Glen & Paula Davis

You’ve heard of TGIF? This is TGFI: Things Glen Found Interesting

On Fridays I share articles/resources about broad cultural, societal and theological issues likely to be of interest to Christians in college. Be sure to see the explanation and disclaimers at the bottom. I welcome your suggestions, so if you read something fascinating please pass it my way.

Things Glen Found Interesting

1. How to Forgive Someone Who Isn’t Sorry (Russell Moore, Christianity Today): "To forgive, you must trust that God is at work for your good—mostly in ways that are invisible and incomprehensible to you. That doesn’t minimize what was done, but it dethrones it from its power as the central story of your life.... The recognition of a need for grace is itself a grace. The desire to forgive is itself an essential first step to forgiveness. Just because you stumble back into bitterness or resentment does not mean your initial forgiveness was a sham. Indeed, you will need ongoing grace to forgive—not just one charge of it."
2. New Evidence at What is Believed to Be Site of Jesus’ Crucifixion (Today Show, YouTube) - (Today Show, YouTube): five minutes (there was a garden ~2000 years ago at the site of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, aligning with John's gospel)
3. Why Aren’t Modernist Bridges Awful? (Alex Tabarrok, Marginal Revolution): "I have a theory, which is that bridge designers come from engineering schools rather than schools of architecture.... one small but telling piece of evidence in favor of my theory is that most of the bridges chosen by Wallpaper magazine, an architecture magazine specifically, are in fact ugly (and with no overlap in the bridges from my first category of 'popular' beautiful bridges)."
4. Things Not to Pray For (Mike Glenn, Substack): "I’ve been doing this long enough to begin to see certain patterns of life with God. For one thing, I’ve learned if I pray for Jesus to help me with a problem, He’ll put me right in the middle of the problem itself. I want Jesus to grab me, throw me on the other side of the problem and then I want to look back and say, 'Whew, that was close.' That’s not what happens. Jesus takes me right through the problem. For instance, if I start praying about a broken relationship, I’ll start running into that person wherever I go. I’ll see them in line when I’m getting gas, shopping for groceries – you get the picture. Whatever I’m praying about, Jesus will make sure I’m face to face with it."
5. The Sin-Smashers of Hollywood Boulevard (Mark Kendall, The Dispatch): "Many of Min’s congregants are part of the arts and entertainment industry that put their city on the map—as is Min himself, albeit inadvertently. The pastor’s own on-camera moment came a few years back when his best friend from college, producer/director Lee Sung Jin, cast Min’s brother Justin to play the insecure worship leader for a Korean American evangelical church in the 2023 first season of Netflix hit Beef. Min was to serve briefly as a consultant to ensure the authenticity of the praise scenes. But the pastor’s role grew when Lee, worried that using actors alone would make the Korean churchgoing experience into a caricature, called on Min and his church’s band to simply perform songs as they would on any Sunday morning. Members of Min’s flock filled the church set as extras.... perhaps it shouldn’t be unexpected. After all, the storied history of evangelicalism in Los Angeles is older than Hollywood itself. From serving as the epicenter of Pentecostalism’s rapid ascent to hosting some of the nation’s first megachurches and 20th-century celebrity pastors, the city rose alongside the faith shared by 1 in 4 Americans, including me."
6. How to Stop a Lab Leak From Starting the Next Pandemic (Alina Chan, New York Times): "Rules would not have prevented what happened a month later, when a worker at a Fort Detrick laboratory in Frederick, Md., found a large hole in an airtight suit. About an hour’s drive from Washington, Fort Detrick contains some of the country’s maximum-containment laboratories, where scientists handle deadly pathogens, including Ebola and hantavirus. The F.B.I. was brought in, and dozens of staff members were interviewed. Investigators concluded that the damage was deliberate but were unable to determine who was responsible. The investigation also turned up evidence of other serious violations of safety protocols — failures that had nothing to do with the apparent sabotage and would probably not have come to light without it. The laboratory was shut down for nearly six months."
   • I'm sorry - what? Someone deliberately put a hole in a biosafety suit at a lab studying deadly pathogens? That's a movie plot. The author is a molecular biologist with relevant experience and the entire article is worth reading. While gripping, that anecdote is far from the central point of the article.
   • Unlocked.
7. How San Francisco became the ultimate ‘996 City’ (Rya Jetha, The San Francisco Standard): "By analyzing food and beverage transactions on corporate credit cards, Kharazian found that there’s been a pronounced jump in employee spending activity on Saturdays beginning around noon — when one would ostensibly order a Sweetgreen or Chipotle bowl for lunch — and running until midnight (yikes!). 'This is not happening nationally. Not in New York, Miami, Austin, or any other tech hub,' said Kharazian. '996 is only happening in San Francisco.'"
   • Recommended by an alumnus

Less Serious Things Which Also Interested/Amused Glen

• Best "YEAH" in a song (imgur)- Forty seconds. For some reason I really loved this clip. Your mileage may vary.
• Church Introduces Hogwarts Sorting Hat To Identify Your Spiritual Gifts - (Babylon Bee)
• Two Billy Goats Boarded a Bus in Portland. They Did Not Have Passes. (Neil Vigdor, New York Times): "Kids ride free, or so they thought. Not in the case of these two juvenile goats, which transit officials and the police said had escaped from their enclosure and ventured onto a lime green FX2-Division bus." - Unlocked
• Numerous Casualties At Park In Bloody Turf War Between Tennis Players And Pickleballers - (Babylon Bee)

Why Do You Send This Email?

In the time of King David, the tribe of Issachar produced shrewd warriors “who understood the times and knew what Israel should do” (1 Chron 12:32). In a similar way, we need to become wise people whose faith interacts with the world. I pray this email gives you greater insight, so that you may continue the tradition of Issachar.

Disclaimer

Chi Alpha is not a partisan organization. To paraphrase another minister: we are not about the donkey’s agenda and we are not about the elephant’s agenda - we are about the Lamb’s agenda. Having said that, I read widely (in part because I believe we should aspire to pass the ideological Turing test and in part because I do not believe I can fairly say “I agree” or “I disagree” until I can say “I understand”) and may at times share articles that have a strong partisan bias simply because I find the article stimulating. The upshot: you should not assume I agree with everything an author says in an article I mention, much less things the author has said in other articles (although if I strongly disagree with something in the article I’ll usually mention it). And to the extent you can discern my opinions, please understand that they are my own and not necessarily those of Chi Alpha or any other organization I may be perceived to represent. Also, remember that I’m not reporting news - I’m giving you a selection of things I found interesting. There’s a lot happening in the world that’s not making an appearance here because I haven’t found stimulating articles written about it. If this was forwarded to you and you want to receive future emails, sign up here. You can also view the archives.