According to a recent study from the UK Office for National Statistics, “For the first time in a census of England and Wales, less than half of the population (46.2%, 27.5 million people) described themselves as ‘Christian.’” This is a 13 percent drop since 2011.

I often think of the relentlessness of time—second by second, the future turns into the past and plans become memories. Every human being equally experiences time’s unrelenting “forward march,” which is always a constant pace, with seconds, minutes, and hours marking the transition of tomorrows into todays and todays into yesterdays.

In the past two decades, there has been a dramatic increase in disrespect toward those in leadership positions. An attitude of hatred and vitriol toward political rivals permeates society. In a time of increased difficulty and heightened emotion, how should Christians conduct themselves towards leaders they perceive as “bad”?

For years researchers have known that living life with a sense of purpose and meaning helps people live longer, happier lives (Medical News Today, November 21, 2022). A new study of over 13,000 people 50 years old and older clarifies the power of this effect even more.

According to the United Nations, one child is admitted to the hospital or clinic for treatment of severe malnutrition every minute of every day, on average (Deutsche Welle, November 22, 2022). In Somalia, where almost half the population “urgently needs food,” many cases arriving at the clinics are children in the last stages of starvation and some are beyond doctors’ ability to prevent their deaths.