1572 - Failed assassination on Gaspard de Coligny, a French nobleman and admiral, a Huguenot leader in the French Wars of Religion (killed 2 days later) 1914 - German troops execute 384 inhabitants of Tamines, Belgium 1939 - Dutch border guards take positions for German invasion 1952 - The penal colony on Devil's Island is permanently closed. 1954 - WPTV TV channel 5 in Palm Beach, FL (NBC) begins broadcasting 1971 - Approximately 130 non-Unionist councillors announce their withdrawal from participation on district councils across Northern Ireland in protest against Internment (allowing suspected terrorists to be indefinitely detained without trial) 1979 - 200 black leaders meet in NY to support Andrew Young 1980 - Leaders of Port Elizabeth's Black secondary school children in South Africa decided to end a four month boycott of classes 1993 - "In the Summer House" closes at Beaumont Theater NYC after 25 performances 2018 - Forbes say George Clooney made more money in a single year ($239 million) than any actor ever ($239m), due to sale of alcohol company, followed by Dwayne Johnson ($124m) More Historical Events »

Historical Events 1654 - Jacob Barsimson arrives in New Amsterdam (modern day Manhattan) aboard the Peartree, one of the first Jewish colonists 1912 - England defeat Australia to win the Triangular Tournament 1914 - Canada's Finance Act, 1914, receives assent 1932 - BBC begins experimental regular television broadcasts 1950 - Rotterdam dock strike ends 1960 - Gil Hodges set NL right handed HR record with #352 More Historical Events » Famous Birthdays 1848 - Melville E. Stone, American newspaper publisher (Founder of Chicago Daily News), born in Hudson, Illinois (d. 1929) 1920 - Pierre A. Lauffer, Antillian poet (Patria), born in Curacao, Venezuela (d. 1981) 1945 - Ron Dante, American rock vocalist (Archies - "Sugar, Sugar"), and producer (Barry Manilow), born in Staten Island, New York 1956 - Paul Molitor, American Baseball HOF infielder (7 x MLB All-Star Milwaukee Brewers; World Series MVP 1993 Toronto Blue Jays) and manager (Minnesota Twins 2015-18), born in Saint Paul, Minnesota 1966 - GZA [Gary Grice], American rapper (Wu-Tang Clan), born in Brooklyn, New York 1975 - Robert Enes, Australian soccer midfielder (Olyroos, Olympics 1996) More Famous Birthdays » Famous Deaths 1914 - Léon Amédée François Raffenel, French general (3rd Colonial Div, WWI), dies during Battle of Rossignol at 58 1929 - Otto Liman von Sanders, German general in Turkey during WWI, dies at 74 1985 - Paul Peter Ewald, German Crystallographer and Physicist who devised the theory of X-ray interference by crystals and pioneered X-ray diffraction methods, dies at 97 2009 - Beryl Sprinkel, American economist (Council of Economic Advisers), dies at 85 2009 - Elmer Kelton, American Western novelist (b. 1926) 2011 - Jerry Leiber, American songwriter (Leiber and Stoller - "Hound Dog"; "Jailhouse Rock"; "Is That All There Is?"), dies at 78 More Famous Deaths »

Having paid his dues – and then some – 1984 found Bryan Adams entering a creative purple patch, writing a timeless hit of the future seemingly every single day

Have you ever felt persistently anxious, no matter how many times you reflect on God’s promises? Your stressful thoughts are like obstinate zits on your soul’s face, unfazed by the poking and prodding of Romans 8:28 and every other passage about God’s sovereign care. Incessant recitations of “God’s working everything together for good” have left your fretful pimples sore and bleeding. Your worry is still right there. Defeated and exhausted, what should you do? Do you just need to believe harder? Should you close your eyes, muster up some faith, and perform a spiritual judo move on your doubt? Are you anxious because you scrolled through Instagram for three minutes too long? If you’d just commit to a month-long break like Sally in your small group, would your social media fast transport you into emotional serenity? Or maybe your anxiety is a pride issue, and what you need to do is stop being a know-it-all and trust a sovereign God. I certainly battle doubt. I’m guilty of anxiously scrolling past posts of other anxious people for unreasonable amounts of time. And my soul regularly clamors for authority that only belongs to God. But while addressing these areas has occasionally curbed my anxiety, it often doesn’t. Maybe you can relate. So what should we do? I won’t pretend to offer a simple answer to such a difficult, multifaceted question. That’d be unrealistic and, honestly, just mean. But in Matthew 6:19–34, Jesus does offer another approach. Before he calls us to trust him, he tells us to treasure him. Treasure God First There’s nothing complicated about Jesus’s teaching in this passage, and there’s nothing complicated about its structure. In verses 19–24, Jesus wants us to treasure God, and in verses 25–34, Jesus wants us to trust God. Treasure and trust. Straightforward, right? What I find fascinating, though, is how Jesus connects these two sections. After calling us to treasure God, he says, “Therefore . . . do not be anxious.” Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, therefore, trust God. That’s a curious way to put it. There’s something about our treasure that either allows us—or doesn’t allow us—to trust God. If we treasure God, we can trust him. But if we treasure something else or someone else, we won’t trust God. Anxiety seems to swing on the hinge of this adverb: “Therefore.” With just one word, Jesus makes sense of most of my anxiety—perhaps most of the world’s anxiety. It’s amazing what he does here. He takes these two threads of treasure and trust and weaves them together into one truth: if you’ll treasure God more than the cares of this world, then you can trust God through the cares of this world. Why We Don’t Trust God The opposite is also true: if you don’t treasure God more than the cares of this world, you won’t trust God through the cares of this world. Why is that? Because God hasn’t promised to protect our earthly treasures. As he works all things together for our good, he may withhold what we value most. We may lose approval from others or success at work so he might conform us to his Son’s image (Rom. 8:28–29). If you will treasure God more than the cares of this world, then you can trust God through the cares of this world. Recount God’s promises, scale back on social media, know your place before God—these are all helpful practices. But if we don’t treasure God, we’ll never trust him. It’s not that we’ve forgotten God’s promises to care for us. We know we can trust him. The problem is we treasure our idols more than God. And since God hasn’t promised to protect our idols, what’s most valuable to us is vulnerable. Protecting what we value then becomes a full-time job. Just ask Madonna: I’m always struggling with [fearing inadequacy]. I push past one spell of it and discover myself as a special human being and then I get to another stage and think I’m mediocre and uninteresting. And I find a way to get myself out of that. Again and again. My drive in life is from this horrible fear of being mediocre. And that’s always pushing me, pushing me. Because even though I’ve become Somebody, I still have to prove that I’m Somebody. My struggle has never ended and it probably never will. Feeling special, that’s her treasure. And since she’s gifted musically, each lyric and each melody serve as bodyguards—fearfully protecting the throne of her heart. You and I aren’t that different. If your treasure is on earth, your emotional stability is unsafe. Matthew 6:25 then reads for you, “Therefore, be anxious about your life. Be anxious about what you will eat and what you will drink. Be anxious about your body and what you will put on. Is not your earthly treasure hanging by these earthly threads?” But if we treasure God, we can trust him when we’ve proven unsuccessful and unloved, when we lose comfort, power, and control. How? We already have everything we need in Christ. Our treasure is safe. Treasures in Heaven Instead of forcing yourself to trust a God who isn’t protecting your earthly idols, it’s more effective to identify those false gods first. See how Jesus satisfies your desires, then reflect on God’s promises to protect your heavenly treasure. If your treasure is on earth, your emotional stability is unsafe. When my personal success is in jeopardy, I’m prone to anxiety. So I need to reflect on how Jesus has been successful for me, how he’s been perfect in my place. Then, after painstakingly moving my treasured success from earth to heaven, I can finally breathe, knowing nothing on earth can touch my treasure in heaven. Fighting anxiety this way isn’t easy. You can’t pull through the drive-thru, order a Bible verse with a side of inspiration, and speed away without anxiety. It takes time to identify your earthly treasures. You’ve got to park and get out of the car to see how Jesus offers himself as a better, more reliable treasure. But if you’ll do that—if you’ll treasure him—you’ll be able to trust him. Treasure God; therefore, don’t be anxious.

In July 2023, Trinity Church of Bedford, Massachusetts, voted me into membership, even though everyone knew I’d leave in less than a year. Given the often transient nature of military life, joining a local church might seem counterintuitive. Why commit to a community of people you’ll only know and be known by for a short season? But in my Christian life, I’ve learned believers always need a local church to continue growing in their faith—no matter how short the stay. That’s why I joined Trinity Church. Church on Base vs. Church in Community After three moves in the U.S. Army National Guard, I grew accustomed to not putting down deep roots where I lived. For military families moving frequently, everyday life can become isolated from civilians. Living on base brings, in a good way, a natural community of like-minded people who can easily relate to your life struggles. This can lead military Christians to ask, Should I even join a local church? Or should I attend the church on base where everyone will understand me? These questions frequently lead military Christians to attend the base’s church or bypass church altogether. Throughout all my geographic moves, however, I’ve chosen to place deep roots as a member in an off-base church. On-base churches are valuable, especially in parts of the world where off-base evangelical churches are scarce. But in general, I believe it best serves the military member’s soul to join a local evangelical church in the community, if one exists. While on-base churches are valuable, I believe it best serves the military member’s soul to join a local church in the community. A church should be a symbol or appetizer for heaven, the eternal place to joyfully experience life with God. Heaven will be the most diverse place ever, with innumerable people from every tribe, language, and nation (Rev. 7:9). Additionally, the Bible depicts a diverse church with equality among men and women, all ethnicities and races, and all socioeconomic statuses (Gal. 3:25–29; James 2:1–5). There’s nothing inherently wrong with a church on base. But these congregations tend to contain only military members and families, because base access is a prerequisite for attendance. A base church may contain racial diversity, but it lacks a deeper diversity of life experience as all attendees have the military in common. Underestimating the Local Church As an infantry soldier whose job description bluntly boils down to efficiently killing people and breaking things in war, it took me a long time to trust the local church and become emotionally vulnerable with the people there. Military Christians can fear vulnerability as civilian church members seem so joyful and happy all the time. Yes, civilians have real problems, but these don’t usually concern life-or-death, high-stress situations or the struggles of leaving your spouse and children for months at a time. Will we be able to relate to one another? My experience at Trinity Church showed me I underestimated the local church. Yes, it’s daunting to lean into life with a diverse group of people who seem like they wouldn’t get along. But God always has, and always will, use the diversity of his body to empower and encourage its growth. Trinity Church celebrated with me as I progressed through a school program and celebrated my children’s birthdays with our family. And I was able to serve other members in return—for example, by lamenting with a couple during a difficult life season. Alongside others in the church, I saw God encourage the family even while their difficult circumstances remained. I’ve celebrated with two men as they publicly declared their allegiance to Jesus through the Christian act of baptism. Their lives are vastly different from mine on paper—they come from different backgrounds, education paths, and careers. But we have a mutual love for Jesus and share “one Lord, one faith, one baptism” (Eph. 4:5). They’re my brothers in a different, more eternal sense than the brothers I have in the military. Sharing Burdens, Growing Together It’s easy to forget that, despite dramatic differences in backgrounds and circumstances, all Christians have the same God, the Lord Jesus Christ, and are filled with the same Spirit. Through this profound commonality, yet variety of gifting, we can share one another’s burdens (Gal. 6:2) and be built up in unity and maturity (Eph. 4:11–12). It is easy to forget that, despite dramatic differences in life backgrounds and circumstances, all Christians have the same God, the Lord Jesus Christ, and are filled with the same Spirit. Hebrews 10:24–25 says, “Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” My time at Trinity emphasized the necessity of regularly meeting with diverse Christians who “stir up one another to love and good works.” Even though I’ve been a member for less than a year, the Lord has used this congregation to grow my love for other people, encourage me to do good, and help me hope for heaven. These brothers and sisters in Christ have shared my burdens and joys and invited me into theirs. And it’s only been a year. If you’re a military Christian, become a member of a local church family, no matter how long you live in a certain area. Your presence can be a profound blessing—both to you and to others in the congregation. It’s worth the energy it takes to build those relationships, and it’s worth the sadness you’ll feel when you leave. Take the risk and count the cost, trusting that God can use even short stints in a church to bear lasting fruit.