s become a regular visitor at nearby senior homes. Wanda gets dressed up and allows residents to pet and feed her treats. Parisi said many times Wanda gravitates to the memory care patients and even puts her head in their lap. “Sometimes you’ll get people that would normally ask the animal’s name five or six times in a visit, but they might remember her within that hour and that’s pretty special,” Parisi said. On Friday, Wanda stopped by New Seasons at New Britain in Chalfont, where she makes routine visits and brings joy and smiles to everyone’s face.

“You can tell instantly the residents love when the animals are here. There’s just such a deep connection between the seniors and the love for the animals,” Carly Zimmerman, the activities coordinator at New Seasons, said. “It’s special. It brings them back to times when they were happiest.” Parisi is now sharing Wanda’s story. She entered her into a national Top Pets competition, where she cruised to the semifinals. Win or lose, Parisi said Wanda is one of a kind.

Source: Wanda the therapy donkey brings joy to Pennsylvania seniors: “She’s like Ariel from ‘The Little Mermaid'” – CBS Philadelphia

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Philippians 4:13

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In a world filled with competing voices, confusing paths, and endless distractions, Jesus doesn’t simply show us the way He declares, ‘I am the way.’ When everything around you tries to pull…

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3 bear cubs break into man’s San Bernardino County mountain cabin

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Three black bear cubs standing at an open rustic cabin door

A man had a close encounter with a trio of bears that broke into his cabin in the San Bernardino County mountains. After hearing his little, old hard-of-hearing dogs barking, Thomas Vander Wende woke up and went outside his cabin at Green Valley Lake. That’s when he came face-to-face with a bear cub crawling down a tree in front of his cabin at Green Valley Lake and making wild, throaty moans.   “I saw a silhouette of a bear just above my head,” he said.

“I was bare butt too. So, I didn’t want to hang around and talk to this bear.” Wende ran back inside his home, only to realize that at least two bears had already broken into his home. “We catch the little culprits, the bandits, trying to shimmy down the tree, trying to get away from their crime,” Wende said.  He said his teenage son started screaming that a bear had crawled through his second-floor window. They raided Wende’s loft and were sniffing around their guinea pig enclosure.  Luckily, the cubs were only after the dry food and did not hurt the guinea pigs.  “They did a bear home invasion,” Wende said. “In our home, where we sleep.”

The encounter got Wende’s adrenaline going, but once he lit the bear burglars up with a flashlight, they slowly ambled out of the home while he heard a strange sound in the distance.  Wende believes it was the bear’s mother making some distress calls or scolding them for their mischievous behavior.  “They’re teens. She’s probably having a hard time with them,” he said.  Wende said he’s glad the unusual encounter ended in the best possible way, knowing the potential dangers if the cubs became trapped inside and their mother bear came looking for them.  “They look like they’re in the ‘I’m getting in trouble stage,” Wende said. “Mom’s probably having a hard time keeping track of them.”

Source: 3 bear cubs break into man’s San Bernardino County mountain cabin – CBS Los Angeles

And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
1 Corinthians 13:2

Hope in the dark

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Loving Like Jesus: Truth, Grace, and Transformation

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Wooden cross beside a country path in an autumn landscape

Jesus never separated love from truth. He protected the broken, confronted sin, and offered redemption. His love restored lives because it was rooted in obedience to the Father.

Scripture: John 1:14

Currently when people talk about love, it usually sounds like this: “If you really love me, you’ll accept everything I do.” In most cases love is often defined as agreement, affirmation, and silence. But if we look at Jesus, we see a very different kind of love, one that is deeper, stronger, and far more life-giving.

Jesus didn’t love people by telling them whatever they wanted to hear. He showed love to them by telling them the truth they needed to hear. “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and don’t do the things which I say? Luke 6:46

We can see in the Bible that Jesus came full of grace and truth. Not grace or truth. Not truth without grace. Both. Always together. That balance is what made His love so powerful. Grace made people feel safe in His presence. Truth made them want to change.

Take a look at how Jesus treated broken people. He welcomed them. He ate with them. He protected them from shame. But He never pretended that sin didn’t matter. At no point did He ever say, “Stay exactly the same.” His love always moved people toward freedom, healing, and obedience to God.

That’s important for us to understand, especially as we are people surrounded by a culture that says love should never challenge anything. Many will follow their immoral ways, and as a result, the way of the truth will be maligned. In covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words: whose sentence now from of old doesn’t linger, and their destruction will not slumber. (2 Peter 2:2-3)

Jesus’ love was not weak. It was courageous.

He loved people enough to confront them. He loved people enough to say the hard things. He loved people enough to risk being misunderstood. Because of this there were times that some people walked away from Him because of it. But Jesus never watered down truth just so He could keep followers.

That kind of love is rare today. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. (Hebrews 12:11)

Throughout our lives we will often face pressure to choose sides: be loving or be truthful. Be kind or be biblical. But Jesus showed us that real love does not compromise truth, and real truth is never spoken without love.

Loving like Jesus means caring more about someone’s future than your current comfort right now.

That’s hard, especially with friends. It’s easier to stay quiet when someone is making choices you know aren’t good. It’s easier to avoid awkward conversations. It’s easier to go along with the crowd than to stand out. Understand that silence isn’t always loving. Sometimes silence is just fear wearing a friendly face.

Loving like Jesus doesn’t mean being rude or judgmental. It means being honest with humility. It means listening before speaking. It means checking your heart before correcting someone. And it means being willing to be patient, even when change doesn’t happen overnight.

Jesus never rushed people, but He also never lied to them.

He met people where they were, but He didn’t leave them there.

That’s the model for us.

This also applies to how Jesus loves you. Sometimes we like Jesus’ comfort more than His correction. We love when He forgives us, encourages us, and reminds us of our worth. But when His Word challenges our habits, relationships, or attitudes, it can make us feel uncomfortable. That doesn’t mean He stopped loving you. It means He loves you enough to grow you.

If you are never challenged by Jesus, you’re probably not listening closely. His love always calls us higher. It invites us to live differently, think differently, and choose differently, not because He wants to control us, but because He knows what leads to life.

If you want to love like Jesus it will mean learning how to love people who disagree with you. Jesus didn’t cancel people. He didn’t insult them. He didn’t compromise the truth either. He stayed grounded, calm, and faithful. He trusted God with every outcome. That’s a challenge for our generation.

You don’t need to win arguments to love like Jesus. You don’t need to be loud to be bold. You just need to stay rooted in truth and motivated by grace. But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. (James 4:6)

So here’s the real question for today:
Are you loving people the way Jesus loved, or the way culture tells you to?

Jesus’ love doesn’t just make people feel accepted.
It makes people feel invited to repentance, healing, and real life.

And when we learn to love like that, we don’t just represent Jesus well, we become part of how He changes the world. As His followers, we are called to reflect that same balance, firm in truth, rich in mercy, unwavering in hope.

Thoughts to Ponder

  1. How can I reflect Jesus more clearly?
  2. Where do I need balance between truth and grace?
  3. What does Christlike love look like in my life?

Ask God to shape you into a person who loves like Jesus.

Prayer

Dear Heavenly Father, train my mind and heart to discern what is the truth. Let Your Word be my standard and guide me to find the truth. Shape my heart to love as You love. Let my words and actions reflect both truth and grace. Prepare my heart to receive and live Your Word. In Jesus Name Amen.

Getting to Know Him

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A 30-Day Bible Reading Plan for Spiritual Growth

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Open book and glasses resting on a mossy rock beside a forest trail

Reading the Bible, What the Bible Says

Reading the Bible is essential for every Christian because it is the primary way God reveals His character, truth, wisdom, and will to humanity. The Bible is not simply a historical book or a collection of religious writings, it is the living Word of God that teaches, corrects, strengthens, and transforms those who seek Him. Through Scripture, believers grow spiritually, gain wisdom, resist deception, and develop a deeper relationship with God.

The Bible itself declares its divine importance in 2 Timothy 3:16–17:

“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.”

This verse explains that Scripture equips believers for every area of life. It teaches truth, exposes wrong thinking, corrects behavior, and trains Christians to live righteously. Without regular time in God’s Word, believers can become spiritually weak, confused, or influenced more by culture than by truth.

Reading the Bible also helps believers know God personally. In John 1:1, Jesus is called “the Word,” showing the deep connection between Christ and Scripture. As people read the Bible, they learn about God’s love, holiness, mercy, justice, and salvation. The more believers understand Scripture, the deeper their relationship with God becomes.

The Bible provides guidance and direction for life. Psalms 119:105 says:

“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”

Life is filled with difficult choices, temptations, and uncertainty. God’s Word acts as spiritual light, helping believers walk wisely and avoid dangerous paths. Without biblical guidance, people often rely only on emotions, public opinion, or worldly advice.

Reading Scripture also protects believers from deception. In a world filled with conflicting ideas and false teachings, Christians need discernment. Acts 17:11 praises the Bereans because they searched the Scriptures daily to test what they were hearing. God desires His people to know truth deeply so they are not easily misled.

The Bible strengthens faith during trials and hardships. Romans 10:17 teaches:

“So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

Reading Scripture reminds believers of God’s promises, faithfulness, and power. During seasons of fear, grief, confusion, or suffering, God’s Word provides comfort, encouragement, and hope. Many Psalms reveal how God meets people in their deepest struggles and renews their strength.

The Bible also transforms the heart and mind. Romans 12:2 teaches believers to be transformed by the renewing of their minds. Regular reading of Scripture changes how Christians think, speak, and live. God uses His Word to shape attitudes, build wisdom, and produce spiritual maturity.

Finally, reading the Bible draws believers closer to eternal truth. Heaven and earth may change, but God’s Word remains forever. Jesus said in Matthew 24:35:

“Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.”

For Christians, reading the Bible is not merely a religious habit, it is spiritual nourishment, guidance, protection, wisdom, and a daily connection with God Himself.

Why reading the Bible is important, What he Science says

Reading regularly, especially deep, focused reading like studying the Bible, has significant scientific benefits for memory, cognition, emotional regulation, and long-term brain health. Neuroscience and cognitive psychology both show that consistent reading strengthens neural pathways, improves comprehension, enhances attention span, and supports mental resilience throughout life.

When a person reads consistently, the brain actively engages multiple regions at once. Reading involves language processing, memory retrieval, visualization, reasoning, and emotional interpretation. Brain imaging studies have shown that reading activates areas associated with comprehension, critical thinking, and long-term memory formation. This repeated mental activity strengthens neural connections through a process called neuroplasticity, which is the brain’s ability to reorganize and build stronger communication pathways through repeated use.

Memory improves because reading requires the brain to retain information, connect ideas, and recall details over time. When someone studies Scripture regularly, they repeatedly revisit themes, names, teachings, and concepts, which strengthens both short-term and long-term memory systems. Repetition is one of the strongest scientifically supported methods for memory retention. The act of reading, reflecting, journaling, and recalling verses reinforces encoding in the hippocampus, the brain region heavily involved in memory consolidation.

Reading also improves cognitive endurance and concentration. Modern digital culture trains the brain toward rapid scrolling, short attention spans, and fragmented thinking. Deep reading slows the mind and increases sustained attention. This helps improve executive functioning skills such as focus, decision-making, reasoning, and impulse control. Reading complex material like the Bible encourages analytical thinking because readers compare passages, interpret meaning, understand symbolism, and reflect on moral and philosophical ideas.

Scientific research has also linked regular reading to reduced cognitive decline with aging. Studies on lifelong readers suggest that consistent mental stimulation may help preserve cognitive function and build what scientists call cognitive reserve, the brain’s resilience against age-related decline and diseases affecting memory. Mentally engaging activities, including reading and memorization, may help delay symptoms associated with dementia and other degenerative cognitive conditions.

Reading spiritually meaningful material can also reduce stress and improve emotional regulation. Research has shown that focused reading can lower stress levels by slowing heart rate and reducing mental tension. Scripture reading, prayer, and meditation combine cognitive engagement with emotional reflection, which may support calmer thinking and emotional stability. Lower stress levels benefit memory because chronic stress and elevated cortisol can negatively affect the hippocampus and impair memory formation.

Another important scientific benefit is vocabulary and language development. Reading regularly exposes the brain to broader language structures, improving verbal fluency, comprehension, communication skills, and abstract thinking. This strengthens overall intellectual flexibility and learning capacity.

Memorization of Scripture specifically exercises active recall, which is one of the most effective learning strategies identified in educational psychology. Recalling verses without looking strengthens retrieval pathways in the brain, making future recall faster and more accurate. Over time, this repeated mental exercise improves overall memory performance beyond just the memorized material itself.

From both a scientific and spiritual perspective, regular Bible reading develops the mind through repetition, reflection, focus, and emotional engagement. It trains attention, strengthens memory, encourages critical thinking, supports emotional health, and helps maintain cognitive sharpness over time. Consistency matters most, the brain grows stronger through repeated mental exercise just as muscles grow stronger through repeated physical training.

Reading the Bible, A 30 day Plan

Each day: read the passage(s) listed, pray 2–3 minutes asking God to help you understand and apply it, and write one sentence about what stood out.

Week 1 — Who Jesus Is 

The next Seven days will help reveal Christ’s character, mission, and truth through His Word.

Day 1: John 1

Day 2: John 1:14–51 and John 3:16–17

Day 3: John 14:1–7

Day 4: Colossians 1:15–20

Day 5: Hebrews 1:1–4

Day 6: Matthew 16:13–18; John 6:35–40

Day 7: Luke 24:13–35 (post‑resurrection recognition of Jesus)

Week 2 — What Salvation Means & Assurance

The next seven days of this Bible reading plan introduces the heart of salvation and the assurance found in Christ. Through key passages, you will explore what it means to be saved, forgiven, and secure in God’s promises. Each day builds confidence not in feelings, but in God’s unchanging Word. Begin this journey expecting clarity, peace, and renewed assurance as you discover the foundation, purpose, and certainty of salvation in Jesus Christ.

Day 8: Romans 3:21–26

Day 9: Romans 5:1–11

Day 10: Ephesians 2:1–10

Day 11: Romans 8:1–17

Day 12: 1 John 1:5–2:2

Day 13: 2 Corinthians 5:17–21

Day 14: Romans 10:9–13; John 10:27–30

Week 3 — Growing in Faith (Word, Prayer, Spirit) 

Growing in Faith is a journey designed to strengthen your relationship with God. Each day focuses on Scripture, prayer, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, helping you build a consistent, practical, and vibrant faith. Through reflection, application, and intentional devotion, this plan encourages deeper understanding, personal growth, and a closer walk with Christ. Begin ready to encounter God, hear His voice, and experience transformation one day at a time.

Day 15: Psalm 119:9–16

Day 16: Matthew 4:1–11

Day 17: Philippians 1:3–11

Day 18: Galatians 2:20; Galatians 5:16–26

Day 19: 2 Peter 1:3–11

Day 20: Colossians 3:1–17

Day 21: Hebrews 4:12–16

Week 4 — Christian Living & Community 

This guides you through Scripture’s principles for faithful living and meaningful relationships. Each day explores how to love God, serve others, and grow spiritually within a community. Reflect, pray, and apply God’s Word to everyday life, building character and connection.

Day 22: Matthew 5–7 (Sermon on the Mount)

Day 23: Romans 12

Day 24: 1 Corinthians 12-13

Day 25: Ephesians 4:1–16 and Ephesians 5:1–2

Day 26: Acts 2:42–47 and Acts 4:32–37

Day 27: Hebrews 10:19–25 and James 2:14–26 (faith + works)

Day 28: Matthew 28:16–20 (Great Commission)

Final reflections 

Day 29: Psalm 23 and Romans 8 (comfort and assurance)

Day 30: Revisit a passage you found most helpful (reread and write a short plan: one habit to start based on it)

Optional weekly practice: memorize one verse each week 

Memorizing Scripture helps Christians internalize God’s truth, guiding thoughts, decisions, and actions. It strengthens faith, equips for temptation, and provides comfort in trials. God’s Word becomes an accessible source of wisdom, encouragement, and encouragement, allowing believers to meditate, pray, and respond with truth in daily life and spiritual challenges.

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Renewing Your Mind Amid Cultural Pressures

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Giant stone face sculpture with glowing eye beside a bright blue glowing river in a mountainous valley under a starry sky.
Dark storm clouds above ocean with rain showers and light reflections

Pip: Drink of Jesus is a site that takes seriously the idea that ancient words still do something in a noisy world — which is either countercultural or just stubborn, and honestly, maybe both.

Mara: Today we’re covering two stretches of territory: what it looks like to keep going when exhaustion sets in, and how believers are supposed to hold onto truth when the culture is pulling hard in the other direction. Let’s start with endurance in hard seasons.

When the Ground Feels Unstable

Pip: The question underneath this segment is a real one: when everything around you feels chaotic, where does a believer actually plant their feet?

Mara: God Is Not Caught Off Guard goes straight at that. Setting up the stakes, it reads: “Just because there is chaos on earth does not equal chaos in heaven.”

Pip: So the upshot is that disorder in the news cycle doesn’t map onto disorder in God’s governance. The post is making a structural argument, not just an emotional one.

Mara: Exactly. And it draws on Isaiah 46 to reinforce that point — God declares the end from the beginning, which means He is not reacting, He is ruling. The post puts it plainly: when the Church forgets this, anxiety replaces trust.

Pip: Running the Race in Weary Times picks up that thread and carries it forward — because sovereignty is one thing, but what do you do on the days when you’re just tired?

Mara: That post sits in Hebrews 12 and names the weight directly: tired of fighting sin, tired of cultural pressure, tired of waiting. The answer it lands on is refocus, not try harder.

Pip: Which is a genuinely different prescription than most people expect.

Mara: Both posts land in the same place — the foundation holds, but you have to keep choosing to stand on it. From there, how you think becomes as important as where you stand.

Renewing the Mind, Testing the Message

Pip: This segment is about a specific kind of threat — not dramatic apostasy, but the slow drift that happens when culture shapes your thinking more than Scripture does.

Mara: Renewing the Mind in a Corrupted Culture frames it this way: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.” And then it unpacks the gap between those two words Paul uses — conformed, pressed into a mold from outside; transformed, changed from the inside out.

Pip: That distinction matters because it locates the problem. If formation is always happening, the question is just who’s doing it.

Mara: The post uses a river image to make it concrete — anything placed in a swift current moves with it by default. Spiritual drift is always easier than spiritual growth. And it asks a pointed diagnostic question: do you filter culture through the Bible, or the Bible through your culture?

Pip: Testing the Message, Not the Mood takes that same concern and narrows it to the teaching we receive. The argument there is that false teaching often succeeds not because it’s obviously wrong but because it feels right.

Mara: It leans on Jeremiah 17:9 — the heart is deceitful, not malicious, but easily influenced. Emotions shift with circumstances. So a message that only ever comforts and never confronts is worth examining closely.

Pip: Feeling affirmed without being transformed is a clean summary of the problem.

Mara: Why Discernment Is an Act of Love rounds out the theme by reframing discernment itself. The post pushes back on the idea that testing teaching is unloving — it argues the opposite: leaving people exposed to false ideas is the less loving choice.

Pip: And it pairs that with a humility check. The goal isn’t winning arguments; it’s protecting hearts. That’s a harder posture to hold than either pure skepticism or pure acceptance.

Mara: All three posts are pointing at the same discipline — staying rooted in Scripture as the primary shaping force, not as a supplement to everything else.

Pip: Sovereignty in chaos and discernment under pressure — different problems, same anchor.

Mara: Keep running, keep testing, keep your eyes on what’s actually true. More on that next time.

The rich man’s wealth is his strong city, And like a high wall in his own esteem.
Proverbs 18:11

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Overcoming Division in the Church: A Call for Unity

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Blue denim jeans with a rip repaired by golden cross-stitch embroidery

Division within the church is one of the enemy’s greatest tools because it weakens unity, damages witness, and distracts believers from the mission of Christ. I personally believe that all of the denominations and interpretations are a disease that the devil created to separate Gods children. If you look around it works pretty good. Jesus warned in Matthew 12:25 that “every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand.” When bitterness, gossip, jealousy, pride, and unforgiveness take root, the body of Christ begins to fracture from within.

Galatians 5:15 gives another sobering warning: “But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.” Many times division begins quietly through offense, competition, misunderstandings, ego, or personal agendas. Instead of building one another up, people begin tearing each other down. What should be a place of healing becomes a battlefield of opinions, power struggles, and wounded hearts.

Yet God sees beyond outward appearances. Jeremiah 17:10 says, “I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins.” God scrutinizes and examines our motives, pride, selfish ambition, and hidden bitterness that fuel division. Sometimes the greatest issue is not theology or disagreement, it is the condition of the heart. 2 Timothy 4:3-4 “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.” 

The solution to a divided church begins with repentance, humility, and returning to the love of Christ. Ephesians 4:2–3 calls believers to walk“with all lowliness and humility, with patience, bearing with one another in love, being eager to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” Healing comes when believers choose forgiveness over offense, prayer over gossip, humility over pride, and truth spoken in love over destructive conflict. Unity does not mean everyone agrees on everything, it means Christ remains greater than our personal preferences.

A healthy church is not built by perfect people but by fully surrendered people who allow God to transform their hearts. When the church chooses love, accountability, grace, and biblical truth, division will completely loose its power.

Thought to Ponder:
Is your heart helping build unity within the body of Christ, or is it unknowingly contributing to division?

Journaling Prompt:
What attitudes, wounds, or unresolved conflicts could God be asking you to surrender for the sake of unity and healing?

Prayer:
Dear Heavenly Father, search my heart and remove anything that causes division, pride, or bitterness. Help Your church walk in humility, love, forgiveness, and truth. Teach us to honor one another and remain united in Christ even through disagreements. Bring healing where there is conflict and restore peace within Your people. In Jesus Name Amen.

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Black bear breaks in to 5 Asheville homes, still on loose

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Black bear walking across a mountain cabin porch at dusk

Bears are not an uncommon sight in Western North Carolina, but a burglar bear is a little less common. The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission has stated that a female bear has been breaking into homes in the Asheville area. Officials believe that she has no fear of people, learned that homes have food for her to eat inside them, and that she poses a threat to humans. “She has learned that all homes have food inside. This bear not only poses a risk to human safety, but she is teaching her cubs the same dangerous and unnatural behavior,” the N.C. WRC said in an update on Sept. 2. N.C. WRC first started tracking the bear on Aug. 18, after a Buncombe County resident encountered a female black bear inside her house and sustained non-life-threatening injuries as the bear attempted to exit the home. Since then, the female bear has tried to break into another four homes. “She is not afraid of people, causing extensive property damage, and has forcibly entered homes of residents that have no evidence of unsecured trash or other unsecured attractants outdoors,” the N.C. WRC said.

Breaking-and-entering black bear in Asheville area

Around 24-hours after her initial break-in on Aug. 18, the bear reportedly broke into a second home and tried to get into another home. The break-ins continued last weekend when the female bear tried to get into two more homes in the Asheville area, N.C. WRC stated. Officials state they know the same bear is the culprit responsible for all the break-ins due to her “distinctive” markings.

Is the bear still on the loose in Asheville?

What will happen to it? The female bear is on the loose. Once she is captured, the bear will be humanely euthanized, officials said. Wildlife officials stated that two of her cubs have been captured. Since the cubs are so young, they have been relocated to an undeveloped area to keep them away from populated areas.

Are black bears dangerous?

What to do if you see a black bear N.C. WRC BearWise warns that while black bears are generally not dangerous and rarely aggressive toward humans, people sharing territory with the animals should do their part to reduce the potential for conflict.

Black bear safety program BearWise recommendations include:

  • Never feed or approach bears. 
  • Secure food, garbage and recycling. 
  • Remove bird feeders when bears are active. 
  • Never leave pet food outdoors. 
  • Clean and store grills and smokers. 
  • Alert neighbors to bear activity.

What you should do if you run into a black bear in Western North Carolina

The National Park Service suggests people do this if they run into a bear:

  • Remain watchful.
  • Do not approach it.
  • Do not allow the bear to approach you.
  • If the bear is at a distance, feeding, or walking by and notices you but continues its natural behavior, no action is needed on your part.
  • Proceed while continuing to observe the bear. If your presence causes the bear to change its behavior (stops feeding, changes its travel direction, watches you, etc.), you are too close.
  • Being too close may provoke aggressive behavior in the bear, such as running toward you, making loud noises, or swatting the ground. The bear is demanding more space. Don’t run, but slowly back away, watching the bear. Increase the distance between you and the bear. The bear will probably do the same.

Source: Black bear breaks in to 5 Asheville homes, still on loose

So that by God’s will I may come to you with joy and be refreshed in your company.
Romans 15:32

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How much does backcountry rescue really cost?

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Last month, a hiker on a high-alpine plateau just beneath the summit headwall of the highest peak in Montana made a painful calculation. David Cifaldi had taken a fall on his way to Granite Peak in the Beartooth Mountains, near the Montana-Wyoming border, and ended up with the sharp end of a trekking pole driven through his torso.  His dilemma was widely reported by news outlets and online commentators: He could sit tight for a helicopter to whisk him away, or he could hike 10 miles back to the trailhead with his gruesome injury. Cifaldi, a 32-year-old nurse from Billings, decided the physical puncture would be preferable over the pain in his pocketbook.

“‘Tis but a flesh wound,” Cifaldi told his friends, according to The Associated Press. He said he didn’t want to be on the hook for a sky-high helicopter rescue bill. “Search and rescue coming to help you is free,” he said. “The flight’s not. That was a factor in me deciding to self-rescue.” Mott But how high would the cost of a wilderness helicopter rescue actually run — and based on what factors?  The answer is complicated. Search and rescue in Montana is largely a public service, funded by taxpayers and carried out mostly by volunteers.

But once a helicopter enters the airspace, the economics can change dramatically. Federal law has given people with health insurance more protection from surprise bills, but the particulars of backcountry rescue — and the particulars of different insurance plans — remain confusing. Even officials acknowledge there’s no simple answer to the question Cifaldi faced on Froze-to-Death Plateau.

How backcountry rescue works

Backcountry recreation is growing across the region and the country. Since search and rescue (SAR) groups are coordinated at the county level, comprehensive data doesn’t exist. But survey data provided by Nannette Gilbertson, executive director of the Montana Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association, shows that Montana search and rescue teams worked more than 13,700 hours on at least 306 missions in 2024. In 2025, SAR teams responded to at least 272 missions, working nearly 12,000 hours. When a SAR team receives a call about a backcountry rescue, a complex chain of events begins.

While some details vary from place to place, three SAR coordinators from across southwest Montana described the process playing out like this: Officials assess the danger and urgency of the situation, and the resources available. Can a rescue team get there on foot quickly enough to provide useful aid? If so, they will, using the resources they have.  “Our job is to get people out of bad places as quickly and effectively as we can, and then get them to the next level of care,” said Matt Boxmeyer, SAR captain with the Gallatin County Sheriff’s Office and chairman of the Montana Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association Search and Rescue Subcommittee. 

In Montana and in most states across the country, search and rescue operations are a public good. In general they’re funded by taxpayer dollars, along with donations and grants in some cases. The people doing the work are overwhelmingly volunteers. “Search and rescue is never going to send a bill to anybody for anything,” chief deputy with the Stillwater County Sheriff’s Office Ty Williams said. “Just the same concept as the Sheriff’s Office doesn’t charge to respond to an emergency at your house, we’re not going to charge to respond to an emergency in the backcountry.” 

If a boots-on-the-ground approach isn’t an option, SAR teams will consider a helicopter — and that’s where cost calculations get tricky, depending on the helicopter teams nearby and the technicality of the rescue. Some are free, public resources. Some are operated by nonprofit companies. And others still are run by private companies with bills totalling tens of thousands of dollars for which the rescuee may or may not be on the hook.

When a helicopter costs money

When someone in the backcountry needs urgent medical care and a transport to a hospital, rescuers call in a private air ambulance when other available resources can’t meet their needs. In those cases, the private company will send a bill to the patient’s insurance company, said Nicci Urbigkit with Guardian Flight Wyoming, a private operator in Cody.  “When most people think about air rescue, they picture the helicopter,” Urbigkit said in an emailed statement.

“What they don’t always see is that we’re really delivering a mobile intensive care unit to patients who may be hours away from definitive treatment. Our job is to bring advanced medical care directly to the patient and get them to the right hospital as quickly and safely as possible.” Urbigkit declined to provide a specific figure for the average cost of a Guardian flight. She said the exact number varies based on the patient’s medical condition, the distance traveled and the level of care required. 

“We’re really delivering a mobile intensive care unit to patients who may be hours away from definitive treatment.” NICCI URBIGKIT, GUARDIAN FLIGHT

WYOMING A 2016-2017 analysis by the Brookings Institution found that air ambulance trips cost an average of about $32,000. Loren Adler, a health economist and the study’s author, said those costs have continued to rise in years since. He estimates the average air ambulance flight now comes closer to $50,000. In a traditional market, Adler said, a consumer can pick and choose what service to utilize ahead of time. Market forces set prices. Companies compete against each other. Fundamentally, the consumer has the power of choice.

But for air ambulances — whether in the front- or backcountry — “it’s all post-hoc,” Adler said.  “There’s not really any sort of functioning market for air ambulances in the U.S. right now,” Adler said. Injured in the backcountry, people in need of rescue don’t get to pick between companies. For years, that meant patients could be hit with enormous out-of-network bills after being transported by an air ambulance. But federal law has changed that landscape.

What insurance covers

The No Surprises Act, a bipartisan federal bill that went into effect in 2022, overhauled how air ambulance billing works. According to the law, insurers must treat all air ambulances as in-network. Adler said that change means the days of surprising, astronomical bills are over — at least in theory. County Search and Rescue Prior to the No Surprises Act, patients were faced with out-of-network charges they had no say in after many emergency medical situations.

They might get released from the hospital only to find their insurer would only cover a tiny fraction of their bill. “Air ambulances were one of the most extreme versions of this just because you are almost always dealing with a five-figure bill,” Adler said. But the No Surprises Act doesn’t mean air ambulances are free to use — all of a person’s costs depend on their insurance plan. If a patient has a high deductible and cost-sharing, they can still be on the hook for a lot of cash. But Adler said they might incur those fees from a hospital visit anyway.

“You can still get stuck with a high bill, but at least it’s being treated as a traditional in-network medical service rather than the old days where you could often get these $20,000 or $30,000 balance bills,” he said.  In some backcountry rescue scenarios, a patient may still need to use a ground ambulance, a service not covered by the No Surprises Act. Still, Adler said patients with commercial insurance are far better protected today than they were before the law took effect. “It’s not nothing,” he said about the bills patients could be left with.

“But I think it’s going to be much more something someone’s willing to pay.” But there’s another important caveat to the overall picture of backcountry rescue: Not every helicopter rescue is an air ambulance. 

Rescue helicopter hovering above climbers on a snowy mountain ridge
A rescue helicopter hovers above climbers assisting an injured person on a snowy alpine ridge.

The choppers that don’t send a bill

Montana SAR teams have access to a variety of public and nonprofit helicopters that might get called in for a rescue — and wouldn’t charge a patient a dime.  The Air Force and National Guard both have helicopter units that can respond to emergencies. These are federal resources, funded by taxpayer dollars and free of charge to injured backcountry recreators. These federal choppers can come with highly-trained medical personnel and rope-hoist systems for technical backcountry rescues. 

However, those federal resources aren’t always available for a rescue or fast enough to reach far-away patients. A federal chopper might need to take off from Great Falls to access a stranded climber near the Wyoming border. That can take hours.  Federal policy also dictates that SAR teams can only call in federal resources when private companies aren’t available or are inadequate. “Basically the federal government does not want to take work away from private companies,” Williams said.  Search and rescue responders conduct subjective and urgent calculus when responding to backcountry emergencies: “Am I putting the patient at greater risk by not getting them the fastest resources?”

Park County Sheriff Tad Dykstra said.  Private choppers have limitations, too: They might not be able to reach certain elevations, or might lack the equipment or personnel necessary for highly technical rescues where terrain limits landing and rescue options. In these cases, responders can go straight to federal resources when necessary. Finally, some counties, and even a nonprofit in the state, have resources that come at no cost to the person being rescued, making a stranded person’s location and the availability of local resources a significant factor in their luck of the draw.

Gallatin County, for example, has a renowned high-angle rescue team. Yellowstone County has access to a helicopter, too. Two Bear Air, a nonprofit based in Kalispell, never charges either rescuers or counties for their services.  Ultimately, SAR coordinators said that figuring out exactly which helicopter gets called in is a complex process that varies based on the situation: How severe is the emergency? Could you freeze, drown or bleed out? Is there somewhere to land, or will they need to hoist the person into the air?

Will the chopper need to treat the person in-air? Will they fly the patient to the hospital or to an ambulance waiting on the ground near the trailhead? And finally, who is available to get there before things get worse? The Absaroka Mountains are seen from above on Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025. Credit: Lauren Miller, Montana Free Press, CatchLight Local/Report for America Extracting a person from a dangerous situation differs from the medical treatment they might need.

If you’re stuck on a cliff or too dehydrated to continue on, a rescue helicopter may simply remove you from the backcountry. In those situations, a private air ambulance is unlikely, SAR responders said. But if you have a broken femur or a traumatic head injury deep in the wilderness, that could be a different story. “We look at each situation differently, and we’re not gonna call an air ambulance for someone that doesn’t need it,” Boxmeyer said.

While this decision-making process is playing out, those in need of a rescue are often in the dark, without service or any say in who ultimately comes to transport them out of the backcountry.Rescuees, like Cifaldi, can always decline a helicopter, or even a ground ambulance, if they’re capable of weighing the pros and cons. 

Don’t hesitate to call 

Several SAR officials noted that Cifaldi was a medical professional. In general, rescue officials don’t want recreators in need to forgo professional help. “With the nature of our mountains, it can easily turn into a body recovery if you’re not prepared to be in the backcountry,” Dykstra said. “I would much rather have people call and have our county pay for it than have someone expire in the backcountry just because they didn’t think they could afford it.”  As recreation grows — along with emergencies in the backcountry — Boxmeyer said whether and how to charge for SAR services has come up many times in policy discussions. But the conversation never seems to go anywhere. 

“We look at each situation differently, and we’re not gonna call an air ambulance for someone that doesn’t need it.” MATT BOXMEYER, SAR CAPTAIN WITH THE GALLATIN COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE

States like Colorado, New Hampshire and Utah offer buy-in programs that support search and rescue teams to alleviate pressures on local tax bases. A smattering of other states, including Idaho, Utah, Oregon and Maine, have caveats to their policies that allow SAR teams to charge rescuees in cases of negligence or entering closed areas.  Boxmeyer said charging for SAR services in Montana has been a non-starter.

At the heart of the decision-making is a core idea: The public shouldn’t be weighing their own safety against the cost of a rescue. In practice, of course — as Cifaldi’s case demonstrates — the public hasn’t fully grasped that sentiment.  SAR responders across the region stressed that recreators should be prepared for emergencies and carry a way to communicate. For added peace of mind, satellite companies like Garmin and Zoleo offer rescue insurance, and so do networks of air ambulances like Life Flight and other groups like the American Alpine Club — though SAR coordinators cautioned they couldn’t attest to how effective or comprehensive those plans are on the ground.

Boxmeyer said in practice, fears about big bills for backcountry rescue are overblown. He said Gallatin County responds to lots of rescues on and near Granite Peak, where Cifaldi hiked 10 miles with a pole through his torso to avoid a helicopter bill.  “I’ve had lots of friends call and ask me about that guy who hiked out of the Beartooths with a pole stuck through him,” Boxmeyer said. “He wouldn’t have received a bill from us.”

Source: How much does backcountry rescue really cost?

Diesel spill from truck crash near Floriston threatens local wildlife

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About 100 gallons of diesel spilled over the side of a bridge after a semi-truck accident in Nevada County, threatening nearby wildlife, state officials said. CDFW Two “saddle tanks” on a semi-truck ruptured in a vehicle crash near Floriston on Friday, releasing about 100 gallons of diesel over the side of a bridge at the collision site, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife wrote in a social media post Monday.

The CDFW’s Office of Spill Prevention and Response crew responded to the collision to investigate whether any fuel had entered the Truckee River running under the bridge. After the spill response crew cleaned the area, they determined that no diesel reached the river and no “oiled wildlife” was found, CDFW announced Monday.

Source: Diesel spill from truck crash near Floriston threatens local wildlife

So Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.
Hebrews 9:28

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The Power of Forgiveness in Christian Relationships

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Hands clasped in prayer beside an open Bible on a wooden windowsill

When life feels overwhelming, one of the most powerful ways to reflect Christ is simply to be present for someone else. God calls us to pray for others, forgive freely, and carry one another’s burdens, revealing His love through both our words and our actions.

In his book Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis wrote, “Do not waste your time bothering whether you ‘love’ your neighbor act as if you did. As soon as we do this, we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him. If you injure someone you dislike, you will find yourself disliking him more. If you do him a good turn, you will find yourself disliking him less.”

Our Daily Bread, February 14.

One of the greatest ways we can reflect the heart of Christ is by being there for others. God’s love is not distant or indifferent. He cares deeply about people and desires that they know His truth, experience His grace, and receive His salvation. As followers of Jesus, we are called to share that same concern for those around us.

praying hands of a person on white textile

Being there for others often begins with prayer. Paul reminds us in 1 Timothy that God desires all people to come to the knowledge of the truth. When we pray for family members, friends, coworkers, neighbors, and even strangers, we participate in God’s work in their lives. Our prayers become an expression of His love and our willingness to care about what matters to Him.

This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior,  who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth. I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling; 

1 Timothy 2:3-8

God’s desire is far greater than we often realize He wants all people to come to the knowledge of the truth and experience salvation through Jesus Christ. These verses remind us that Christ willingly gave Himself as a ransom for all, bridging the gap between sinful humanity and a holy God. Because of this incredible gift, believers are called to pray for others, including leaders and those in authority, so that God’s peace and truth may spread. Our prayers should reflect God’s love for people, free from anger, division, or selfish motives. As we seek God, we become partners in His mission of reaching the world with the gospel.

But being there for others also requires forgiveness. Relationships are rarely perfect. People disappoint us, misunderstand us, and sometimes hurt us deeply. Jesus teaches in Matthew 6 that forgiveness is essential for those who have experienced God’s mercy. When we choose forgiveness, we remove barriers that can keep us from loving and serving others well. Forgiveness creates room for compassion, healing, and restoration.

Sometimes being there for someone means offering encouragement. Other times it means listening without judgment, helping carry a burden, extending grace, or simply showing up when someone is struggling. These acts may seem small, but they can have a lasting impact. Through them, people often experience a glimpse of God’s love in a tangible way.

women embracing each other

For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Matthew 6:14-15

We can see that Jesus taught that forgiveness is not optional for those who follow Him. Having received God’s mercy, we are called to extend that same mercy to others. Forgiveness does not mean excusing wrong behavior or pretending the hurt never happened. Instead, it is a decision to release bitterness and surrender judgment to God. Unforgiveness can harden the heart and hinder our fellowship with the Lord, while forgiveness brings freedom, healing, and peace. As we remember how much God has forgiven us through Christ, we find the strength to forgive those who have wronged us and walk in the grace He freely gives.

Today, ask God to help you see people through His eyes. Pray for those around you, forgive freely, and look for opportunities to serve. Your presence, prayers, and compassion may be exactly what someone needs to experience the love of Christ.

Thought to Ponder

Who in your life needs your prayers, forgiveness, encouragement, or support today?

Journaling Prompt

Write down three people God has placed on your heart. How can you intentionally pray for them and demonstrate Christ’s love to them this week?

Prayer

Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for being present in my life through every season. Help me reflect Your heart by caring for others as You care for them. Teach me to pray faithfully, forgive generously, and serve willingly. Open my eyes to those who are hurting, lonely, or in need of encouragement. Use me as an instrument of Your love and grace, so that others may see Christ through my words and actions. In Jesus Name Amen.

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Hope in the dark

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Hiker walking on a narrow rocky mountain ridge with sun rays at sunrise

Pip: A mountain village, a wandering stranger, a mother weaving a basket by the river — Drink of Jesus has been building a world where ancient scripture lands like it’s happening right now, and this episode walks straight into it.

Mara: We’re covering three territories today: a story that reimagines the prologue of John, the biblical case for living without fear, and a lesson in faith drawn from a corner of Exodus that rarely gets the spotlight. Let’s start with that village and the light it found.

Village Light and Hope

Pip: The post “A Light in the Village” takes John 1 and sets it inside a firelit gathering in a mountain community that has nearly forgotten the old scrolls. The question it’s posing is simple and serious: what does it actually feel like when the Word arrives among people who stopped expecting it?

Mara: The stranger at the center of the story quotes directly from John 1, and the passage lands at the heart of it: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

Pip: That line does real work in the story. These are villagers who know darkness in the concrete sense — fear, hardship, loss. The post is asking whether that kind of light is stronger than the kind they already live with.

Mara: And the story doesn’t skip the harder verse. The stranger tells them the light came into the world, was unrecognized, and was rejected even by his own. Little Yani calls it sad. The stranger agrees — but the pivot is that those who did receive him were given the right to become children of God, which unsettles the villagers who assumed only the holy or important qualified.

Pip: Which is the real tension the post is after. Not a theology lecture — a room full of ordinary people realizing the invitation might actually include them.

Mara: Old Mira closes it: “If this light is real, then we must walk toward it. We have lived in shadows too long.” That’s the moment the village turns. And the post grounds it all in John 1:1–18, read aloud from a scroll the children find a year later.

Pip: From a village finding its light to something more direct — what scripture says when fear is already at the door.

Fearless Trust in God

Mara: “Fearless” opens with a declaration: there is no need to be afraid because you have a warrior beside you. The post builds its case entirely through scripture, and the anchor is Joshua 1:9: “Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Pip: That verse is the spine of the post. Joshua receiving it before entering Canaan — a moment of enormous personal stakes — and the post is saying that same command extends outward.

Mara: What this means in practice is that the post treats courage not as a personality trait but as a response to a promise already made. The Joshua 1:5 line comes first — “I will not leave you or forsake you” — and the command to be strong follows from that, not the other way around.

Pip: The post doesn’t stay in Joshua. It moves to 2 Kings, where Elisha’s servant is terrified until his eyes are opened and he sees the mountain full of horses and chariots of fire. The unseen army was already there. The fear was real; so was the thing the fear was missing.

Mara: And then Matthew 10:26 closes the scriptural arc: “So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.” The post is threading a consistent line — what looks overwhelming from one angle looks entirely different when the full picture is visible.

Pip: That’s a thread that runs straight into the next segment, where a mother acts on exactly that kind of trust before she can see how it ends.

Unusual Faith in Scripture

Mara: “Faith Like its Never Been Told” opens with the writer noting that God pointed them toward a story rarely taught as a faith lesson. The setup is Exodus 1 — a new Pharaoh, alarmed by Israel’s growth, orders the Hebrew midwives to kill every newborn son.

Pip: Which puts one mother in an impossible position. And the post’s argument is that what she does next is a masterclass in faith, even though her name barely appears in the text.

Mara: The post names her — Jochebed — and quotes the moment Pharaoh’s daughter finds the basket: “She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her servant woman, and she took it. When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby was crying. She took pity on him and said, ‘This is one of the Hebrews’ children.'”

Pip: Pity from the daughter of the man who ordered the killing. That is either the worst possible outcome or the exact hinge the whole plan turned on.

Mara: The post leans into that tension. Miriam, watching from the reeds, has to think fast — and she does, offering to find a Hebrew nurse. Pharaoh’s daughter agrees, Jochebed is brought back, and she is paid to raise her own son. The post’s conclusion is direct: because she trusted God with the outcome, she raised the man who would free her people.

Pip: The post calls it “faith in action” — not faith as a feeling, but as a thing you weave with your hands and place in the water before you know what happens next.

Mara: Which is the through line across everything today: light that doesn’t wait for recognition, courage that precedes the outcome, and a mother who lets go before the story resolves.

Pip: A stranger walks into a village. A warrior stands beside you. A basket floats downriver. The same trust, three different shapes.

Mara: And next time, more of what that trust looks like when the stakes get even harder to hold. Stay with us.

If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!
Luke 11:13

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Bear swipes at man in Colorado apartment complex and scratches his arm

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Paramedics treat a man beside an ambulance while a bear crosses a meadow

A bear swiped at a man and scratched his arm on Monday. That’s according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials, who said it happened in the afternoon at an apartment complex in Eagle County. CPW said the man was leaving a laundry room when the bear appeared and scratched him. He then tried to get away and tripped and hurt his foot. The man was treated at a medical center for both injuries and has since been released.

Wildlife officers made an attempt to locate the bear, a female, but so far haven’t been able to find it. They said they set a bear trap in the neighborhood, which is close to Eagle-Vail. “Wildlife officials believe the presence of a larger male bear in the area prompted the sow and cubs to stay away,” CPW wrote in a prepared statement. It has been an above-normal year for bear sightings and conflicts in Colorado.

Source: Bear swipes at man in Colorado apartment complex and scratches his arm – CBS Colorado

That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love.
Ephesians 3:16-17

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Nearly 30,000 pounds of Argentine beef sold in Texas, Florida recalled by Miami-area company

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Vacuum-sealed Argentine beef ribeye cuts with SENASA inspection labels

Shoppers in Texas and Florida are being asked to check their freezers for beef imported from Argentina that is now being recalled by federal officials. The Food and Drug Administration’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced Friday that Corte Argentino – a company based in Aventura, Florida – recalled nearly 30,000 pounds of raw beef products produced in May that have use or freeze-by dates between Sept. 15, 2026, and Sept. 20, 2026. The FSIS said the products were imported without the benefit of import reinspection into the United States. The service said the issue was discovered during routine inspection activities. Five products, all of which are boneless beef products in cardboard boxes of various weights and carry the “FrigorIfico Gorina SAIC” brand, are impacted:

  • “Top Sirloin Butt” (“Cuadril Sin Tapa”)
  • “Eye Round” (“Peceto”)
  • “Topside Cap Off” (“Nalga AD S/Tapa”)
  • “Flat” (“Carnaza Cuadrada”)
  • “Knuckle” (“Bola de Lomo”)

CBS News

Texas The FSIS said the products subject to the recall bear Argentine establishment number “EST. N° OF. 2025” and shipping mark “26644-AA”. While it’s not known which stores may have sold the beef, the service said the products were distributed to distributors and retailers in both states. While no illnesses or injuries have been reported as a result of eating the beef, the FSIS urges anyone with concerns to contact a healthcare provider. The service also said anyone who still has the beef should either throw it away or return it to the place of purchase. Anyone with questions about the recall can email Corte Argentino at info@corteargentinoinc.com.

Recall comes after U.S. ranchers’ opposition The recall of the Corte Argentino beef comes nearly a year after President Donald Trump announced a plan to import more meat from Argentina as part of a deal signed with his counterpart, Argentine President Javier Milei, as part of a plan to cut record beef prices. However, that plan was met with heated opposition from U.S. ranchers and skepticism from experts who said it likely wouldn’t lead to lower prices at grocery stores. The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, along with the Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund United Stockgrowers of America and other farming groups — who are normally some of the president’s biggest supporters — all criticized Trump’s plan because of what it could do to American ranchers and feedlot operators. And agricultural economists say Argentine beef accounts for such a small slice of beef imports — only about 2% — that even doubling that wouldn’t change prices much.  

Several factors have sent beef prices soaring, starting with continued strong demand combined with the smallest U.S. herd size since 1961. In part, that small herd is due to years of drought and low cattle prices. Further, Kansas State University agricultural economist Glynn Tonsor said Argentina can’t produce enough beef to offset those other losses of imports. “We’re always going to have uncertainty in the world. But the more uncertain something is, the less likely most are to put money on the line,” Tonsor said.

Source: Nearly 30,000 pounds of Argentine beef sold in Texas, Florida recalled by Miami-area company – CBS Texas

But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.
Luke 12:48

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Rabies alerts issued in Harford, Anne Arundel counties involving racoon, bat and fox

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Raccoon foraging beside dense vegetation in a suburban backyard

Health officials in Harford and Anne Arundel counties have issued new rabies alerts involving a racoon, a fox and a bat. The Harford County Health Department said Tuesday it had received confirmation from state health officials that two animals — a racoon and a fox — had tested positive for the rabies virus.  The rabid raccoon was found near the 200 block of Cooley Mill Road, in Havre de Grace, while the rabid fox was found near the 700 block of Walters Mill Road in Forest Hill, Maryland. The health department said the rabid animals may have exposed people or pets in surrounding areas.    

“Witnessing a raccoon, fox, or other wildlife is not cause for alarm,” the department said in a statement. “But if you or your pets have had contact with a raccoon or fox near the specified areas, please call the Harford County Health Department at 410-877-2300 for follow-up.” Anne Arundel bat alert In Anne Arundel County, an alert was issued by the health department seeking information about anyone who might have come in contact with an infected bat found outside Almondbury Drive in Pasadena. A statement said the bat was found August 9 and tested positive for rabies. The Arundel County Department of Health is urging anyone who might have come into contact with the bat to contact the department at 410-222-7254. Area residents who discover unexplained wounds on their pets should also reach out to report the injuries. 

Rabies is spread by the bite or scratch of an infected animal, such as a groundhog, cat, fox, raccoon, skunk or bat. It is also spread when an infected animal’s saliva comes in contact with the eyes, nose, mouth or open cut of a person or another animal. Latest warnings follow recent biting incidents Preventive treatment might be required for anyone who handled, fed or was attacked by the infected animal. Rabies is a fatal disease, and preventive treatment (injections) must be started as soon as possible. The latest reports of rabid animals follows an incident in July in which a beaver infected with rabies bit a 13-year-old boy at Cunningham Falls State Park in Maryland’s Frederick County.

The boy sustained injuries to his hands and chest and was flown to Johns Hopkins Hospital for treatment.   Then, earlier this month, a 19-year-old man was bitten on the leg while visiting Cunningham Falls State Park. 

Source: Rabies alerts issued in Harford, Anne Arundel counties involving racoon, bat and fox – CBS Baltimore

For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
Matthew 6:14

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Bay Area animal rescue and zoo needs help to recover from severe storm damage

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Seals resting on rocks in a fenced marine enclosure overlooking a coastal sunset and two people walking a dog on a path nearby

CuriOdyssey, a San Mateo animal rescue and zoo is still cleaning up after being battered by the winter storms. The powerful storms also destroyed animals’ habitats, obscured walkways and made it dangerous for staff and visitors.

Source: Bay Area animal rescue and zoo needs help to recover from severe storm damage – YouTube

Let no one seek his own, but each one the other’s well-being.
1 Corinthians 10:24

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Unity in the Body of Christ: Breaking Down Barriers

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Stone church with bell tower and graveyard under cloudy sky with sunbeam

Division within the church is one of the enemy’s greatest tools because it weakens unity, damages witness, and distracts believers from the mission of Christ. I personally believe that all of the denominations and interpretations are a disease that the devil created to separate Gods children. If you look around it works pretty good. Jesus warned in Matthew 12:25 that “every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand.” When bitterness, gossip, jealousy, pride, and unforgiveness take root, the body of Christ begins to fracture from within.

Galatians 5:15 gives another sobering warning: “But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.” Many times division begins quietly through offense, competition, misunderstandings, ego, or personal agendas. Instead of building one another up, people begin tearing each other down. What should be a place of healing becomes a battlefield of opinions, power struggles, and wounded hearts.

Yet God sees beyond outward appearances. Jeremiah 17:10 says, “I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins.” God scrutinizes and examines our motives, pride, selfish ambition, and hidden bitterness that fuel division. Sometimes the greatest issue is not theology or disagreement, it is the condition of the heart. 2 Timothy 4:3-4 “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.” 

The solution to a divided church begins with repentance, humility, and returning to the love of Christ. Ephesians 4:2–3 calls believers to walk“with all lowliness and humility, with patience, bearing with one another in love, being eager to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” Healing comes when believers choose forgiveness over offense, prayer over gossip, humility over pride, and truth spoken in love over destructive conflict. Unity does not mean everyone agrees on everything, it means Christ remains greater than our personal preferences.

A healthy church is not built by perfect people but by fully surrendered people who allow God to transform their hearts. When the church chooses love, accountability, grace, and biblical truth, division will completely loose its power.

Thought to Ponder:
Is your heart helping build unity within the body of Christ, or is it unknowingly contributing to division?

Journaling Prompt:
What attitudes, wounds, or unresolved conflicts could God be asking you to surrender for the sake of unity and healing?

Prayer:
Dear Heavenly Father, search my heart and remove anything that causes division, pride, or bitterness. Help Your church walk in humility, love, forgiveness, and truth. Teach us to honor one another and remain united in Christ even through disagreements. Bring healing where there is conflict and restore peace within Your people. In Jesus Name Amen.

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