In 1 Kings, Israel had just won a monumental victory against their enemies. God had promised them that he would hand these attacking nations over to them, but that might’ve been easy to forget in the wake of the battle. This wasn’t the end of their troubles, though.
Charles Spurgeon, the great evangelist and preacher, was a peculiar study in contradictions. For one, he took great delight in jokes. Victorian England was not the most amenable place for humor, particularly in the hallowed halls of church. In that case, Spurgeon was a most egregious offender.
Leo Tolstoy’s novel Anna Karenina is famous for its titular character, but it also follows a young man named Levin as he builds a marriage with a young woman named Kitty. Only two months after their wedding, Levin receives news that his brother is dying of tuberculosis.
In some cultures, tuberculosis (TB) is associated with witchcraft or familial curses. This is due in part to ignorance about how TB is spread and it often being associated with HIV, poverty, drug use, homelessness, imprisonment or being a refugee.
Jo Saxton and Steph O’Brien talked on the Lead Stories Podcast about situations that require courage, likening them to standing outside someone’s door, knowing that you have to go in and tackle a hard or painful topic with them.
The famous Danish poet Nicolaj Frederik Severin Grundtvig once wrote, “A simple, cheerful, active life on earth, a cup I’d not exchange for monarch’s chalice…“
The COVID-19 pandemic closed many countries’ borders to protect people, but this also left many refugees stranded, separated from other family members or stuck in camps with limited access to aid.
At Mission ConneXion Northwest, Michael Ramsden was invited to be a plenary speaker, and he shared this illustration at the beginning of his talk.
Tara Winkler volunteered at an orphanage in Cambodia, excited to be able to help children in need. The longer she spent there, though, the more she began noticing strange things. Children were catching mice to eat because they were so hungry, despite money pouring in to support the organization.
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez stood before the house and relayed that Congressman Ted Yoho had called her crazy, dangerous and disgusting along with a few other pejorative terms.
