George Floyd was born in North Carolina and moved to Houston as a baby. He grew into a talented athlete who played football and basketball, receiving a basketball scholarship to Florida State University.

According to the mother of his six-year-old daughter, he didn’t finish school, eventually returning to Houston, where he became involved in music. He left the city for Minneapolis around 2018.

“Being black in America should not be a death sentence” 

On Monday, police officers responded to a “forgery in progress.” A police statement says they were “advised that the suspect was sitting on top of a blue car and appeared to be under the influence. Two officers arrived and located the suspect, an African American male believed to be in his 40s, in his car. He was ordered to step out of his car.

“After he got out, he physically resisted officers. Officers were able to get the suspect into handcuffs and noted he appeared to be suffering medical distress. Officers called for an ambulance.”

However, the police statement left out a scene recorded by a bystander that has shocked the nation: a Minneapolis police officer keeps his knee on Mr. Floyd’s neck for eight minutes, during which the unarmed man repeatedly cried out, “I can’t breathe!”

“Please, please, I can’t breathe. Please, man, please,” Mr. Floyd said to the officer. “I can’t move. Everything hurts. Give me some water or something, please. I can’t breathe, officer.” As the officer continued to crush his neck with his knee, Mr. Floyd added, “They’re going to kill me. They’re going to kill me, man.”

An ambulance then took Mr. Floyd to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

By Tuesday afternoon, the four officers involved had been fired. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey called Mr. Floyd’s death “simply awful” and “wrong at every level.” He stated: “This man’s life matters, he matters. He was someone’s son, someone’s family member, someone’s friend. He was a human being and his life mattered.”

The mayor added: “Being black in America should not be a death sentence.”

“A punch in the gut for a lot of people” 

Christian Cooper is a Harvard graduate who serves on the board of the New York City Audubon Society and has long been a prominent bird watcher in New York City.

Continue reading Denison Forum – The death of George Floyd and confrontation in Central Park: Praying for a Pentecost miracle today →

Jon Steingard is a pastor’s son and a musician, singer, and songwriter. He has been the lead singer for the Christian band Hawk Nelson since March 2012.

Now he has made an Instagram announcement that is generating headlines: “After growing up in a Christian home, being a pastor’s kid, playing and singing in a Christian band, and having the word ‘Christian’ in front of most of the things in my life—I am now finding that I no longer believe in God.”

He explained: “The process of getting to that sentence has been several years in the making. It’s more like pulling on the threads of a sweater, and one day discovering that there was no more sweater left.”

I am glad to report that several Christian musicians responded not with criticism or condemnation but with unconditional grace. Tenth Avenue North singer Mike Donehey wrote: “Man, I love that you shared this. You know I’m always around to talk about our belief in God or lack thereof. Love you and always will.” Another added: “To echo so many others here, I have nothing but love in my heart for [you], old friend.”

A foundational problem for the church in our culture 

I don’t know any more about Jon Steingard’s faith story than I have read today. I don’t know what issues caused him to come to this decision, whether they are personal, rational, cultural, or relational. My purpose is not to criticize him in any way.

Instead, I’d like to think with you about his statement, “I no longer believe in God,” since it’s a sentiment many share today.

One of C. S. Lewis’s most profound essays was titled “God in the Dock.” (In the British court system, the accused stands in the “dock”; we might change the title to “God on Trial.”)

According to Lewis, “The ancient man approached God (or even the gods) as the accused person approaches his judge. For the modern man, the roles are quite reversed. He is the judge: God is in the dock. He is quite a kindly judge; if God should have a reasonable defense for being the god who permits war, poverty, and disease, he is ready to listen to it. The trial may even end in God’s acquittal. But the important thing is that man is on the bench and God is in the dock.”

The declaration, “I no longer believe in God,” or its opposite, “I believe in God,” identifies God as the object to my subject. I have the right and capacity to choose whether or not I believe in him, just as I can decide whether or not I believe in the internet or marriage.

This kind of relationship describes many people who would disagree with Jon Steingard’s statement but agree with its subject-object assumptions.

This is a foundational problem for the church in our culture.

Why I believe in the internet 

I believe in the internet, not because I can prove its existence on logical or scientific grounds (I don’t know enough about it to do so), but because I am experiencing it as I write this article on my Wi-Fi-connected computer. I believe in marriage not on logical grounds, but because I have experienced it for nearly forty years.

God does not seek to be an object in whom we choose to believe. He seeks to be a Father with whom we have a daily, transforming personal relationship.

Unfortunately, in our consumeristic, capitalistic culture, we have commodified this intimate relationship into a religion we can “buy” or “sell” as we wish. Inheriting Greco-Roman transactional religion, we have separated our souls from our bodies and Sunday from Monday.

As a result, too many of us see Jesus as our Savior but not as our friend (John 15:15). As we noted yesterday, he wants to lead us, empower us, and use us every moment of every day. But we must choose to be led, empowered, and used.

Your six-word mantra for today 

If you are experiencing Jesus as a living, daily presence in your life, you know what I’m talking about. You don’t need to tell us that you “believe in God” any more than you would say you believe in your spouse, child, parent, or best friend. If you’re experiencing someone personally, of course you believe that they exist.

If you have asked Jesus to be your Savior but you’re not experiencing him in this way, know that he is more available to you than even your spouse, child, parent, or best friend. That’s because his Spirit lives in you (1 Corinthians 3:16).

Jesus knows your past (cf. John 4:17–18), present (cf. John 1:48–50), and future (cf. Acts 9:6). He knows your thoughts (cf. Matthew 9:4) and secrets (cf. Luke 12:2). He will speak intuitively to your spirit by his Spirit (cf. Romans 8:16; Acts 16:6–10), practically through your circumstances (cf. 1 Corinthians 16:9), and rationally through his word and your reason (cf. Luke 24:27).

However, as with any relationship, we need time with Jesus to experience him more personally and powerfully. Let me encourage you to make some time for him today. Enter his presence in praise (Psalm 100:4), confess your sins and claim his forgiving grace (1 John 1:9), then ask him to speak to you through his word and your world. Tell him about your problems and fears and ask him for his guidance and help.

Now take note of the thoughts that enter your mind and the circumstances that change in your day. Envision Jesus walking beside you as your shepherd, leading and providing for you (John 10:27). Ask him to make himself more real to you than you have ever known him to be.

Make these six words your mantra today: “Speak, for your servant is listening” (1 Samuel 3:10 NIV).

Why not right now?

Denison Forum

Yesterday was a Memorial Day unlike any in memory. Outdoor concerts and events were limited; parades to honor our fallen veterans were driven rather than walked. But the pandemic did not deter us from remembering with gratitude those who died for our freedoms.

As I reflected yesterday on more than one million women and men who died that we might live, I read John Stonestreet’s Memorial Day column. John’s BreakPoint articles are always excellent, but this one especially impressed me.

In it, John shared a story Chuck Colson once told to honor Memorial Day. It was February 1945, three months before World War II ended in Europe. Eighteen-year-old Sergeant Joseph George was stationed in France and was preparing to go out on evening patrol.

His friend, Private James Caudill, volunteered to take his place. He pointed out that, at age thirty-six, he was nearly twice as old as George. He told him, “You’re young. Go home. Get married. Live a full, rich life.” Then Private Caudill went out on patrol.

A few hours later, he was killed by a German sniper.

Sgt. Joseph George returned home safely. He married and fathered five sons. One of them, Princeton Professor Robert George, has been identified by the New York Times as “this country’s most influential conservative thinker.”

Dr. George and his brothers will always know that their father survived the war because his friend died in his place.

“I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting” 

Isaiah 50 is one of the “suffering servant” sections of the book (along with 42:1–4; 49:1–6; and 52:13–53:12). Each foretold what our Savior would experience centuries later.

In our text, the Servant (Jesus) testifies: “The Lord GOD has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with a word him who is weary. Morning by morning he awakens; he awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught” (Isaiah 50:4).

Continue reading Denison Forum – A soldier lived because another soldier died: The transforming relevance of the Suffering Servant today →

Today is Memorial Day, an observance held annually in the United States on the last Monday in May. On this day, we especially remember the more than 1.3 million Americans who have died in our nation’s wars.

As the son and grandson of soldiers and a proud and grateful American, I want to honor this day each year in the Daily Article and each day in my heart.

However, there is a companion theme on this Memorial Day I’d like us to consider as well.

A nurse with tears in her eyes 

I had minor outpatient surgery last week. I say that only to say that I interacted with several medical staff in the days leading up to and through the procedure. Each of them was wearing a mask and gloves; several were wearing protective gowns as well.

That’s because, so far as they knew, I was infected with COVID-19 and capable of spreading the infection to them.

One nurse with whom I spoke had an especially touching story. When she and her colleagues were cleared to return to work several weeks ago, her daughter moved out of their home. This daughter has been living with her older brother because her mother could become infected with SARS-CoV-2 at work and bring the infection home to her.

As a result, this nurse has not been in the physical presence of her daughter for two months. They speak over Skype or Zoom every day, but it’s not the same. I will not forget her or the tears in her eyes as she told me her story.

Thousands of healthcare workers have been infected with COVID-19 so far. Add to them the multiplied thousands of people working in other frontline capacities during this pandemic, from those who deliver groceries and supplies to those who police our streets to keep us safe.

Each of them is risking their life and their family to serve us.

How best can we observe this Memorial Day during a pandemic? Consider three biblical priorities.

One: Remember 

Paul said of the Philippians, “I thank my God in all my remembrance of you” (Philippians 1:3). Like him, we should remember those we are honoring today and express gratitude to God for them and their families.

Take time today to think about the 1.3 million women and men who have died to protect the freedoms you enjoy. Envision their lives and sacrifice; consider the years they lost in serving our nation. If you know a member of their families, express your gratitude to them for the sacrifice their loved ones made for you.

I especially encourage you to participate in the National Moment of Remembrance by stopping at 3:00 p.m. local time for one minute of silence. If you know a veteran or current member of the military, find a way to express your gratitude to them as well.

Extend this commitment to the healthcare providers and other frontline workers you know. Find a way to express your gratitude today and every day.

Two: Pray 

Paul said of the Ephesians, “I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers” (Ephesians 1:16). As he prayed for them, we should pray for those we are considering today.

Pray for our military and their families, asking God for their protection and encouragement. Pray for those who have lost loved ones in the service of our country, asking God for their strength and peace.

And pray for our healthcare workers and others on the frontlines of this pandemic. Ask God to keep them and their families safe. Pray for them to feel the encouragement and gratitude of our nation.

Three: Emulate 

Think of the millions of women and men who chose to serve our nation at the cost of their lives. Consider their families living with the pain of their loss. Think about the women and men serving in harm’s way around the world, willing to die that we might live. And consider the healthcare providers and other frontline workers who are serving us at risk to themselves and those they love.

You and I may not be called into their service, but we have our own kingdom assignments. With our calling comes a commitment to fulfill that calling at any cost. Those God uses most fully are those who are most fully surrendered to his use.

Scripture teaches, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men” (Colossians 3:23). Paradoxically, this is the best way to serve the Lord and men.

The path to “true happiness” 

Remember, then pray, then emulate.

Helen Keller noted: “True happiness is not attained through self-gratification, but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.”

What “worthy purpose” will you serve with your life?

Denison Forum

A copper box was recently removed from the century-old amphitheater at Arlington National Cemetery. It had been sealed in 1915. Among its contents were a signed photograph of President Woodrow Wilson, copies of Washington’s four newspapers, a tiny American flag, a Washington city directory, and a Bible wrapped in brown paper and tied up in a red string.

The time capsule, officially called a “memorabilia box,” had been placed in the original cornerstone for the amphitheater in 1915. The structure was not completed for five years. When the cemetery celebrated the amphitheater’s centennial, the box was opened.

Cemetery command historian Steve Carney noted that the box is a chance “to reflect on, what was the world like in 1915.” He noted: “Within three years, the United States is a completely different place. We’ve seen the horrors of World War I, and we’re in the midst of the Spanish influenza. . . . What a different place and what a different memorabilia box that would have been if it was placed in 1920.”

A surprise came when the capsule was removed and a strange container was found sitting next to it. In the 1990s, when the capsule was moved to its present location, there was some extra space beside it. Workers took the opportunity to add a mini time capsule of their own. They gathered their business cards and wrote some notes, then they looked for a container.

Continue reading Denison Forum – What a time capsule from 1915 contained: The power of loving God with all your heart →

Todd Tilghman grew up in Meridian, Mississippi. He and Brooke, his high school sweetheart, were married in 1998. He eventually became pastor of his home church.

Todd and Brooke had three children, then adopted a daughter from South Korea and her biological sister. The couple then had three more children for a total of eight.

Todd never sang outside of church services. However, his wife urged him to wait in line for hours at an open audition for the singing competition, The Voice. “I am really thankful that she believed in me in a place in my life where I didn’t even realize that I had sort of stopped believing in myself,” he said later.

As the competition progressed, whether viewers were Christians or not, they could tell that there was something different about him. His peace, serenity, humility, and humor came through all season long.

This week, he sang I Can Only Imagine during the show’s final competition. The next night, he became the oldest person ever to win The Voice.

Why we should love God with all our “soul” 

This week, we’re discussing ways to love our neighbor during this pandemic by loving God with our heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12:30–31). We’ve seen that when we love God with our strength through practical commitment, we will love others in the same way. If we love him with our minds through biblical study and submission to his Spirit, we will love him with our strength and our neighbors as well.

Today, let’s think about what it means to love the Lord with “all your soul.” The word soul (psyche in the Greek) occurs about one hundred times in the New Testament. It points to the inner life, often with reference to the emotions.

Across Scripture, the psyche is associated with pleasure (Matthew 12:18), happiness (Luke 12:19), and sorrow (Mark 14:34; Luke 2:35). In contrast with our heart, mind, and strength, to love God with our soul is to love him emotionally and intuitively.

Such an intimate, personal relationship with Jesus will empower us to spend time in Scripture and to think biblically. It will move us to serve the One we love in practical ways. And it will motivate us to love others as we are loved.

This kind of deep relationship with Jesus will be obvious to others. As with Todd Tilghman, people will see the passionate joy in our lives, and they will want what we have.

Research shows the power of prayer 

Loving God with our souls is especially urgent in this difficult season.

Continue reading Denison Forum – What makes ‘The Voice’ winner so special: The joy of loving God with ‘all your soul’ →

Ravi Zacharias, one of the most effective apologists and communicators in the Christian world, died yesterday at the age of seventy-four.

He was born on March 26, 1946, in Chennai, India. His family went to church and observed Christian rituals, but he said he never heard the gospel. “I attended more Hindu festivals and celebrations than I did Christian ones,” he wrote in Christianity Today.

As a young man, Zacharias attended a Youth for Christ rally, where he responded to the invitation with what he later termed “a kind of half-hearted commitment.” At the age of seventeen, in response to poor academic performance that he felt brought shame on his family, he took poison to kill himself.

He was rushed to the hospital, where a representative of Youth for Christ left him a Bible opened to John 14 and Jesus’ statement, “Because I live, you also will live.”

“Jesus,” he prayed, “if you are the One who gives life as it is meant to be, I want it. Please get me out of this hospital bed well, and I promise I will leave no stone unturned in my pursuit of truth.”

God answered his prayer, and Ravi Zacharias kept his promise.

“Let My People Think” 

Zacharias received a bachelor of theology degree from Ontario Bible College (now Tyndale University College and Seminary in Toronto) in 1972 and a master of divinity degree from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois, four years later. In 1984, he founded Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM).

Zacharias preached the gospel in more than seventy countries. He wrote or edited more than twenty-five books about theology, apologetics, comparative religion, and philosophy. RZIM has grown to about two hundred employees in sixteen offices around the world with twenty traveling speakers. Their ministry strategies include evangelism, apologetics, humanitarian aid, spiritual growth, and training institutes at Oxford University and elsewhere.

He wrote the bestseller, Can Man Live Without God? His most recent book, The Logic of God: 52 Christian Essentials for the Heart and Mind, won the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association’s 2020 Christian Book Award in the Bible study category.

Let My People Think, a weekly radio program, airs on more than two thousand outlets in thirty-two countries. A television program by the same name is broadcast on thirty-one stations in Canada and Belize, with global coverage into Africa, China, and Europe. A version of the program airs in his native India as well.  Continue reading Denison Forum – From poison to Christ: How the life and legacy of Ravi Zacharias inspire us to love God with our minds →

“Why are ghosts such bad liars? Because you can see right through them.”

Ethan LyBrand has been supplying a “Joke of the Day” such as this one during the pandemic. His audience is part of what makes this such a terrific story: Ethan is filming his jokes to share through the Muscular Dystrophy Association’s (MDA) social channels.

Another aspect of the story is that Ethan is only ten, but he is finding a way to make a difference. Here’s yet another: Ethan has Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. Diagnosed two days before his second birthday, he tires easily and periodically uses a motorized chair for mobility.

Despite his challenges, Ethan intends to tell jokes “as long as the quarantine lasts.”

“Young trailblazers” who are “stepping up” 

Ethan is not the only young person taking the initiative to help others during this crisis: Forbes is reporting on eight “young trailblazers stepping up during the pandemic.” One built a grocery delivery robot. Another is making see-through masks for the hearing impaired. Another is 3D-printing face shields.

On the other end of the spectrum, an eighty-eight-year-old Air Force veteran named Bob Coleman is sharing his love for country music on a new online radio hour known as “Radio Recliner.” He is one of several retirees serving as DJs for the sixty-minute show. Listeners can send song requests dedicated to friends or family.

Volunteers are stepping up to serve seniors as well. For example, employees of the city of Plano, Texas, launched bi-weekly Senior Care Calls. City staff are asking how older people are doing and connecting them to community resources as needed. The AARP has a similar service for senior adults.

Loving God with “all your strength” 

Yesterday, we focused on the second Great Commandment to love our neighbor as ourselves (Mark 12:31). Today, we’ll begin discussing the first Great Commandment to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” (v. 30).

Continue reading Denison Forum – Ten-year-old’s ‘Joke of the Day’ is making a difference: A practical way to ‘know God’s presence’ →

Ed Jackson was a professional rugby player before a spinal injury in April 2017 shattered his career and left him paralyzed from the neck down. After months of therapy, he was able to regain some use of his body. However, he suffers from Brown-Séquard syndrome, a neurological condition in which his left side does not function well while his right side does but has no sensation.

This challenge has not deterred Jackson. To aid in his rehabilitation, he began climbing mountains. He started with Mount Snowdon, the tallest point in Wales at 3,560 feet. Last October, he climbed the Mera Peak in the Himalayas, an elevation of more than twenty-one thousand feet.

Jackson wanted to climb Mount Everest, but the coronavirus shutdown made that impossible. So he brought the mountain to himself: he decided to climb the equivalent of the world’s tallest mountain on his stairs at home to raise money for a spinal charity. His goal was 5,566 flights of stairs and 89,058 steps over four days.

Using his right leg to climb and dragging his left leg behind him, Jackson achieved his goal, raising more than $36,000 for spinal cord research. He posted later, “Right what’s next? Thinking Tour de France around the parents’ kitchen.”

Ten-year-old builds a “hug curtain” for her grandparents 

Researchers from Harvard Medical School and Emory University published a paper last week comparing COVID-19-related deaths in the US to the deadliest week of an average influenza season. Their conclusion: COVID-19 is killing twenty times more people per week than does the flu.

However, despite the pandemic’s ongoing devastation, people are finding creative ways to do what matters most to them.

For example, a ten-year-old California girl used a shower curtain, Ziploc bags, disposable plates, and a hot glue gun to create an ingenious “hug curtain” through which she could hug her grandparents. A judge in the District of Columbia is officiating virtually at weddings using her computer at home.

And a thirty-four-year-old man in New York City has created a charity to provide meals for some of the thirty-six thousand Holocaust survivors in the city. He states that 40 percent of them live in poverty.

“See, they say, how they love one another” 

Early Christians had no buildings of their own; during the pandemic, ours are vacant. Early believers had to be careful of public meetings, lest they arouse the suspicions of Roman officials; during the pandemic, believers are practicing social distancing or meeting virtually.

Continue reading Denison Forum – Quadriplegic climbs Mount Everest at home: A question I hope you’ll ask today →

Earlier this week, the body of a spent Chinese rocket became the largest piece of space junk to fall uncontrolled toward our planet in decades. According to the US Space Force’s 18th Space Control Squadron, the core passed directly over New York City before scattering debris on the west coast of Africa, though no injuries have been reported as of this morning.

If re-entry had been just a few minutes earlier, debris could reportedly have showered the Big Apple.

In other bad news that has not become news, the Asian “murder hornets” making headlines these days are apparently not as dangerous as their nickname suggests. An entomologist writing in the Conversation states that Asian giant hornets will defend their nests, but “in most cases they will not do anything if people aren’t aggressive toward them.” They are fairly common in Japan, where wasp and hornet stings kill less than 0.00001 percent of the national population.

In other bad news, a Red Sox reporter named Chris Cotillo found himself with a lot of spare time when the baseball season was suspended. Here’s the good news: he began auctioning sports merchandise to help charities in the area. He has raised $57,000 so far; others on the Boston sports scene have joined him, bringing the total close to $100,000.

And the website Travel Trivia lists “7 ways travel will change for the better in a post-pandemic world.” Among them: more travel close to home will cut carbon emissions; wildlife will thrive, and we’ll see it more often; and airplanes and hotels will be “cleaner than we could have ever imagined.”

When God’s call feels like bad news

Bad news that doesn’t become news is good news. Challenges can often be reframed as opportunities.

What is true in our culture is also true in our souls.

In my personal Bible study, I have been impressed recently with how often God calls us to complete, unconditional obedience to his word and will. For example, I noted this week that Caleb followed God “fully” (Numbers 14:24) and thus was able to enter the Promised Land.

I am reading Psalm 119 these days, where I found this testimony: “I hold back my feet from every evil way, in order to keep your word” (Psalm 119:101, my italics). And this: “I consider all your precepts to be right; I hate every false way” (v. 128, my italics). Then I noted King Hezekiah’s statement to God: “I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight” (Isaiah 38:3).

Continue reading Denison Forum – Space junk that could have fallen on New York City and the risk of ‘murder hornets’: When bad news becomes good news →

Dr. Rick Pitera is an anesthesiologist at St. Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, New Jersey. Five years ago, he had a heart attack that led to a long recovery through physical therapy. His exercise therapist in the cardiac rehabilitation unit was named Danny Radice. The two worked together for several difficult weeks.

“He helped me get my life back,” Pitera said. “It’s not hyperbole to say I owe Dan my life.”

This March, coronavirus overwhelmed St. Barnabas with the state’s second-highest number of COVID-19 cases. One of them was Danny Radice. This time, it was Pitera who worked tirelessly to save Radice. After more than six days on a ventilator, Radice survived and finally left the hospital on April 17.

Before he left, however, Pitera took a selfie with him. The doctor had returned the favor by saving his friend’s life.

The couple who helped launch our ministry 

Much of the news this week has been dominated by the tragic death of Ahmaud Arbery and issues related to racial prejudice. On Monday, we discussed God’s ability to forgive every sin we confess, including racial discrimination, and to give us a “clean heart” (Psalm 51:10). Yesterday we focused on our side of this process and the need for greater awareness, cross-racial relationships, and commitment to systemic change.

Today, let’s broaden our discussion to focus on a lifestyle of relational inclusivity. My suggestion is this: treat every person you meet as though you will meet them again.

It may be that you save a life and then this person saves yours. Or it may be that your influence on them and theirs on you extends even into eternity.

In August 1973, two men knocked on my apartment door and invited me to ride their bus to their church. They could not have known that I would one day become the youth minister of their church and that one of their daughters would be in my youth ministry.

In September 1980, I was a lonely college freshman when the chairman of the Christianity department befriended me. He could not have known that one day I would speak at his funeral.

A few years into my pastorate in Dallas, a couple who was visiting our church asked my wife and me to dinner. We could not have known that they would eventually help us launch the ministry we have led for the last eleven years.

When coincidence is providence 

John 4 tells one of my favorite stories from the life of Jesus. Here we find his humanity and his divinity both on display in a remarkable balance.

Continue reading Denison Forum – A doctor saves the man who saved him: The best way to treat every person we meet →

Magnolia Earl is the 2020 Gerber Baby. I can see why the company chose her—the one-year-old is adorable.

Her mother agrees: “Magnolia has brought so much joy to everyone she meets. Her personality is beyond happy and joyful.” Here’s the historic part of her story: she is the first adopted baby to be named the Gerber company’s spokesbaby, a tradition that dates back to 1928.

You may not have been adopted by your parents or adopted your children, but here’s a theological fact: if Jesus is your Lord, you have been adopted by your Father in heaven. In fact, this was the reason he sent his Son into the world: “to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons” (Galatians 4:5).

Magnolia Earl’s parents chose her to be their daughter. Your Father chose you to be his child (John 1:12).

He loves every person on our planet as much as he loves you. Now he is calling you to do the same.

Why Emmett Till’s memorial sign had to be replaced 

In yesterday’s Daily Article, we focused on the Ahmaud Arbery shooting tragedy, looking at racism with a focus on what God will do to give us pure hearts of love for each other. Since writing that article, I have updated my website white paper on this issue (read it here). I also conducted a podcast interview with a very dear friend, now published as “What does it mean to be black in America today? A conversation with Tyrone Johnson” (listen to it here).

Continue reading Denison Forum – What makes this year’s Gerber baby unique: Three steps that can change a life →

Ahmaud Arbery would have turned twenty-six last Friday. People across the US commemorated his life by running 2.23 miles, referencing the day he died.

A former high school football star, he was jogging near his home on the outskirts of Brunswick, Georgia, on Sunday, February 23. According to authorities, he was shot and killed after being pursued by two white men with guns.

The men were charged last Thursday with murder and aggravated assault, two days after a shocking video of the shooting of Mr. Arbery became public. This tragedy is raising once again the specter of racism in our culture.

Coronavirus as a metaphor for racism 

Administration officials announced Saturday that three members of the White House coronavirus task force, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, would self-quarantine after contact with a person who tested positive for COVID-19. Let’s take a moment to consider the pervasiveness of the SARS-CoV-2 virus as a metaphor for racism.

Both are unseen in a person’s life until they become symptomatic. Both can infect people who do not recognize symptoms of the disease in their lives and thus think they are free of infection. Both often produce symptoms that worsen over time. And both can infect people who become carriers who infect others.

A year ago, I wrote a white paper that examines the issue of racism in depth. I reported that slavery began in the New World in 1619 when the first group of African slaves arrived at Jamestown, Virginia. Many Europeans argued that Africans were inferior and declared that they were better off enslaved by whites than living in freedom in their homelands.

Planters also quickly realized that they could make enormous profits by importing and using enslaved laborers. Such laborers could be made to work longer and harder in the fields. Since they were so far from their African homes, they could not easily escape and return home. They came from a variety of nations and cultures, so they could not easily communicate with one another to organize resistance against their enslavers.

Continue reading Denison Forum – The shooting of Ahmaud Arbery: Eradicating the virus of racism →

If you’re looking for something unusual to give your mother this Sunday, you might consider a gift that is truly celestial: Christie’s auction house is selling a twenty-nine-pound lump of moon rock for $2.5 million.

The rock, technically called NWA 12691, was found two years ago in the Sahara Desert, where it probably crash-landed during an ancient meteor shower. It is exceedingly rare: less than 1,500 lunar meteorites have been discovered over the years, just enough to fit inside a small car. NWA 12691 is the fifth-largest piece of the moon on earth, dwarfing even those returned by Apollo astronauts.

“We should always think of helping others” 

You don’t need to spend $2.5 million, however, to give someone a gift they will truly appreciate. Thousands of American graduates are writing the slogan “Gowns 4 Good” on their mortarboards after donating their gowns to healthcare workers to use as personal protective equipment in fighting the coronavirus pandemic.

Gowns 4 Good is the name of a charity begun three weeks ago by Nathaniel Moore, a frontline physician assistant in Vermont. He is asking graduates to donate their gowns to more than seventy-five thousand frontline responders. Such gowns worn backwards, with the zippered opening in the rear and the high collar in front, meet the CDC requirements for covering the body.

On the theme of selfless service, consider Galina Yakovleva. As a child during the World War II siege of Leningrad, she learned to make the best of fearful times. Today, she’s using these lessons as she delivers food and supplies to needy people locked down because of the pandemic.

The eighty-year-old drives a white minivan every day through the streets of St. Petersburg. She was helping others for a decade before the pandemic struck and continues to serve in these difficult times. One of her care recipients said, “I don’t know how I’d live here indoors for a month if not for Galina. She brings me milk, bread, everything so I won’t die from hunger. I’m amazed. This person lives only for others, not for herself.”

Yakovleva explains her motive: “We should always think of helping others, at least a bit. Not just lie on the sofa.”

We are often the answer to our prayers 

Yesterday was the annual National Day of Prayer. Millions of Christians across the country prayed for our leaders and for our nation.

Continue reading Denison Forum – A celestial Mother’s Day gift: How to go ‘through’ hard times →

Jacquie Benetua-Rolens is communications and engagement coordinator at Santa Cruz Community Health Centers. Her two-year-old son has become a fixture in her daily Zoom meetings with colleagues, waving at them in his pajamas.

Before the pandemic, she worked in a small cubicle back at the office. Now that she’s working from home, she told the New York Times, “There is this softened, unfiltered, more honest version of ourselves that I’m enjoying getting to know. There is room to be forgiving and understanding with each other and ourselves. And it’s because we’ve all had to juggle.”

She’s one of millions of Americans taking part in an unprecedented social experiment. A Gallup poll found that a majority of those now working from home would prefer to continue doing so “as much as possible” after the pandemic.

It’s easy to see why. They are spending less time on the road. (The Times article cites a report that the average American who drives to work spends fifty-four hours a year stuck in traffic.) A 2014 study found that those who work from home are more productive. They run less risk of being infected by colleagues. They have more time for fitness during the day.

And a 2005 study found that job satisfaction increased with each additional hour spent working remotely (though it stopped increasing after fifteen hours working remotely).

The relevance of location to happiness

Telecommuting is obviously difficult for those in manufacturing or service jobs. The healthcare heroes saving lives in this pandemic cannot work from home. Nor can the frontline workers delivering food to stores and homes. Or the police officers risking their lives to keep us safe.

The Times article also notes that problem-solving and creativity can suffer when workers are isolated from each other. Such isolation can also lead to loneliness and boredom. And as we noted in yesterday’s Daily Article, homeschooling while working can be very challenging.

Continue reading Denison Forum – We are witnessing an unprecedented social experiment: A powerful way to experience unity in community →

In 1980, the first Tuesday in May was designated Teacher Appreciation Day. In 1985, the day was expanded to a week.

Parents who have been homeschooling their children because of the coronavirus pandemic are probably ready to celebrate teachers for the rest of the year. In his now-viral YouTube series, Some Good News, John Krasinski stated: “We here at SGN would like to start a petition that all teachers get paid 1.71 million dollars. Per day.”

CNN notes: “If there has ever been a time when appreciation for teachers is sky high, it is now. With the coronavirus pandemic closing schools, parents are now de facto homeschool teachers, discovering just how hard it is to teach.”

The article lists socially distanced ways we can thank teachers for their work, from social media campaigns to yard signs, thank-you parades, purchasing e-gift cards, and funding school supplies online.

The challenge of these days, of course, is that teachers require students. Teaching is a means to the end of educating those who are taught. Teachers do not speak into the air as though their words had some independent value. They measure success by the degree to which those they teach are able to understand and apply what they learn.

Baseball games with robots playing drums in the stands 

Professional baseball games are being played in Taiwan. However, players must submit to temperature checks several times a day. Cardboard cutouts and plastic mannequins have replaced the fans in the stands. A five-member band of robots plays drums from the stands.

But it’s not the same. One team’s manager said, “It just lacks a bit of energy, that kind of excitement of a real game.” He offers his players “imagination training” in the dugout, encouraging them to envision fans watching the games from their televisions at home. He tells them, “Maybe they are not here but they are still in front of television and cheering for us.”

One could argue that baseball doesn’t need fans in the stands to be baseball. Nothing on the field has changed. Wins and losses are recorded; players get hits or pitchers get outs. Batting averages and pitching statistics are being compiled.

But baseball was never intended as an end in itself. It creates no objective good for society. The games do not produce food, energy, or other necessities. The purpose of baseball, like that of other sports, is to entertain the fans who watch.

Three essential facts about God

Like teachers and baseball players, you and I were made to serve others by a God who serves us. Jesus testified that he “came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28).

Continue reading Denison Forum – Observing Teacher Appreciation Week: Our lives are best lived for others →

Tom Hanks delivered a virtual commencement address last weekend for the graduates of Ohio’s Wright State University. He called them the “chosen ones” in part because of the pandemic that has changed our lives so dramatically.

The actor explained: “You are the chosen ones because of a fate unimagined when you began your Wright State adventures.” As a result, he predicted, “You will be enlightened in ways your degree never held in promise. You will have made it through a time of great sacrifice and great need. No one will be more fresh to the task of restarting our normalcy than you—our chosen ones.”

What Warren Buffett thinks about our future 

Yesterday was Star Wars Day with its annual slogan, “May the Fourth be with you.” But today is also special for Star Wars fans, since the fifth rhymes with Sith (the ancient enemies of the Jedi Order).

The Star Wars universe has been a cultural phenomenon for more than four decades in large part because of its assurance that “the Force will be with you, always.” This “Force,” however, is not a personal God but, as Obi-Wan Kenobi explained, an impersonal “energy field created by all living things.” It is available to us as we seek to defeat the “dark side.”

In this sense, the Star Wars worldview reinforces and amplifies our belief in ourselves. A single Jedi knight can destroy a Death Star. People passionately committed to good can defeat those committed to evil.

What Tom Hanks told the graduates of Wright State University is what Americans believe about ourselves: we can persevere through pain and triumph over tragedy. Warren Buffett made the same optimistic claim during a recent company shareholders meeting: “Nothing can basically stop America. The American miracle, the American magic, has always prevailed, and it will do so again.”

This can-do spirit fueled the pioneers who risked their lives and families to come to this New World, the settlers who pushed its frontiers from the East Coast to the West, and the entrepreneurs who built the greatest economic force the world has ever seen. Every time I travel overseas, I am deeply grateful to return to this country. My father and grandfather fought for our nation. I will always love America.

Continue reading Denison Forum – Tom Hanks’s virtual commencement address and Star Wars Day: Are you trusting the Force more than the Father? →

Wylie, Texas, is a town of fifty thousand people twenty-eight miles northeast of Dallas. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, none of the students graduating from Wylie High School will have a traditional graduation ceremony or other end-of-year events.

Since they could not come to the school, the school’s principal came to them. All 612 of them.

Virdie Montgomery spent 80 hours driving 800 miles over 12 days to visit each high school senior at their home. He explained, “The most valuable gift any of us can give anyone that isn’t replaceable is time. Where one spends one’s time says a lot about what they value.”

One of the seniors told CNN, “It kind of shows people that somebody does care for you out there. Most principals wouldn’t do that.”

Hiker posing for photo falls to her death 

COVID-19 is affecting everyone, even those it does not infect. Some responses are positive, as Principal Montgomery shows. Others are tragic.

A hiker celebrating the end of her area’s coronavirus pandemic posed for a cliffside photo in Antalya, Turkey. She climbed over a safety fence to take the picture on the edge of a cliff in front of its scenic waterfalls. She then slipped on grass and fell roughly 115 feet to her death.

The US aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman began its deployment last November before the coronavirus outbreak began. Its 4,500 crew members are thus free of infection. As a paradoxical result, they cannot go home to their families because their ship is too valuable to end its deployment.

The hope is that once the Nimitz aircraft carrier strike group is up and running, the crew of the Truman can finally come home. But no one knows when that day will come.

Continue reading Denison Forum – High school principal visits 612 graduating seniors: Reframing the depth of the pandemic to experience God in depth →

Joni Eareckson Tada went swimming at the age of seventeen with her sister in the Chesapeake Bay. She dove into shallow water and severed her spinal cord. As a result, she has spent more than fifty years in a wheelchair, unable to move her lower body or hands.

Joni has become a bestselling author, renowned speaker and painter (she moves the brush with her mouth), and beloved figure in the Christian world. In a podcast interview published yesterday, she was asked to explain a statement she made recently: “In the worst of times, Christians can and should be at their best.”

She replied, “I think we are at our best when we remain hopeful, confident in God and his hold on the future, and also prayerful and expectant.” Then she made this powerful statement: “I’m a big believer that God permits what he hates to accomplish things that he loves, and that’s been my mantra for almost fifty-three years in this wheelchair.

“God permits what he hates, this difficult, paralyzing injury, to accomplish something that he loves, and that is, of course, in me, a changed heart and a closer walk with my God. So, that’s it in a nutshell.”

How can we remain “confident in God and his hold on the future” in these uncertain days? I’d like to close the week by sharing help I found in a surprising place.

My “lesson from a leaf”

Numbers 4 defines the duties of the Kohathites, Gershonites, and Merarites. It is not usually identified as the most inspiring chapter in the Bible.

In fact, I read it yesterday only because I follow a plan that takes me through the Bible each year. As a result, I found this text: “When the camp is to set out, Aaron and his sons shall go in and take down the veil of the screen and cover the ark of the testimony with it. Then they shall put on it a covering of goatskin and spread on top of that a cloth all of blue, and shall put in its poles” (vv. 5–6).

I was in “skim” mode when this thought impressed me: if God cares about such minute details in our lives, we can know that he cares about the massive issues we face as well.

Continue reading Denison Forum – What Joni Eareckson Tada has learned from nearly 53 years in a wheelchair: A powerful statement that can guide us to God’s best →

Eric Johnson was asleep on March 3 when Bella, the family’s six-year-old miniature Australian shepherd, woke him up. She was behaving erratically, giving him the sense that “something just didn’t feel right.”

He turned on the television to learn that a tornado was headed toward his town of Cookeville, Tennessee. He put his wife and their three children in a bathtub and was looking for Bella when the tornado struck their house. Their home was destroyed; Johnson was thrown into his backyard. He suffered a head injury and his wife had broken ribs.

Bella was thrown into the yard and survived, but then went missing. Their family searched for her for weeks. A church friend and dog tracker finally found her in an alley four miles from their home. Johnson, his brother-in-law, and their pastor helped retrieve her.

After fifty-four days of living on her own, Bella was reunited with her family.

Using drones to deliver flowers 

Help in hard times often comes from unexpected places.

Delivery robots are bringing goods and medical supplies to hospitals and others in need while helping support workers remain safe. Socially distanced people are using drones to deliver flowers, give virtual tours of quarantined cities, and even walk their dogs.

Turkey, which has become far more dictatorial and undemocratic in recent years, nonetheless has vowed solidarity with the United States during the pandemic. They recently sent 500,000 surgical masks, 4,000 overalls, 2,000 liters of disinfectant, 1,500 goggles, 400 N95 masks, and 500 face shields to the US.

I’ve been doing radio interviews nearly daily across recent weeks. One of the most common questions I’m asked is, “How can Christians make a difference in these days?” We all want to do what we can to help people and to honor our Lord.

In a secularized culture that condemns Christians for our supposed intolerance, how can we surprise others with his love and our compassion?

Major on the majors 

I’ve been reading in Acts lately and came upon this odd statement: “We set sail in a ship that had wintered in the island, a ship of Alexandria, with the twin gods as a figurehead” (Acts 28:11). Why would Luke include this note?

Continue reading Denison Forum – Family finds the dog that saved them from a tornado: Surprising someone with God’s compassion today →