The World and Everything in It: August 8, 2025

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MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Good morning!

Today: Parental rights under pressure.

California debating a bill that could let school staff override moms and dads.

And a loophole in Pennsylvania allows a sex offender to gain custody of a child.

NICK EICHER, HOST: John Stonestreet is back. He is standing by for Culture Friday.

Also today—a family film about grief, healing, and the good that makes the bad bearable.

TAYLOR: If you don’t carry the good with you too, it’s just going to make the bad stronger.

Later—a weekend challenge: get outside and draw the beauty you see.

BROWN: It’s Friday, August 8th. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Myrna Brown.

EICHER: And I’m Nick Eicher. Good morning!

BROWN: Up next, Mark Mellinger with today’s news.

MARK MELLINGER, NEWS ANCHOR:  Israel to move forward with reoccupying Gaza » Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel intends to take full control of the Gaza Strip temporarily.

Israel already controls about three-fourths of Gaza. The goal of taking full control is to dismantle Hamas. Then, control would later be handed back over to friendly Arab forces.

Netanyahu tells Fox News:

NETANYAHU: I don’t want to occupy Gaza forever. I don’t want to govern Gaza. I want to have a different governance there that basically is willing to live in peace with Israel and give Gazans a different future.

Netanyahu’s Security Cabinet met Thursday to discuss different options for handling a temporary occupation of Gaza.

Some former top Israeli officials have come out against the plan, fearing it could turn into a quagmire with little military benefit. Some families of hostages still in Hamas captivity are also worried about what an Israeli takeover in Gaza could mean for their loved ones, and protested outside the Security Cabinet meeting in Jerusalem.

Trump-Putin Summit latest » President Trump says he’s willing to meet with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, even if Putin won’t meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The U.S. and Russia are trying to work out a summit between Trump and Putin as soon as next week, possibly in the United Arab Emirates, though there’s no final decision yet on a location.

Trump says he’ll do whatever he can to stop the killing in Russia’s war with Ukraine, even if it means holding the summit without a commitment from Putin to expand talks to include Zelenskyy.

Today is the date Trump had set as the deadline for Moscow to show progress toward ending the Ukraine war or face tougher economic sanctions. When asked if the deadline still holds, Trump said, of Putin:

TRUMP: We’re going to see what he has to say. It’s going to be up to him. Very disappointed.

Putin is already trying to temper hopes about the outcome of the possible meeting, saying all disappointments arise from excessive expectations. The summit would be Trump’s first sitdown with Putin since the start of his second term.

Trump pushes for new census » President Trump says he’s directed the Commerce Department to begin work on a new U.S. census that excludes unauthorized immigrants from the population count. He made that announcement in a social media post Thursday.

Historically, the Constitutionally-mandated census has counted everyone living in the country every 10 years regardless of their immigration status.

It’s unclear if Trump is asking for changes to the normally-scheduled 2030 census or if he’s pushing for an additional census before then.

Either way, census experts tell the Associated Press his directive will set off legal fights.

Texas redistrict fight » The FBI is actively searching for Democratic Texas state lawmakers breaking quorum and refusing to show up for a vote on a Republican-led redistricting plan.

Roughly 60 lawmakers went MIA on Sunday, claiming the plan, designed to give the GOP five additional U.S. House seats, amounts to gerrymandering. Without a quorum, the legislature can’t conduct business.

Civil arrest warrants were already issued. But Thursday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott said the FBI is now also working to track down the Democrats who’ve fled the state.

State Rep. Mihaela Plesa tells The Will Cain Show she has no intention of going back.

PLESA: I will not return to Texas by tomorrow. This is much bigger than Texas...I am willing to take votes when Republicans are showing that they're not doing the bidding of Donald Trump and that they're focused on Texans and Texas voters.

But White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller says gerrymandering should be nothing new to Democrats…

MILLER: At every level of this country–Illinois, Chicago, New York, Massachusetts–Democrats have gerrymandered the vote beyond recognition to try to maintain their advantage in the House elections.

Abbott said any Democratic lawmakers who are arrested will immediately be transported back to the state Capitol building.

Indiana, Florida could possibly do early redistricting » Efforts to redraw congressional boundaries are now springing up in other red states like Florida and Indiana. But, as WORLD’s Travis Kircher reports, some blue states could be pushing back.

TRAVIS KIRCHER: Vice President J.D. Vance was in Indiana yesterday...trying to sell President Donald Trump's plan for Republican-run states to take part in early redistricting.

Local media outlet WTHR reported that hundreds of demonstrators gathered in Indiana's statehouse to protest the redistricting proposal. Indiana GOP leaders didn’t commit to redistricting, but say they’ll continue conversations.

Republican leaders in Florida also announced yesterday that they would begin redistricting efforts.

Several Democrat-led states have responded by saying they may start efforts to redraw congressional boundaries as well.

For WORLD, I'm Travis Kircher.

Trump defends record amid rising economic troubles » Despite warning signs starting to show up in some data, President Trump insists the U.S. economy is solid under his watch.

Trump invited reporters to the Oval Office Thursday, where conservative economist Steve Moore flipped through charts designed to show the president is stewarding the economy well.

Among Moore’s claims: that Trump was right to fire Bureau of Labor Statistics Director Erika McEntarfer last week… because the bureau overestimated the number of jobs created during the last two years of Joe Biden’s term by 1.5 million.

MOORE: That’s a gigantic error, and I don’t know if she’s, I’m not…” TRUMP (interrupts): “It might not have been an error. That’s the bad part. If it was an error, that would be one thing. I don’t think it’s an error. I think they did it purposely.

Democrats have criticized the president’s firing of McEntarfer, with one senator accusing Trump of weaponizing the bureau.

Trump’s facing consistently tough economic headlines for the first time in his second term, with job growth slowing and inflation rising. The stock market, however, has performed solidly.

I'm Mark Mellinger.

Straight ahead: John Stonestreet is standing by for Culture Friday. Plus, a monster movie with an important message.

This is The World and Everything in It.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: It’s Friday, August 8th. Glad to have you along for today’s edition of The World and Everything in It. Good morning, I’m Myrna Brown.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. It’s Culture Friday and John Stonestreet is back. He’s president of the Colson Center and host of the Breakpoint Podcast. Good morning, and welcome back, John!

JOHN STONESTREET: Good to be back! Thanks so much.

EICHER: Glad to have you. John, a controversial bill is now sitting in the California state Senate—one that critics say could strip away parental rights and open the door to child trafficking.

It’s called the Family Preparedness Plan Act of 2025—Assembly Bill 495. It’s pitched as a compassionate safeguard for children whose parents are suddenly detained or deported. So you can see what’s driving the push for it.

But opponents warn the bill would allow virtually anyone claiming a “mentoring relationship” with a child to assume legal authority—no court order, no parental consent, no background check required.

In Southern California, Pastor Jack Hibbs is sounding the alarm. He’s hoping to rally at least 5,000 people to the state Capitol about ten days from now—and his message is blunt. Here he is:

HIBBS: I have to tell you, if this bill passes, I’m going to ask you to leave the state of California. You’re going to need to pack up, and you’re going to have to get out. You got to get out. You got to run with your kids. You got to go. If this bill passes, you gotta go. I would not subject my child to one second in this public school system with this new law, AB 495.

John, you’ve said something similar about your own state—that if your kids were younger, you’d not stay in Colorado over laws that undermine parental authority. So this may resonate with you.

Is it really this bad?

STONESTREET: Yeah, it is really that bad, and it’s really this bad in Colorado. It’s not just because there are laws that undermine parental authority. There are laws that are actually inserting state officials and government entities in between kids and parents, and not just undermining parental authority, removing parental authority, replacing parental authority.

Look, it’s just an amazing thing how they title these bills. What about this is preparing a family for anything? Again, it’s a replacement of a family.

The fact that you’re talking about that this applies to those whose parents might be deported, and that this is really an immigration issue, without drawing any lines, for example, between citizens and non-citizens, without drawing any lines between which government officials—so now you have basically carte blanche potential for school officials. Which, in California, for the record, they already have done.

One of the first stories I heard about a government official, basically over the gender issue, removing a kid from her parents and actually forbidding her mom to see her daughter unless she never talked about Christianity, faith, or going to church—I mean, that was in California, and that was just done bureaucratically, right through the unchecked power of state officials there when it comes to child protective services.

We would not still be in Colorado, given the language that is already used now. We kind of think, well, look, is there a role then that people like us have to play in keeping this harm away from other people and other citizens?

You know, Pastor Hibbs is exactly right that this is a big deal. What he’s really reflecting on here is just how the vibe shift that so many people are talking about—you know, kind of the political new day—that some of these ideas that were basically out of control on a national level, that have been turned around in recent days.

This isn’t the same thing as cultural renewal. This is not like these things have stopped. Blue states are getting bluer. Red states are getting redder. What “bluer” means and what “redder” means is becoming more and more clear. There are divides on fundamental issues.

I just keep going back to—you have people now in power passing laws where, looking at the exact same thing—so-called “gender affirming care.” One side calls it mutilation. The other side calls it life-saving. I mean, we’re just on such different pages, and the policies are reflecting how different these worldviews are.

EICHER: John, a disturbing story out of Pennsylvania is raising urgent questions about the state’s surrogacy laws—and about the broader breakdown of protections for children.

A registered sex offender recently obtained custody of a newborn through a private surrogacy arrangement. The offender we’re talking about was convicted of soliciting a teenage student while working as a high school teacher, so that’s who we’re talking about. But because Pennsylvania law doesn’t require background checks or court oversight for these contracts, there was nothing to prevent it.

Is this just a loophole, like an unintended consequence, or do you see a broader issue here?

STONESTREET: This kind of thing, where adults get what they want no matter what is best for children, is not a bug of artificial reproductive technologies as the industry is built. It’s a feature.

If you want to talk about the ideological foundations of it, it’s the idea of birth control. This now becomes basically another process, another technology, another thing that will provide for us what we want.

There was a remarkable piece in The Free Press a week or so ago by Madeleine Kearns, talking about her own journey through infertility and how she was treated—not through IVF, which almost all the doctors had told her was her only option—but through a medical practice that is emerging, in which some of these things that have rendered women infertile are able to be treated and reversed. It’s been an incredible health benefit for her, according to her article.

It struck me as I was seeing that article and comparing it to this story, how in vitro fertilization, for example—but really surrogacy and the larger artificial reproductive technology movement—regardless of the ethical challenges of the practice itself, is what the medicine actually is aiming at doing.

She talked about a doctor who, for the first time, was interested in treating this condition in her body. The other medical professionals who said IVF was her only option—for them, the problem they were trying to treat is that she couldn’t get what she wanted in terms of a child.

There is a big, big difference if the purpose of medicine is to give everyone what they want. So if you want to have sex and you don’t want to have a baby—birth control. If you want to have a baby but you’re not able to—IVF.

If you think about it, IVF does not treat a woman’s infertility. IVF is a workaround to a woman’s infertility. She remains infertile. But there are treatments that can actually help.

Here you have the ultimate example of that, because all of this is done in the context of the sexual revolution, which has become this movement to enable, at every level of society, sexual autonomy.

So if two men, who have chosen to have an intentionally sterile union, cannot have a child that they want, let’s call it infertility. It’s not infertility. The men aren’t infertile. The process is sterile. That’s two completely different things.

But again, this industry is about giving adults what they want. When you are all about giving adults what they want, it’s just kind of a—gosh—it’s a footnote whether one of the adults that wants something is a registered sex offender or not, isn’t it? That’s not really relevant to the whole process.

That’s what I mean. This is a feature of the whole industry: to give adults exactly what they want. That is not something that will ever be aligned with the rights and well-being of children.

BROWN: John, for decades there’s been a narrative of decline of marriage in America—rising divorce, single parenthood, fewer people tying the knot. But a new report from the Institute for Family Studies suggests that narrative may be changing. This is Brad Wilcox’s group, a powerful expert on marriage and family.

The study is titled “Is Marriage Back? Divorce Is Down, Family Stability Is Up.”

Here are a few key takeaways:

• Divorce is now at a 50-year low.

• More kids are being raised by married parents.

• The biggest improvements in family stability are among black and lower-income families.

• But while marriage is rebounding for children, it’s still flatlining for adults—especially younger adults.

So, John, I don’t really want to ask whether you’re in agreement with Brad Wilcox, but I am curious about one of the findings that the marriage comeback is benefiting kids even more than the adults raising them—why do you suppose that is?

STONESTREET: Well, look, at the end of the day, this is fascinating to watch. Hopefully, this will be part of the vibe shift—one that will take it beyond just kind of rejecting what’s bad, to reattaching ourselves as individuals in a society to things that are actually good.

That gets at the heart of this. There’s nuances here, and there’s details here, and there’s demographic differences—whether you’re talking about this age group or that age group.

What all of this comes back to, and the reason that this is good for kids, is that there’s been a cultural lie that has permeated the sexual revolution from the beginning. There was no better example of it than with no-fault divorce and also intentionally single homes.

You might remember that ridiculous moment in American political history where a real-life political candidate, Dan Quayle, had a public spat with someone who didn’t actually exist in real life—Murphy Brown.

You remember the Dan Quayle–Murphy Brown thing? This idea was: if adults want it—and it goes right back to what we were talking about in the previous answer—if adults want it, they should be able to get it.

Okay, so that’s where we’re at. The form of that myth is, “Oh, well, kids need loving parents, not a mom and a dad.” Or, “Well, if two loving parents are good for kids, think how good four will be, or five will be,” in order to endorse polyamorous parenting.

That was said back then when there was no data. The data is overwhelming. Brad Wilcox has been one of the ones that’s been most public in sharing the data.

But the definitive work of the legacy of divorce on children and the importance of marriage for children is The Unexpected Legacy of Divorce by Judith Wallerstein, who studied this issue for 40 years. For zero years was it considered good. She compared the devastation that divorce carries for children to something akin to the catastrophic nature of the Holocaust for children.

It wasn’t that bad, because nothing is, but the closest you get is that. In other words, this all points to something, and that is that marriage is built into the fabric of the universe.

It’s not a social construct that now that we’re more tolerant of alternative sexual relationships, we can socially construct a new definition of marriage and therefore, by doing that, rework socially what we think a parent should be.

All the data has pointed for a long time that kids do better when they are raised in a home with biological, married mom and dad. All the data has pointed sometimes to the fact that moms mom and dads dad—and dads don’t mom, and moms don’t dad. Moms and dads bring unique things.

So when you talk about married, biological mom and dad—every adjective there that you take away decreases what’s good for children.

That’s what this continues to reflect. I think there is a way that you can suppress reality, and when it comes to marriage and sexuality and children, we’ve suppressed it for a really long time.

But as one of my apologist friends likes to say, reality is like the beach ball. You can push it under the pool, but it keeps coming back up. If you’re trying to push six or seven or eight beach balls under the water, you’re not going to be successful.

Reality wins. That’s really what marriage, family, parenting is. These are created norms. They’re not socially constructed things. They’re realities.

BROWN: John Stonestreet, president of the Colson center and host of the Breakpoint podcast, thanks again, John.

STONESTREET: Thank you both.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Friday, August 8th.

Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Myrna Brown.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher.

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: creature discomforts.

Angel Studios takes childhood monsters and makes them more than make-believe. Reviewer Joseph Holmes says the film Sketch is a story with a heart for kids and perspective for parents.

JOSEPH HOLMES: G.K. Chesterton once said, “Fairy tales do not give the child his first idea of the bogey. What fairy tales give the child is his first clear idea of the possible defeat of the bogey. ” I thought about this as I watched the new film Sketch from Emmy-winner and outspoken Christian Tony Hale.

JACK: I’m worried Amber’s drawings might be…

TAYLOR: Yeah?

JACK: Alive.

Sketch is a brilliant kids film about battling monsters and facing scary emotions in a healthy way. The movie follows a young girl named Amber Wyatt who is battling dark thoughts as she mourns the death of her mother. To cope, she draws scary scenes full of monstrous creatures in a notebook. But still she struggles to connect with her brother Jack and her father, played by Tony Hale.

AMBER: You have to promise not to freak out.

TAYLOR: I won’t freak out. I won’t.

AMBER: This is the blood-eater. It eats blood and pukes the blood back onto people.

TAYLOR: I see you colored it in.

AMBER: Do you think it made it less scary?

TAYLOR: Oh no, you don’t have to worry about that. No, no.

When Amber’s sketchbook falls into a magical pond, the creatures come to life and threaten to destroy the town. This forces the family to band together to defeat these dangerous manifestations of their grief.

JACK: Alright. You guys ready?

BOWMAN: No. I don’t want to do this.

AMBER: I have to go to the bathroom.

JACK: You couldn’t have gone before we put all this stuff on?

AMBER: I didn’t have to go then.

BOWMAN: Now I have to go too.

JACK: Oh my–

Sketch repeatedly defies our expectations as it explores the depths of a child’s emotions. It uses elements from the horror genre while still being safe for most kids. It’s also a heartwarming drama about a loving family dealing with grief. It possesses genuinely positive messages about how it deals with hard feelings. Writer-director Seth Worley deserves credit for balancing these elements in a way that feels honest and edifying. It’s easily one of my favorite movies this year: well-written, well-acted, and visually splendid. I laughed and cried multiple times.

AMBER: And then what? I’ll feel better?

JACK: What’s wrong with that?! Why do I keep getting in trouble for trying to fix stuff? And yes, you would feel better. We all would.

One of the best things about Sketch is how it features a fictional family that’s genuinely good and wholesome even while being imperfect. Some of the wisdom they share with each other on how to deal with inner monsters is exactly what many Christian parents want to impart to their kids. The dad separates sinful thoughts and actions for his kids, which he refers to as your “inbox” vs your “outbox.” They encourage each other not to make those things an identity, such as when Jack tells Amber about the monsters, “It’s not you, it’s just something you drew.” And they affirm both how to avoid both denying our feelings and expressing them in a way that hurts others.

TAYLOR: You’re incredibly creative. Here’s the thing, okay? I think life is all about balancing both the good and the bad. So, if you don’t carry the good with you too, it’s just going to make the bad stronger.

While age-appropriate scares are frequent, actual harm to characters is minimal. Some get cuts and monsters chase and attack kids and adults. But no one gets seriously injured. Despite being rated PG, adults use minor expletives, and the kids often refer to each other as “B-holes.” (This is not censored on my part–that’s how they say it.) Jack innocently uses the more impolite word to ask his dad if they are illegitimate children, which the film plays for laughs.

The film does sometimes imply that the way women more typically process emotions, such as talking, crying, or making art, is healthier than how men more often do it, such as taking action, fixing things, or powering through them.

LIZ: Do you want to hear my two cents on all this?

TAYLOR: No, I don’t.

LIZ: Well, I’m going to tell you. I think you should spend less time worrying about the girl who’s drawing pictures of her pain and worry a little bit more about the boys who are ignoring theirs.

This is potentially problematic. We’re learning more and more how important a dad’s more traditionally masculine approach is to a child’s development. But this hitch is outweighed by the film’s positive messages. And families can discuss such strengths and weaknesses of the film’s approach together.

All kids face internal and–eventually–external dragons in life. For families looking for a family-affirming adventure movie that gives kids and adults the tools to fight them, Sketch might be a wish come true.

I’m Joseph Holmes.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Friday, August 8th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Nick Eicher.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown. Finally today: Drawn in.

What do you see when you slow down long enough to really look? One artists’ walk through a city in Spain turned into something more than a sightseeing stroll. It became a lesson in noticing. In paying attention. And then putting pen to paper. WORLD Associate Correspondent Elisa Palumbo met some urban sketchers in Spain, and tried it herself.

SOUND: [CÁCERES, SPAIN]

ELISA PALUMBO: One day while walking through the medieval city center of Cáceres, Spain, I met Jose Antonio.

SOUND: [CITY SQUARE/ANTONIO PAINTING]

He was sketching one of the many cobblestone streets. The narrow road, ironically named “Wide Street,” is a perfect scene for him. He seemed at home.

JOSE ANTONIO: Lleva ya tiempo tendiendo a llevar una vida tranquila, calmada, relajada y sosegada. Entonces, yo no sé si la pintura me ha ayudado o la pintura es la consecuencia de esa decisión.

ANTONIO: [TRANSLATION] I have been tending towards leading a quiet, calm, relaxed and serene life. So, I don't know if the painting has helped me [do that] or if the painting is a consequence of that decision.

Painting outside is nothing new, but it became a global movement when a Spanish illustrator living and working in Seattle founded a blog in 2008. He encouraged artists to go paint what they saw, and then upload pictures of their work. It began what’s now known as Urban Sketchers. Their motto is to see the world one sketch at a time. They draw or paint on-location, on paper, and in the moment… together.

PALUMBO: So I’m curious, can I chat with you for a second?

Shelly Ginenthall is another Urban Sketcher. She says this type of drawing has changed how she sees what’s around her.

SHELLY GINENTHALL: Even, you know, even trash cans are interesting to draw. You know, something that you wouldn't think would be at all interesting. It doesn't have to be beautiful. It doesn't have to be doesn't have to be anything.

In an ever-digitalized world, where limitless digital filters and AI enhanced editing boasts masterpiece results, sitting down to draw won’t win many art competitions, but has its own rewards.

Studies indicate a correlation between creative activities such as drawing and reduced stress levels, and it increases memory.

GINENTHALL: Even if you sit for five minutes and you draw a picture, you will remember it stays with you, unlike a photograph.

Slowing down to paint outside comes with a lot of challenges. One big one? The results are often far from the desired outcome. Jose Antonio says the only way to get better is to go do it.

ANTONIO: . . .ir por un caminito llano y bien asfaltado nunca, nunca te tropiezas, pero cuando te pones por un por un monte lleno de piedras y lleno de es cuando realmente aprendes a correr oeste aprendes a desenvolverte.

ANTONION: [TRANSLATION] . . .walking on a flat and well-paved path, you never, never stumble, but when you put yourself on a mountain full of stones [. . .] that's when you really learn to run or learn to manage yourself.

His analogy is true of life. Difficult things, when overcome, often bring the most satisfaction. And can lead to moments of unexpected delight.

SOUND: [MANHATTAN BEACH PIER]

So this week I took Jose Antonio’s advice. I grabbed my backpack, a sketchbook, and some colored pens, and visited Manhattan Beach Pier South of Los Angeles, California. I found the view of the landmark I wanted to remember and settled myself on an uncomfortable wooden fence post by some stairs.

PALUMBO: The pier is really, really pretty. And Manhattan Beach is pretty by itself. I'll admit I feel a little intimidated.

I typically enjoy drawing nature, but structures are something new for me. As I draw, I realized why it would be nice to draw in a group. I’m struggling with technique:

PALUMBO: Honestly, I've never been very good at drawing angles, and this pier is all about angles, and it's not very fun. But we’re going with it. We’re trying.

I try holding my pen up to the pier and horizon and measuring the angles I see. It helps kind of.

PALUMBO: Okay this is looking better. Still far, far from perfect, but it does not have to be realistic and it doesn't have to be perfect, so that's what I'm telling myself.

After a while it’s no longer work: it’s enjoyable. The sun is almost fully set when a curious biker stops to chat.

DAVID: Whatcha drawing?

PALUMBO Oh, the pier…trying to at least.

DAVID: Amazing. It looks beautiful. It's far better than anything I would do…you captured the roof really well and even the color of the roof.

PALUMBO: Probably the hardest was getting these…I’m really bad at angles…

DAVID: I am trying to figure out the green, oh, the green is the railing, yeah.

PALUMBO: I'm like, I didn't, that didn't turn out great.

DAVID: Well, it's a little tall,

PALUMBO: Yeah it is.

DAVID: Yeah, respectively. But, I mean, I'm being pretty picky uni.

PALUMBO: I'm like, I'm just trying…

The conversation means I couldn’t finish the sky—which would have been my favorite part—but I’ve drawn what I came to draw.

It’s perfectly imperfect. But I like it, even if the sky is missing. It turned out better than expected. I certainly don’t have the right techniques, but the time flew by as I focused on the pier and tried to recreate it on paper. I didn't think about my phone, the time, didn’t even feel the need to listen to music. I was in the world for a moment, truly seeing what was around me and made a new acquaintance.

Care to join me?

For WORLD, I’m Elisa Palumbo in Cáceres, Spain, and Manhattan Beach, California.

BROWN: That’s an enticing offer, even for an all-thumbs artist like me.

To see Elisa’s sketch, visit our website: worldandeverything.org and click on this page for this segment. If you should head out this weekend to sketch something, snap a photo and send it to editor@wng.org … we’ll consider adding it to the post.

Oh, and by the way if you want to encourage a friend to do it with you, take a moment and share today’s program.

NICK EICHER, HOST: All right, it’s time to name the team who helped make things happen this week:

Elisa Polumbo, Joseph Holmes, John Stonestreet, Cal Thomas, Lauren Canterbury, Stacy Horton, Emma Freire, Brad Littlejohn, Todd Vician, Carlos Paez, Jenny Lind Schmidt, Hunter Baker, Carolina Lumetta, Janie B. Cheaney, Amy Lewis, Mary Muncy, Emma Eicher, David Bahnsen, Lindsay Mast, and Mary Reichard.

Thanks also to our breaking news crew: Kent Covington, Mark Mellinger, Travis Kircher, Christina Grube, Steve Kloosterman, and Lynde Langdon.

And thanks to the Moonlight Maestros … the literal burners of the midnight oil: Benj Eicher and Carl Peetz … making sure the program’s there before your feet hit the floor.

Paul Butler is executive producer.

Harrison Watters is Washington producer, Kristen Flavin is features editor, and Les Sillars is our editor-in-chief. I’m Nick Eicher.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown.

The World and Everything in It comes to you from WORLD Radio. WORLD’s mission is Biblically objective journalism that informs, educates, and inspires.

The Bible records that a woman poured costly ointment onto Jesus and several criticized her. But Jesus said: “‘Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you will not always have me. She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial. And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.’” —Mark 14:6-9

A reminder now to go to a Bible-believing church this weekend. The Christian life is lived shoulder to shoulder. Show up. Lift someone’s burdens. Let someone help carry yours.

And Lord willing, we’ll be right back here with you on Monday. Go now in grace and peace.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.