It’s Friday and as we head into the weekend I find it hard to choose just one story to focus on. There’s so much happening in our country and across the world that it’s like a banana tree full of monkeys all screeching for attention.
Let’s wave at a few of them.
The suspense about Joe Biden’s pick to be his running mate is over. Kamala Harris, who is almost universally hated for her disingenuous (and dirty) politics, is being slammed as a dangerous political opportunist. (See yesterday’s Broadside for a list of links.) Expect it to get very nasty between now and the election, which can only be lost by the incumbent if Democrats cheat.
Yesterday Trump made the surprising and historic announcement that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Israel have agreed to normalize diplomatic relations. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called it “the greatest advancement towards peace between Israel and the Arab world in the last 26 years.” My friend and former colleague Joel C. Rosenberg has more detail at his blog.
Nearly 400,000 people in central Iowa lost power Monday after a derecho packing 100 mph winds tore through the area, flattening cornfields, trees, and silos. The storm damaged about 10 million of the state’s 30 million acres of crops and left tens of thousands of people without air conditioning, leaving them to sweat out the clean up in hot and humid weather. Where’s the news on that?
There’s the horrifying story of the five-year-old white boy shot in the head by his 25-year-old black neighbor while riding his bike in front of his house—and in front of his two older sisters. I wouldn’t necessarily mention their skin colors but it seems to me that since race is all the rage right now, maybe I should. Who’s going to say little Cannon Hinnant’s name?
The violence and criminality continue in a variety of locations, including Chicago, where looters caused millions in damage last weekend. The most terrifying part of it? The rioters attacked a Ronald McDonald House, a charity that provides very sick children and their families a place to stay during treatment. “More than 30 families, as well as some sick children with them, were left ‘frightened’ by those who smashed windows as they ransacked the Windy City during Monday’s chaotic crime spree.” Add to that some Antifa animals humiliating a grandmother in Portland last week and it’s clear the barbarians are inside the gates.
The Department of Justice announced “the seizure of terrorism-related cryptocurrency … following the successful takedown of cyber-enabled finance networks operated by the Islamic State, Hamas’s al Qassam Brigades, and al Qaeda.” The disruption of the financial networks denies the terrorist groups of funding. “U.S. authorities seized millions of dollars, over 300 cryptocurrency accounts, four websites, and four Facebook pages all related to the criminal enterprise.” (Now do George Soros, whose billions are suspected behind much of the domestic terrorism we’re experiencing.)
There’s lots more, of course. It got me thinking of a well-known verse that I and other Christians will turn to when life feels like it’s spinning out of control.
He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”
Psalm 46:10
One of the things that keeps me sane as I watch the insanity unfolding around me is my confidence that none of this is outside of God’s control. Sometimes the best thing we can do is take a step back and be still—calm those monkeys in the banana tree—and recognize that we can have hope because God is not rattled by any of it and his promises are sure.
Try it this weekend. See you Monday.