Proceeds from the all-Brummie collab will go to The Glenn Tipton Parkinson’s Foundation and Cure Parkinson’s

The 2010s saw a peak in popularity for the art of the flash mob. People were seriously obsessed. But after a while, many took on the view that if you’ve seen one, you’ve basically seen them all. Well, if that was ever true, that’s most certainly not the case now! Julien Cohen is one heck of a pianist. Plus, he’s friends with many other talented musicians. His social media page is full of public performances that nobody expects. Still, the Bohemian Rhapsody flash mob that he helped put together is unlike anything he has ever done before. In fact, it’s not like most videos you can find online at all! Somehow, he was able to help orchestrate a flash mob that featured 30 musicians and singers. Their stage? The streets of Paris! Experience this special performance in the video below. This Bohemian Rhapsody Flash Mob is Out of This World At the start of the video, it seems as though only three women are involved. But soon enough, Julien and a few other singers join in. The strangers in the crowd are shocked enough by this reveal, but the surprises keep on coming as more and more musicians pop up out of seemingly nowhere. It’s no wonder most people in the crowd can hardly keep their mouths closed! “I was one of the tourists here. Man, it was such an amazing once in a lifetime experience indeed. Music does really have no barriers. We miss u Freddy,” someone wrote in the comments. Another person added, “Doing this with such perfect synchronization in an open uncontrolled setting is amazing. This would have been stunning in a theatre. On a street it’s next to magic.” Naturally, there’s a certain Freddie Mercury quote that’s been referenced quite a lot in response to this video. There’s no doubt this iconic singer would be proud: “Do what you want with my music, just don’t make it boring.” You can find the source of this story’s featured image here! The post “The Most Insane Bohemian Rhapsody Flash Mob You Will Ever See” appeared first on InspireMore.

BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM “Who’s your best friend?” It’s a question many of us grew up answering on playgrounds and in cafeterias, a marker of social worth reinforced by movies and TV shows. From Christina and Meredith in Grey’s Anatomy to Blair and Serena in Gossip Girl, pop culture tells us that true friendship means having one ride-or-die. But what happens if you don’t? “This idea of having one singular BFF can feel like proof that you’re loved and secure,” says Christina Ferrari, PsyD, a clinical psychologist in Miami. The notion is that if someone has declared you their “best,” then you’ve achieved the gold standard of friendship. Yet Ferrari emphasizes that not having a best friend isn’t a sign of failure; it’s simply reality. The one-and-only BFF is an idealized standard that most people can’t, and according to research, shouldn’t even try to meet. The myth that leaves us guilty and insecure Barbie Atkinson, LPC, founder of Catalyst Counseling in Houston, calls the “BFF trope” a wonderful fantasy, but one that “clashes profoundly with the reality of adulting.” To maintain a Grace-and-Frankie-level friendship, you’d need near-constant availability, total alignment in life stages and priorities, and freedom from outside pressures like family, partners, or work. “So while the essence of unwavering loyalty and deep understanding can exist in adult friendships, the manifestation of this constant availability and all-encompassing presence is unrealistic for the vast majority,” Atkinson explains. Even if it were possible, experts note that a hyper-attached, almost codependent dynamic isn’t ideal. “It’s the same reason we don’t put all our investments in one stock,” Ferrari says. “Putting all of your emotional needs into one person just isn’t healthy or sustainable.” Building a circle that supports you Instead of striving for one best friend, Atkinson suggests celebrating the variety of roles different people can play in your life: The emotional anchor:  Your confidant for vulnerable conversations about heartbreak, family challenges, or tough days. The practical problem-solver:  The friend who helps you think through career decisions, financial moves, or travel plans. The playmate:  The one who brings out your fun, spontaneous side. They’re perfect for last-minute adventures and light-hearted banter. The contextual companion:  These friends may not be in your inner circle, but they make daily life brighter, like a running buddy, a book club pal, or a coworker who makes lunch breaks more fun. Why it’s okay not to have a BFF So, despite what sitcoms and movies try to sell us, you don’t need a single crowned “best” friend to feel supported and loved. What matters most is the network of people who, together, provide happiness, validation, and a sense of belonging. Letting go of the pressure to find one inseparable BFF opens the door to celebrating the friendships you do have. Each of which are valuable, unique, and worthy of appreciation.The post Rethinking the “best friend” ideal: why you don’t need a BFF to feel fulfilled first appeared on The Optimist Daily: Making Solutions the News.

BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM For over a century, America’s railroads hauled coal by the ton, fueling the country’s insatiable appetite for fossil energy. Now, a Colorado startup is flipping that script by replacing coal with clean power. Meet SunTrain, the Denver-based company that’s converting freight railcars into rolling batteries capable of transporting renewable energy across the country. How it works: trains as mega-batteries Instead of shuttling lumps of coal, these railcars are crammed with high-capacity batteries. Each one stores 17.2 megawatt-hours of electricity. That’s enough to power about 12,000 homes for an hour. Link multiple cars together, and suddenly you’ve got hundreds of megawatt-hours chugging along America’s 140,000 miles of freight track. SunTrain proved the concept wasn’t just theoretical. Its prototype railcar logged over 10,000 miles on Union Pacific tracks across California and Colorado, dropping off stored electricity to power grids along the way. Think of it as Amtrak for electrons. Why we need it Here’s the catch with renewable energy: solar panels and wind turbines tend to make power when it’s sunny or windy, not necessarily when people flip on the lights. Battery storage solves that mismatch, but there’s another snag. How can clean power be transported from remote renewable farms to the cities that need it? Building new high-voltage transmission lines is a permitting and legal nightmare, often dragging on for two decades. SunTrain skips that hassle entirely by using the railroads we already have. The idea is refreshingly simple. There are no new land grabs, no environmental studies, no multi-year permitting battles. We simply need to roll the batteries down the tracks. The pilot project: Pueblo to Denver SunTrain isn’t just daydreaming. In fact, it’s already gearing up for a pilot project with Xcel Energy in Colorado. A 20-car train will haul 344 megawatt-hours of wind and solar power from farms near Pueblo straight into a former coal power plant in downtown Denver. The symbolism couldn’t be sharper: a coal plant reborn as a clean energy hub. The company has raised $2.25 million in funding, plus another $3 million in venture capital, and is now eyeing a $12–15 million round to bring the pilot to life. If successful, it could show utilities how to retire dirty natural gas peaker plants in favor of mobile clean energy delivery. Big picture potential The U.S. energy grid is creaking under the weight of outdated transmission lines and political roadblocks. SunTrain offers a desirable shortcut. The founders, who have already developed more than $2 billion worth of electrical infrastructure projects, estimate a pipeline of 32 gigawatt-hours of potential railroad energy projects. Former coal plants are especially ripe for this transition. They already have the grid hookups needed to handle large-scale power injections. Instead of tearing them down, SunTrain envisions turning them into clean energy gateways. Why it matters Mobile energy storage trains won’t solve every grid problem, but they could prove invaluable in bridging the geographic gap between where renewable energy is produced and where it’s actually needed. They also cut out the most contentious part of energy expansion: building new transmission lines. The concept is simple yet elegant: take something America already has (a vast rail network), give it a clean tech makeover, and turn yesterday’s coal convoys into tomorrow’s clean energy trains. All aboard.The post All aboard the clean power express: Colorado startup turns trains into rolling batteries first appeared on The Optimist Daily: Making Solutions the News.

A roundup of mysterious, paranormal and strange news stories from the past week.

For the past 30 years, I’ve pushed back against the critics who’ve said Christians need to abandon the label “evangelical.” I’ve argued that we shouldn’t let political associations or cultural baggage rob us of a word with such rich theological heritage. The term has deep biblical and historical roots that predate and transcend contemporary controversies. But even I have to admit the label I love has become nearly meaningless in our current American context. What once signified adherence to core biblical truths—the authority of Scripture, the necessity of personal conversion, the centrality of Christ’s atoning work—now functions more as a political identifier than a theological one. As historian Thomas Kidd once said, “In American pop culture parlance, ‘evangelical’ now basically means whites who consider themselves religious and who vote Republican.” What once signified adherence to core biblical truths now functions more as a political identifier than a theological one. Perhaps it’s time we concede it is indeed a political label since, as the 2025 State of Theology survey reveals, it doesn’t seem to signify much that’s distinctively orthodox Christian. As the survey shows, self-proclaimed evangelicals in the United States hold beliefs that would have rightly been considered heretical by previous generations of Bible-believing Christians. Doctrinal Disaster The State of Theology survey, a project produced by Ligonier Ministries and Lifeway Research, finds unorthodox views are common among evangelicals. Consider these doctrinal disasters. On Human Nature Nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of evangelicals believe “Everyone is born innocent in the eyes of God,” while 53 percent affirm that “Everyone sins a little, but most people are good by nature.” This isn’t merely getting a theological nuance wrong; this is a fundamental rejection of the doctrine of original sin that undergirds the entire gospel message. If humans are basically good and born innocent, why did Christ need to die? Rather than being the center of God’s redemptive plan, the cross would be an unnecessary stumbling block (1 Cor. 1:23). On the Trinity Despite 98 percent of evangelicals affirming belief in the Trinity, a majority have no understanding that the Trinity is composed of three persons. More than half (53 percent) believe “The Holy Spirit is a force but is not a personal being.” How can any Christians claim to believe in “one God in three persons” while denying the personhood of one of those persons? This would suggest many evangelicals are simply parroting creeds they don’t understand. On God’s Love Perhaps most telling, 94 percent of evangelicals believe “God loves all people the same way”—a higher percentage than the general American population (83 percent). This moralistic therapeutic deism masquerading as Christian doctrine erases the biblical distinction between God’s general benevolence toward all creation and his special, saving love toward the elect (Eph. 2:4). It reduces the gospel to a warm sentiment rather than a plan for divine rescue. On Exclusive Worship Nearly half (47 percent) of evangelicals also believe “God accepts the worship of all religions, including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.” (Perhaps this is why almost one in five Muslims in America self-identifies as “evangelical.”) This finding is particularly devastating given that all the survey respondents—100 percent—claim, “The Bible is the highest authority for what I believe.” How can Scripture be your highest authority when you reject Christ’s exclusive claims about true worship (John 14:6)? This is also the group that strongly agreed with the statement “Only those who trust in Jesus Christ alone as their Savior receive God’s free gift of eternal salvation”—which makes the response even more confusing. Church Attendance Crisis The reason for this theological ignorance becomes clearer when you see how few evangelicals recognize the importance of the church. Only 61 percent of evangelicals believe “Every Christian has an obligation to join a local church.” This individualistic approach to faith adopted by one-third of the movement perfectly explains why evangelical theology has become so confused. When believers disconnect from the ordinary means of grace—the Word preached, the sacraments administered, and congregational discipline exercised—they inevitably drift into error. When so-called evangelicals receive more spiritual formation from social media, talk radio, and cable news than from a local church, their drift into heretical beliefs becomes all but inevitable. Admittedly, too many churches have made themselves unattractive by adopting the model of a social club or a political action committee. But the local church is still essential because it’s the institution Christ established to guard the gospel, shepherd his people, and equip the saints. When evangelicals view church membership as optional, they’re essentially saying that Christ’s design for the Christian life is dispensable. Whatever its flaws, the local church is the way God chooses to carry out his plan. As Jared Wilson has said, “Your weird, messy church . . . is God’s Plan A for your world. And there is no Plan B.” Path Forward for Church Leaders The cure for theological confusion is theological clarity. Church leaders must return to the fundamentals of pastoral ministry: teaching, correcting, and discipling. Here’s how we can begin addressing this doctrinal crisis. Recover Catechetical Instruction The survey results show the need for basic theological education. Implement catechism classes for all ages. Use proven resources like the Westminster Shorter Catechism, the Heidelberg Catechism, and the Baptist Catechism. Or implement one of the modern approaches, such as the New City Catechism and the Gospel Way Catechism. These documents exist precisely to prevent the kind of theological confusion we’re witnessing. Exercise Church Discipline When church members publicly embrace beliefs that contradict Scripture—like universalism or Pelagianism—it requires a pastoral response. This doesn’t mean being harsh, unloving, or excessively punitive. But it does mean taking doctrine seriously enough to correct error and, if necessary, exclude those who persist in teaching false doctrine. Emphasize Membership Requirements Stop treating church membership as automatic on profession of faith. Institute membership classes that clearly articulate what the church believes and expects every member to profess. Make it clear that joining a local church isn’t signing up for a basket of consumer services but covenanting with other believers under the authority of Scripture. Don’t Dumb It Down We pastors often think we need to lower the bar on the theological content of our sermons so it doesn’t go over the heads of our congregation. While we shouldn’t use unnecessarily complex jargon, we need to train all our people on basic theological literacy. Mortimer Adler’s approach to education offers a helpful model for how we can do this. The philosopher likened the differential capacities of children to containers of different sizes and said that equality of educational treatment succeeds when two results occur: “First, each container should be filled to the brim, the half-pint container as well as the gallon container. Second, each container should be filled to the brim with the same quality of substance—cream of the highest attainable quality for all, not skimmed milk for some and cream for others.” Whatever its flaws, the local church is the way God chooses to carry out his plan. Preaching and teaching in the church should take the same approach. Use theological vocabulary from the pulpit and explain it for every level. When you preach about sin, explain the doctrine of total depravity in a way that all can grasp. When you preach about salvation, explain substitutionary atonement clearly and coherently. Train your congregation to think theologically about everything. Whether their capacity for understanding is a half-pint or a gallon, fill them to capacity with the cream of God’s truth. Connect Doctrine to Life Show how orthodox theology leads to transformed living. The problem isn’t that doctrine is irrelevant to daily life. The problem is that we’ve failed to demonstrate its relevance. Take, for example, the doctrine of total depravity. When parents truly understand that their children are born with sinful hearts rather than coming into the world as innocent blank slates, they’ll approach discipline as heart transformation rather than mere behavior modification. They’ll rely on the gospel to change their children from the inside out rather than using rules to merely manage external conduct. Right thinking about God’s holiness should produce holy living. And right understanding of human sinfulness should produce humility and dependence on grace. Let’s Stop Managing Decline Church leaders can either continue to lament theological compromise or take steps to return to the historic Christian faith that actually deserves the name “evangelical.” The choice will determine whether future generations inherit a robust, biblical faith or an empty shell of cultural Christianity that can tell you whom you should vote for but not how many persons are in the Trinity. The gospel is too precious to be sacrificed on the altar of political expediency or therapeutic sentimentality. It’s time for pastors and church leaders to choose: Will we shepherd evangelicals toward biblical orthodoxy, or will we continue managing the decline of American Christianity? We’ve already waited far too long, for this assessment isn’t new (read The Gospel Coalition’s analysis of past State of Theology surveys: 2016, 2020, 2022). Every year we delay, another generation grows up thinking that being “evangelical” means holding certain political positions rather than certain theological convictions. Every Sunday we fail to catechize our people, we cede more ground to the therapeutic deism that has already captured so many evangelical hearts and minds. We need to take action now if we want the gospel to survive in recognizable form among those who claim to champion it most ardently. The State of Theology survey has—once again—given us the diagnosis. The question is whether we have the courage to finally apply the cure. Addendum: In the survey, evangelicals were defined by Lifeway Research as people who strongly agreed with the following four statements: The Bible is the highest authority for what I believe. It is very important for me personally to encourage non-Christians to trust Jesus Christ as their Savior. Jesus Christ’s death on the cross is the only sacrifice that could remove the penalty of my sin. Only those who trust in Jesus Christ alone as their Savior receive God’s free gift of eternal salvation.

“History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.” This line—frequently attributed to Mark Twain—captures something deeply true about how the Bible tells its stories. Biblical authors carefully select and shape historical events to create patterns and evoke features from earlier accounts. They signal these connections by telling stories in a similar sequence, including unusual shared details, and using similar wording. When the goal is critique rather than commendation, the parallels contain subtle points of dissonance. What begins as a familiar echo can collapse into discord, where expected harmony is replaced by dissonance. That’s exactly what happens in Samson’s career. His entire story mimics Moses’s life. The most important and clearest case appears in Judges 15, where Samson’s battle at Lehi, his boast, and his thirst recall scenes from the exodus. But instead of a new and improved deliverer, Samson reads more like a distorted echo—a kind of anti-Moses, one who glorifies himself rather than leads God’s people to trust and worship the Lord. When Samson Rhymes with Moses So how can we tell these connections are intentional? Through order and rarity. Concerning order, Moses and Samson share this five-part sequence (Ex. 14–17; Judg. 15:9–19): 1. Great deliverance 2. Victory song 3. Complaint of thirst 4. Water from a rock 5. Name of location But is this rare? Yes. No other biblical characters share this identical sequence, and its details highlight this exceptional contrast. Only three deliverers sing victory songs after battle: Moses (Ex. 15), Samson (Judg. 15), and Barak (Judg. 5). And only two deliverers in the Old Testament receive water from a rock—Moses (Ex. 17:5–7; Num. 20:6–13) and Samson (Judg. 15:19). When Samson Rhymes in Discord For Samson, subtle contrasts to Moses and the exodus diminish his success as a deliverer. At the Red Sea, Moses urges the terrified Israelites not to fear but stand and watch the Lord deliver them (Ex. 14:13–14). He destroys Israel’s greatest oppressors and leads the entire nation out of bondage. Instead of a new and improved deliverer, Samson reads more like a distorted echo—a kind of anti-Moses. At Lehi, the scene is reversed. The Israelites don’t tremble before their oppressors; they aid them (Judg. 15:9–12). Samson never exhorts Israel to trust the Lord and watch for deliverance. Instead, Samson himself is bound (by the Israelites!) and handed over to the Philistines (15:12–13). When the Spirit of the Lord rushes on Samson and breaks his bonds, Samson seizes a jawbone and strikes down a thousand Philistines (vv. 14–15). The victory is astonishing, yet the outcome is far more limited. Israel remains oppressed, and Samson is the only one delivered. Victory in both stories is followed by a song that reveals the deliverer’s heart. At the Red Sea, Moses and the Israelites sing a lengthy song to and about the Lord. At Lehi, Samson proclaims a two-line, self-gratifying boast: “With the jawbone of a donkey, heaps upon heaps, with the jawbone of a donkey have I struck down a thousand men” (v. 16). Samson leads none in worship and gives the Lord no credit for victory. Thanklessness resurfaces in the next scene when thirst takes hold. Both accounts state that someone became thirsty and thought they might die of thirst (Ex. 17:3; Judg. 15:18). Surprisingly, the pairing is no longer Samson and Moses but Samson and Israel. Through shifts in pairs, biblical authors build complex characters. In this instance, Israel, only fleetingly content, complains of thirst in the wilderness three days after their deliverance (Ex. 15:22–25; see 17:1–7). Not to be outdone, Samson grumbles to God that same day (Judg. 15:18). Samson’s tone resembles Israel’s; he accuses rather than beseeches. He looks less like Moses, who stands between the people and the Lord. Samson speaks only for himself. Even so, the Lord answers Samson. God splits the ground and brings forth water (v. 19), just as he does for Israel through Moses (Ex. 17:6). The Lord’s grace powerfully meets Samson’s need, but the moment is smaller; it’s only for Samson. To commemorate the occasion, Samson names the site “The Spring of the Caller” (En-hakkore), putting the focus on himself rather than the Lord (Judg. 15:19). Exodus’s parallel account subtly reinforces a negative picture of this event. There, Moses names the sites Massah and Meribah after Israel’s sinful quarreling with God (Ex. 17:7). Here, too, the deliverer Samson names the place after the sinner—himself. Whom Will We Rhyme With? The shape of the Lehi story is familiar; it resembles the exodus. Samson clearly follows Moses’s pattern but not his posture. Moses delivers Israel; Samson delivers only himself. Moses sings with others to the Lord; Samson sings alone and only for himself. Moses intercedes for Israel; Samson complains like the Israelites. Samson clearly follows Moses’s pattern but not his posture. The story rhymes with Moses’s but in a deliberately discordant key. That discord critiques Samson and teaches that true deliverers serve the Lord and lead others to worship, trust, and follow him. Where Samson fails and Moses only foreshadows, history rhymes again in Jesus Christ, the ultimate human and divine Deliverer. As we follow him, the measure of our ministry is whether we lead others to worship Christ rather than ourselves. Salvation is too beautiful to be self-serving.

Tantrums. Screen time. Sleep. Discipline. None of us has parenting completely figured out, but we can all learn from each other. In this conversation, recorded at TGCW24, Ginger Blomberg, Betsy Childs Howard, Emily Jensen, and Laura Wifler talk about the high highs and low lows of raising young children and rejoice together that God’s strength is made perfect in our weaknesses.

On fleek?