My 12-year-old daughter and I were camping along Pennsylvania’s Youghiogheny River. Looking downstream, we watched the sun setting behind a mountain—leaving in its wake a glorious array of pastel-colored clouds. The colors were exquisite, the temperature pleasant. With my sweet, ponytailed girl by my side, everything was heavenly. Then gnats arrived. With a gnat in her eye, my daughter groaned, “Dad, why did God create gnats?” As I swatted the swarm around my face and thought about her question, I began to wonder if God ordains inconveniences to remind us that this world is not our home. Beauty and Discomfort The glorious sunset in such pleasant circumstances tempted us to seek heavenly paradise from this earthly moment. But the gnat in my daughter’s eye reminded us this earthly moment cannot bear the weight of our idolatrous expectations. The gnat reminded us this earthly moment cannot bear the weight of our idolatrous expectations. The heavens were declaring the glory of God, but we needed the grace of gnats to reorient our desires. Our experience of enjoyment under God’s skies wasn’t perfect. And that was a good thing. We needed the sanctifying discomfort of the outdoors (bugs, in our case) to provoke biblical meditation and conversation that produced praise and enjoyment of God himself. We lingered there with the lovely fading colors—and, yes, the gnats—but also with grateful hearts, memorable conversation, and a fresh perspective. The sunset and gnats, beauty and discomfort, combined to enrich our fellowship and direct our hearts heavenward. Illusion of Control Modern conveniences and technologies often fool us into thinking we can make this world heaven. We attempt to build our little kingdoms of comforts and pleasures, thinking we’re in control. Are we all that different from ancient Egyptian pharaohs? Egypt was the wealthiest nation-state at that time. God used Moses and the plagues not only to rescue his people from their bondage in Egypt but also to call Pharaoh to repent of his idolatrous, earthly kingdom ambitions. One of the earliest plagues God inflicted was gnats. This was the first plague the Egyptian magicians couldn’t reproduce themselves, so they rightly ascribed the gnats’ presence to God’s power. The insects broke the Egyptians’ illusion of control. Yet Pharaoh didn’t relent, stubbornly clinging to his deluded sense of power. Like Pharaoh, we often need God’s mercy to break us from our self-deceptive belief that we’re in control. We need his mighty hand to confront our idolatrous love of the world’s lesser glories. There’s a great hymn called “Jesus, Lord of Life and Glory” that pleads for such mercy—which we need in both bad times and good: From the depth of nature’s blindness, from the hard’ning pow’r of sin, from all malice and unkindness, from the pride that lurks within . . . When the world around is smiling, in the time of wealth and ease, earthly joys our hearts beguiling, in the day of health and peace. By thy mercy, O deliver us, good Lord. I’ve never used the word “beguiling” in conversation. But what a perfect word for the human tendency to be deceived by worldly beauty, comfort, and convenience. The pleasures of God’s creation—while certainly gifts to be enjoyed with gratitude—can trick our hearts to seek heaven on earth. It isn’t hard to see why comfort and convenience so easily dupe us. When the inconvenient thunderstorm approaches, we escape to cars and houses. Screened-in porches shield us from bugs. Climate-controlled homes and workplaces help us beat the heat. Does the ease of escaping the unpleasant aspects of creation tempt us to avoid the grace of their sanctifying discomfort? I think so. But these summer months are an opportunity to embrace outdoor discomforts and annoyances with a transformed perspective. Embrace Nature’s Discomfort This June, about a dozen of our church members showed up for an evening mountain hike and Bible study, even in the rain. By the trail’s end, we were soaked and chilled. It was encouraging to hear someone exclaim, “It’s good for us to experience a little adversity.” The group’s reward was more than just the myriad of mountain laurel in full bloom—a stunning sea of white and pink blossoms blanketing the forest. The greatest treasure was our mutual pressing on to know the Lord more deeply amid discomfort. Hosea 6:3 says, “Let us know; let us press on to know the LORD . . . he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth.” Outdoor adversity comes in many forms—sometimes merely annoying, other times outright dangerous. After years of whitewater guiding, I rafted West Virginia’s Upper Gauley River, the biggest whitewater on the East Coast. My friends and I bantered beforehand about conquering the rapids. Yet unexpectedly, the earliest Class V rapid, named Insignificant, brought me face to face with mortality. Hitting a wave at the top of the rapid propelled me out of the boat and left me at the river’s mercy. Swimming in panic and gasping for air in the turbulent waters was terrifying. My friends rescued me at the rapid’s end. All bravado had evaporated; excitement turned to dread for the remainder of the trip. The dangers of whitewater caught my attention that day. I experienced my helplessness and God’s merciful hand amid nature’s forceful power. I marvel at how something as seemingly insignificant as gnats could bring an empire to its knees, and how a rapid named Insignificant so quickly broke years of whitewater confidence. God-Ordained Outdoor Annoyances This season of pleasant weather, summer to early fall, can easily beguile us. Beach vacations, weekends at the lake, idyllic picnics, ice cream stands, sporting events, and other earthly joys may tempt us to prioritize worldly pleasure above God’s glorious kingdom purposes. The pleasures of God’s creation—while certainly gifts to be enjoyed with gratitude—can trick our hearts to seek heaven on earth. Thank God for eye-seeking gnats and dangerous whitewater rapids, stifling humidity and scorching heat, untimely thunder and lightning storms, pelting rain and mud-filled hiking shoes to expose our disordered desires. These unpleasant (and sometimes terrifying and deadly) moments outdoors can be God-ordained opportunities for fruitful reflection. They break our false sense of control and confront our idolatrous desire for paradise in the now. They point our hearts heavenward, to the paradise to come.

Most American professing Christians (85 percent) believe in heaven, according to Pew’s Religious Landscape Study in 2024. But how often do they think about heaven? Not often, if a survey of popular hymns and Christian songs is an indication. We’re made for heaven, but it’s so easy to settle for earth. Paul calls us to set our “minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth” (Col 3:2). How can we learn to do that? Richard Baxter, an English Puritan, wrestled with the same question nearly 400 years ago. He began writing perhaps one of the best books on heaven, The Saints’ Everlasting Rest, as a 31-year-old pastor. When Baxter penned this book, he was in poor health. He thought he was writing his funeral sermon, as “a man who was between living and dead” (19). That crisis encouraged him to meditate on Hebrews 4:9: “So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.” It led him to wonder, “Why, beloved Christians, do we have so much interest in earth and so few thoughts of heaven?” (103). This book is an extended answer to that ever-relevant question. Life was hard for Baxter’s original audience. England was in civil war and the king had been executed. Puritans had been persecuted for years, a situation that would continue until the Act of Toleration was signed decades later. With countless trials below, they needed hope from above. Most of us don’t face those same sorrows. However, trials will come. No one escapes this veil of tears without suffering. Baxter’s meditations on heaven encourage believers to have hope on earth. Hope in Heavenly Rest According to Baxter, our heavenly rest won’t be a place of prayer, for all our prayers will have been answered. It won’t be a place of sacraments, because signs will have given way to reality. It won’t be a place of sin, for all our sins will have been forgotten. Nor will it be a place of suffering, for we will have been glorified. Heaven will be a place of perfect rest, a release from the troubles of this world. This book’s power comes from its roots in Baxter’s suffering. He writes, “The prospect of rest is indeed acceptable to one like myself, who, in the last ten or twelve years, has barely had a whole day free from some pain or discomfort. Oh, the weary nights and days!” (68). But true rest is more than freedom from sin’s effects; it’s freedom from sin itself. Baxter asks, “Will he leave us sinning, suffering, groaning, dying daily, and come no more to us? It cannot be! Never fear: it cannot be” (44). On Christ’s return, the darkness will give way to light. True rest is more than freedom from sin’s effects; it’s freedom from sin itself. Our hope for heavenly rest comes because of Christ’s work. As Baxter reminds us, it’s a gift we couldn’t earn. “So then, let Deserved be written on the door of hell,” he writes, “but on the door of heaven and life itself, The Free Gift” (55). We deserve hell, but God freely gives us heaven. Through Christ, we’ll have perfect love, fullness of joy, and never-ending communion with God himself. Our heavenly communion with God won’t be a return to Eden but a perfection of it. “Our first and earthly paradise in Eden had a way out but no way back in that we could find,” Baxter writes. “This eternal paradise has a way in but no way out again. It is the saints’ everlasting rest” (61). Keep Your Heart Set on Heaven It’s not enough, however, to simply read Baxter’s book and go on with our lives. He urges us to think about our heavenly rest regularly. “Make such contemplations a habitual practice,” he writes. “Do not let those thoughts be seldom and cursory. Settle on them, dwell in them, bathe your soul in heaven’s delights, drench your affections in these rivers of pleasure—or rather in this sea of consolation” (96). It’s little wonder we think so little of heaven, though. Our lives are generally comfortable, especially by historical standards. We can numb the uneasy feelings we experience by endlessly scrolling. We have modern medicine that dulls our pain and protects us from encountering death as often as generations before. Many of us go days or even weeks without longing for our heavenly rest. We’re too often satisfied with this world’s goods. That’s why Baxter urges readers to continually marvel at the wonders of heaven. “Reader, take your heart once again and lead it by the hand,” he writes. “Bring it to the top of the highest mountain. Show it the kingdom of Christ and the glory of it. Say to your heart, ‘All this will your Lord bestow on you. It is the Father’s good pleasure to give you this kingdom’” (137). Key to keeping our hearts set on heaven is preaching to ourselves. Baxter argues, “Every good Christian is a good preacher to his own soul” (150). Amid temptations, fears, and distractions that pull our eyes away from heaven, we have to continually remind ourselves of the truth and cultivate our longing to be in God’s presence. Enduring Classic The Saints’ Everlasting Rest was published in 1650. By 1659, there were eight editions. By 1688, there were twelve. If Baxter’s marathon reflection on heaven were published today, it’d top the bestseller charts. Yet it’s book is unfamiliar to many modern Christians. We have to continually remind ourselves of the truth and cultivate our longing to be in God’s presence. That’s not too surprising, because the first edition was more than 850 pages and around 350,000 words. The book’s bulk has kept it from being popular among modern readers. Thankfully, historian Tim Cooper has distilled the heart of Baxter’s message into just under 200 pages. The abridged edition of this classic is a powerful antidote to this-worldly focus. It could be read in just a few hours. But it pays to digest this book slowly. I’ve benefited by reading a few pages a day along with Scripture as part of my daily devotions. The Saints’ Everlasting Rest should be standard reading for Christians pursuing a heavenward focus in a distracted world.

Political courage is rare, and common sense now gets dismissed as a conspiracy theory. This week, however, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. took a step that should have been taken decades ago. He told Big Soda: “Not on the taxpayer’s dime.”“If you want to buy a sugary soda, the U.S. taxpayer should not pay for it,” Kennedy said, in remarks that rattled the food-industrial complex. “The U.S. taxpayer should not be paying to feed kids, the poorest kids in the country, that will give them diabetes.”Banning soda and candy from SNAP removes the government’s role as the sugar daddy of the sugar industry.The sugar lobby, soda executives, and professional grievance-mongers will no doubt howl, accusing Kennedy of “food policing” or “waging war on the poor.” But defending Pepsi purchases with food stamps as a civil rights cause doesn’t just miss the point — it reveals how far detached these elites are from reality.State-subsidized sickness“We are spending $405 million a day on” the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Kennedy said. “About 10% is going to sugary drinks. If you add candies to that, it's about 13% to 17%.” That’s roughly $60 million a day funneled into sugar water and junk food — paid for by you, the taxpayer. This is state-subsidized sickness. America’s diabetes epidemic didn’t happen by chance — it’s the inevitable result of a system that promotes poor nutrition, rewards ultra-processed junk, and ignores the long-term damage.More than 11% of Americans now live with diabetes. It’s not just a blood sugar problem — it’s a direct path to amputations, blindness, kidney failure, and premature death.The American Diabetes Association puts the total economic cost of diagnosed diabetes at $412 billion annually. That’s a national crisis, not a mere lifestyle choice. And the bitter irony? The same government programs paying for treatment are also funding the sugar that drives the disease.Stop footing the billKennedy’s move isn’t cruel. It’s compassionate. It’s “making America healthy again.”The opposition is already lining up. The usual suspects will cry “nanny state,” as if forcing taxpayers to underwrite Mountain Dew is some sacred constitutional principle.Others will insist people have the right to choose what they eat — and they do. But choosing to guzzle liquid diabetes is not the same as expecting everyone else to pick up the tab.No one’s banning soda. Buy it. Swim in it, if you like. Just don’t expect SNAP funds — meant to keep vulnerable families from going hungry — to cover your 64-ounce daily dose of high-fructose heartbreak.Kennedy’s proposal isn’t radical. The Women, Infants, and Children program already limits purchases to nutritionally approved foods, prioritizing health over indulgence. SNAP should follow the same logic.Our national health model is failing. As Tim Keller, founder of U.S. Diabetes Care and a fierce critic of reactive medicine, puts it: “Western medicine is broken. Doctors treat a symptom, not a patient.”A broken health paradigmKeller is right. We’ve built an entire health care system on the back of symptom suppression — pills for blood pressure, injections for insulin, meds for cholesterol — while ignoring the root causes.Instead of handing patients more prescriptions, approaches like Keller's emphasize science-backed lifestyle changes that reverse diabetes altogether. These tools don’t just manage symptoms; they seek to reverse diabetes altogether using modern tools like diabetes management apps, empowering patients with real-time data, meal tracking, and coaching. The result is a digital frontline in the war against chronic disease. “Diabetes is not a life sentence — we’re here to prove it,” says Keller. But all the apps, education, and healthy lifestyle coaching in the world mean nothing if we keep dumping sugar down the throats of the nation’s poorest citizens with federal blessing. You can’t cure diabetes while simultaneously funding it.Drawing a red lineMAHA needs to draw a firm line. It can’t posture as the party of platitudes while taxpayer billions bankroll chronic disease.The United States spends more on health care than any nation on Earth, yet it trails most developed countries on nearly every health measure. That’s no accident. It’s the inevitable result of subsidizing failure and calling it “freedom.”RELATED: RFK’s highly anticipated MAHA report paints dark picture of America’s health crisis Photo by DNY59 via Getty Images Removing soda and candy from SNAP is a simple, necessary first step to reversing this decline. It preserves personal choice while ending the federal government’s role as sugar daddy to the sugar industry.MAHA’s momentConservatives should seize this moment. If we’re serious about cutting waste, improving public health, and restoring dignity to our social safety net, we should champion reforms like this — not shy away from them.Nothing is “pro poor” about enabling chronic disease. Nothing is “compassionate” about funding metabolic illness. And nothing is “American” about trapping people in a system that feeds them into the health care meat grinder.Let’s Make America Healthy Again. Let’s end the era of federally funded junk food. And let’s prove that health, like liberty, starts with responsibility.

Funerary artifacts from the Daisenryo Kofun in Sakai City, Osaka, Japan, believed to be the tomb of 5th century Emperor Nintoku, have emerged for the first time since the tomb was accidentally opened in 1872. A small gold-plated knife and three fragmented of gilded armor were held unpublished in a private collection for years. They were acquired by Kokugakuin University from an art dealer in 2024. The knife has an iron blade and is encased by its original cypress sheath covered in gold-plated copper. Five silver rivets were found on the sheath, and X-rays found that the gilded copper plate was just .5mm thick. This was highly advanced technology at the time. Scientific analysis revealed the knife’s wooden sheath—made from Japanese cypress—was encased in a gold-plated copper plate and secured with silver rivets. The iron blade is broken into two sections, measuring 6.9 cm and 3.7 cm, suggesting an original length of around 15 cm. Experts believe it was ceremonial rather than functional, noting that no other gold-plated small knives from fifth-century kofun burials have been documented. The armor fragments, measuring 3–4 cm, are made of iron coated with gold rather than the gold-plated copper once assumed from historical drawings. This revision underscores how modern materials science can refine our understanding of ancient craftsmanship. According to archaeologist Taro Fukazawa of Kokugakuin University, “These are not everyday weapons. They were likely created specifically as burial offerings for the ruling elite, showcasing the extraordinary political and economic power of the Nintoku court.” Their place of origin was identified by the original paper wrappings with the handwritten labels and seal of Kaichiro Kashiwagi, the builder who explored and patched up the tomb after a landslide exposed the forward section and collapsed its stone chamber in 1872. As a royal tomb, it was not open to excavation, so Kashiwagi documented what he found inside — knives, armor, helmets, sword fittings, glassware — before backfilling it. Until the objects emerged on the market last year, the grave goods could only be seen in Kashiwagi’s illustrations. For everyone but wealthy collector Takashi Masuda, that is, who just so happened to have had close ties to Kashiwagi. So now we know that he did not rebury everything he found. He looted at least some of it, apparently the smallest pieces. The keyhole-shaped tumulus is 486 meters (1595 feet) long, 300 meters (980 feet) wide at the widest point and 34 meters (112 feet) high. It is encircled by three moats. The keyhole kofun were the largest and most elaborate of the 20,000 kofun built between the 3rd and 6th century. The Daisenryo Kofun is one of only three ruled to be imperial mausolea by the Imperial Household Agency. The agency tightly manages the mound and nobody is allowed in it or on it; people are only allowed in and around the moats, which are popular fishing spots. The knife and armor fragments have been loaned to the Sakai City Museum for display. They will be exhibited there through September 7th.

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