Worrying about the Right Things

If you could fix one thing that is wrong about our world, what would it be? I recently asked groups of middle-schoolers this question, and here are a few of their answers: “Violence in schools” “Climate change” “Terrorism” “World hunger” “Deforestation” “Communism” “Nuclear Armageddon” I’m not sure what I was worried about in middle school,…

Pondering “Thoughts and Prayers”

As a former economist and current pastor, I was intrigued by an article in the news with this attention-grabbing headline: “Not everybody wants thoughts and prayers after a disaster, according to a study of hurricane survivors.” (https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/16/health/thoughts-prayers-study-wellness-trnd/index.html) One of the authors of this study said this: “The idea came from the mere observation of how…