The World and Everything in It: December 17, 2024

PREROLL: Good morning, it’s Andrew Belz.

What an amazing season Christmas is!

Every year the incarnation, God’s coming to earth to be with us, becomes more staggering and meaningful.

I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately ... and I’ve prepared a commentary to prompt you to reflect on the light that people bring to brighten the winter darkness. You’ll hear that in about 20-25 minutes.

For now, though, I do want to encourage you to consider your part in WORLD’s Year-End Giving Drive. It’s my privilege to work at WORLD ... and my responsibility to encourage listeners like you to help make this work possible. That’s a privilege, too, and it brings me great joy to see God at work through your generosity.

This outpouring of support often culminates at Christmas and at the end of the year. What a strong action at a dark time of year, and in turn, what a bright light that brings to this world. If you’d like to join me, visit wng.org/yearendgift. That’s wng.org/yearendgift.

Meantime, I hope you enjoy today’s program.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Good morning!

Reports of unexplained drones have members of Congress demanding explanations.

AUDIO: What do we know? Where they are? How do we stop them from being in airports and other places?

NICK EICHER, HOST: Also today … what’s next in Syria?

And a small town offers a tasty way to get into the Christmas spirit.

AUDIO: Those winter time and Christmasy concoctions—it gets everybody in a festive mood.

And a tribute to the helpers in the aftermath of Helene.

REICHARD: It’s Tuesday, December 17th. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Mary Reichard.

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

REICHARD: Now the news. Here’s Kent Covington.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Christian school shooting » Police are still investigating a deadly school shooting in Wisconsin on Monday.

Authorities say a teenager opened fire with a handgun at a Christian school, killing a teacher and another teenager.

Madison Police Department Chief Shon Barnes told reporters:

BARNES: We know that the suspect shooter was a teenage student who attended the school. At this time, we're not releasing the age or gender of the student or any other identifying remarks about the student.

Authorities say the shooter also died and wounded six others.

The shots rang out Monday around 11am at the Abundant Life Christian School, a pre-K-12 school of about 400 students.

Barbara Wiers is Elementary Director at the school.

WIERS:  In spite of tragedy, God is working and we believe that God is good in everything and that he turns beauty for ashes. And so I had a number of families who mentioned that to me, that this wasn't a surprise to God and that he's going to do something mighty with it. 

Chief Barnes said the motive for the shooting was not immediately known.

Israel latest » Israel's defense minister says negotiators are closer to a Gaza ceasefire now than they've been in more than a year.

KATZ: [Speaking Hebrew]

Israel Katz says Israel's top priority in peace talks is securing the freedom of the remaining hostages still held by Hamas. He says Hamas realizes it has to be more flexible ... and that's creating an opportunity.

Meanwhile, President-elect Donald Trump says he's spoken by phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about conflicts in the region.

TRUMP: We had a really good conversation, and I think we're going to be in a good place in the Middle East.

Trump reiterated a previous threat he made to Hamas...that the terror group should expect retribution if the hostages aren't released by the time he takes office next month.

Pressed by a reporter about what that means, Trump replied:

TRUMP: Well, they're going to have to determine what that means. But it means it won't be pleasant. [REPORTERS YELL] It's not. It's not going to be pleasant.

Trump did not say when he spoke to Netanyahu.

Drones » The White House says the FBI has been investigating mysterious apparent drone flights over New Jersey and other states in recent weeks. And National Security Council spokesman John Kirby says …

KIRBY:  We have not identified anything anomalous or any national security or public safety risk over the civilian airspace in New Jersey or other states in the Northeast.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy also said Monday that investigations have turned up little to no evidence of anything nefarious or threatening. The Democratic governor says, in recent days, high-tech drone-detecting devices have been scanning the skies in this state.

MURPHY:  We've got the most sophisticated systems at long last. We've got experts who run those systems. And I have confidence, um, that we will get the facts here.

But many residents are still on edge about the unexplained flights … and demands for answers are growing louder. We’ll have much more on that later in the program.

Drug ingredients legislation » The Senate panel that helps oversee medications in America is weighing a bipartisan bill aimed at safeguarding medicines against shortages … and overreliance on foreign drug makers.

Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine:  

KAINE: When pharmacies and pharmaceutical companies see an uptick in demand of a particular drug, we're asking them to share that with the FDA and others so that we can see shortages before they develop.

And Republican Sen. Tom Cotton said the bill would especially help ensure that the U.S. is not reliant on adversaries for important medications.

COTTON:  Our legislation would direct the government to take stock of where we're obtaining these prescription drugs, or in some cases over the counter drugs, or their precursor ingredients to make sure that we don't have adversarial nations like China that control them that could end up cutting them off in a moment of national crisis.

The effort comes amid concerns about adequate medical supplies during the pandemic and hurricanes Milton and Helene.

Judge rejects Trump’s bid to dismiss NY conviction » A judge has rebuffed one of President-elect Donald Trump’s arguments for throwing out his New York business fraud conviction. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin reports.

KRISTEN FLAVIN: Manhattan Judge Juan Merchan's decision eliminates one potential off-ramp from the case, though others have yet to be decided.

The judge ruled on an argument by Trump’s lawyers that the conviction should be tossed out based on the U.S. Supreme Court’s presidential immunity ruling this summer.

Prosecutors have said there should be some accommodation for his upcoming presidency, but they insist the conviction should stand. A jury convicted Trump in May of falsifying business records.

It was an unusual case in which Trump was charged with felonies for infractions nearly always prosecuted as misdemeanors.

For WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

ABC Trump settlement » Meantime, ABC News is set to help fund President-elect Donald Trump's presidential library to the tune of $15 million dollars.

The network agreed to do just that to settle a lawsuit. Trump sued ABC and anchor George Stephanopoulos in March after the host wrongly stated that the former president had been found civilly liable for raping author E. Jean Carroll.

A jury in 2023 found Trump liable for sexual assault but not rape.

In the civil case, the allegations against Trump did not have to be proven as they would in a criminal trial. The New York jury only had to believe the accusations were more likely than not to be true.

Trump has vehemently denied any wrongdoing.

I'm Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: more on the drone sightings along the eastern seaboard. Plus, religious freedom advocates express concern over what’s next for Christians in Syria.

This is The World and Everything in It.

NICK EICHER, HOST: It’s Tuesday the 17th of December.

This is WORLD Radio. Thank you for listening! Good morning, I’m Nick Eicher.

REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard.

First up on The World and Everything in It … mystery drones.

AUDIO: That is not a commercial airliner. It’s hovering. It’s sitting right there.

For several weeks now, people in New Jersey have witnessed drones flying over their neighborhoods.

EICHER: The Pentagon says these drones are not operated by foreign adversaries…or by the U.S. military. Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh:

SABRINA SINGH: We’re going to continue to monitor what is happening. But, you know, at no point were our installations threatened when this activity was occurring.

But some members of Congress are demanding more explanation than that … saying that even if the drones don’t pose a threat, it’s important to know who is responsible for them. Here’s New Jersey Congressman Josh Gottheimer.

GOTTHEIMER: What do we know? Where they are? How do we stop them from being in airports and other places?

Joining us now to talk about it is Mark Montgomery. He is an expert on cybersecurity and technology innovation at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

REICHARD: Mark, good morning.

MARK MONTGOMERY: Hey, good morning. Thank you for having me, Mary.

REICHARD: So glad you're here. Well, what do we know so far about these drone sightings over New Jersey and who might be responsible for them?

MONTGOMERY: I think first we need to acknowledge there are drone sightings, right? That maybe some of these are planes, maybe some are other objects. There are drone sightings. I think the other thing we need to acknowledge is there's like 800,000 registered drones with the FAA, and that's just a small percentage of the number of drones operated in America by government, corporate, or personal use.

The vast majority of these are not nefarious. They're, you know, people out with their own systems, with their kids, or on their own, looking at things. You know, it's not a serious issue. But the government doesn't do us any favors when they kind of blanket describe it all as not a problem. There are espionage issues, there are flight safety issues, and there might be legitimate concerns about some of these drones. So the government should do a better job of acknowledging people's concerns, but then trying to focus on the small percentage that are really issue, law enforcement or national security issues.

REICHARD: So you don't seem terribly worried at this point.

MONTGOMERY: So, I don't think that these are being launched from an Iranian ship. I don't think these are coming, you know, they're like the spy balloon, which clearly came from China. These are probably domestic drones. Now, do I think that there are people who work at cross purposes with US national security, who live in the United States and have drones? Yes. Do I think it's likely that on occasion they use those drones to get a determination of what kind of maintenance is going on in a ship in a shipyard or how many planes or ships are at a pier or an airfield? Yes. Do I think that that is a pretty small percentage of what we're seeing up in the air? Absolutely. I think that this is a recognition of a large issue that basically sat in the background for a while. And now it's in the foreground and it looks even bigger than it should.

REICHARD: Well, I've looked around online to see what people are theorizing about it. so even given what you just said, I want to get your thoughts on this. One theory is that the drones are looking for radioactive material, maybe some material used for medical imaging that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission did confirm went missing earlier this month. Do you have any thoughts on that theory?

MONTGOMERY: So of the several thousand drones that have been reported, that could be one. So do I think it's possible there's a drone out there looking, you know, that's equipped for something like that? Yes. Do I think that that is a very, very, very small percentage of what's being reported? Yes.

REICHARD: Let's talk about the interface between government and citizenry. We've got members of Congress asking for more information while defense officials are trying to reassure everybody, hey, there's no threat here. But people are naturally concerned, though. Do you think the government is doing enough to inform us and our representatives of what's going on?

MONTGOMERY: So this is where it's interesting. This is a multi-tiered answer. One, they're not doing enough to, like they should have an honest discussion, like I'm saying to you, like there are real issues, but there are all these extra drones out there. You're thinking about them more because of all these issues where you're seeing them in Ukraine and Israel and, you know, in Netflix series where drones are used to attack people in their home for no apparent reason. You know, I get it.

But here's the other thing I will tell you. Kind of underlying this is the fact that our number one mission, whether you look at the last Trump administration, or the current Biden administration or even the Obama administration, the number one national security issue is to defend the homeland. And I have to be honest with you, we can't defend the homeland. The Chinese spy balloon is a perfect indication. We do not have situational awareness of our airspace, which is to say that we can't defend ourselves against any cruise missiles launched in our country anywhere than at the national capital region, you know, the White House and Pentagon itself. We don't have active air defense systems up and running. We don't have good sensor systems up and running that aren't very much aligned just to detect an intercontinental ballistic missile launch from China, North Korea, Russia, Iran, right? So as a result, all these other things operate below that and we have a very poor picture of it. So if you ask the federal government, tell us what happened over New Jersey over the last seven days. They couldn't paint an air picture for you that showed it because they don't have it.

REICHARD: This is all so informative. Is there some aspect of this story that you think is being overlooked or maybe misunderstood?

MONTGOMERY: Well, look, the violations of the military bases is the most likely one where I said someone with nefarious intent is doing something to get some kind of insight into military bases. So those should be investigated. And secondly, the violation of airspace safety, the airfields and the approaches to airfields in New Jersey, but also I think we saw them in New York and and I'm sure we'll hear reports from other states soon. Those have to stop. And the way it stops is law enforcement focuses and prioritizes those cases, catches the people involved and holds them criminally responsible. So everybody else goes, well, I'm not going to do that. And then the, and then the military and their intelligence can go work and their police forces can go work the base penetrations. And I think if we did that, we would take a lot of the angst off the table.

REICHARD: Mark Montgomery leads the Center on Cybersecurity and Technological Innovation for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Mark, thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate it.

MONTGOMERY: Thank you for having me, Mary.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: After Assad.

More than a decade of civil war in Syria finally brought about the collapse of the Bashar al-Assad regime.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Major questions remain: What’s next? What does Assad’s departure mean for the people of Syria … particularly Syria’s Christians?

Here’s WORLD breaking news reporter Josh Schumacher.

SOUND: [CHRISTIANS ATTENDING MASS]

JOSH SCHUMACHER: Many Christians returned to church in Damascus this weekend, one week after rebel forces took control of Syria.

IBRAHIM SHAHIN (Arabic): Last week, on Sunday, we were afraid and Mass was canceled because we were scared of the events taking place. But now, thank God, things are better and we are officially holding Mass every Sunday

Here, Catholic Church Supervisor Ibrahim Shahin says the church cancelled Mass because they were scared of the events taking place. Now things are better… and the church will officially be holding mass every Sunday. But not everyone is optimistic.

CURRY: You’re going to have to move past celebrating the fall of Assad and look with real eyes at the case of who is now in charge of Syria.

David Curry is the president and CEO of Global Christian Relief… And he’s not optimistic about what awaits Syria’s Christians now that President Bashar al-Assad is out of the picture.

He says if you want to know what happens next in Syria, look at the groups that toppled Assad.

CURRY: You have these rebel groups now, they’re called rebel groups. They are the same fighters from al Qaeda and ISIS.

Take for example the group Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS. Curry says a long time ago they were al-Qaeda affiliates. The group’s leader, Abu Mohammed al-Julani, has become a figurehead of Syria’s resistance. But in the background there are warning signs about him as well.

CURRY: When Jolani is making public statements, he’s interviewing on 60 Minutes, or what have you, he has an ISIS-related flag in the back. So we’re basing this on what are they saying in Arabic, what are the signals they’re sending?

Curry says HTS and other groups like it likely have one objective: imposing a strict Muslim legal system known as Sharia law on Syria. And Sharia law does not look kindly on religious minorities.

PARSONS: Christians are to be treated as dhimmis…

Martin Parsons is the CEO of the Lindisfarne Centre for the Study of Christian Persecution. He says the classical Muslim texts these extremist groups adhere to have some choice commands concerning Christians.

PARSONS: Now, what that means is Christians are allowed to live but with non-citizen status, they are literally just permitted to live through a strict set of conditions.

According to Parsons, those conditions are analogous to Nazi Germany’s Nuremberg Race Laws, which the Third Reich used to subjugate the Jewish people.

PARSONS: You’re not allowed to build churches. You’re not allowed to repair churches which obviously, after a war, is rather an issue. You can only worship behind closed doors. There must be no Christian symbols that are visible. You have to rise up in the presence of Muslims. You’re not allowed to defend yourselves, and you have to pay Jizya, this tax on non-Muslims.

Parsons says that if you break any of these rules Muslims can kill you with impunity because you’ve effectively become an enemy combatant.

The persecution of Christians in Syria is already a reality on the ground.

For all his flaws as a brutal dictator, Assad was rather benevolent toward Christians during his time in power. But the terrorist groups looking to replace him have treated Christians very differently.

EUBANK: Absolutely dangerous to be a Christian, and deadly, in any other part of Syria.

David Eubank is the founder and director of Free Burma Rangers. The group provides medical care and assistance to people in war zones and documents human rights abuses as they occur.

He says one of the major opposition groups persecuting Christians is the Syrian National Army. Eubank explains the SNA is basically a coalition of smaller groups.

EUBANK: These are jihadi, al Qaeda, ISIS groups that are out to just kill the Kurds and Christians and absolutely hate them.

Eubank says that in areas that the Syrian National Army has taken over, blood has run in the streets—literally. And SNA militants haven’t just killed people in the streets.

EUBANK: You’ve probably seen the videos—walking in hospitals, shooting people in beds, shooting kids, shooting people out in the fields.

Christians have fled to Syria’s eastern edge, near the Iraqi border. Eubank says that’s one of the last safe places for Christians.

But he understands some Christians in western areas under the control of HST are safe and allowed to practice their faith—for now. These terrorist groups have Western governments to seduce, after all.

SOT: DAMASCUS CHRISTIAN SPEAKING ARABIC

That’s one Christian woman in Damascus saying Christians in the city who have gone outside their homes have been safe… and that there are no known reports of violence against Christians.

But Martin Parsons says those Christians probably won’t stay safe for long.

PARSONS: We’re not going to see an immediate massacre of Christians, but we are going to see that tightening noose and we will see a few Syrian Christian leaders probably losing their lives, and it will get to the point where it will become—life will become intolerable for Christians in Syria.

For WORLD, I’m Josh Schumacher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Up in Muskegon, Michigan is a musical spectacle: …the Mona Shores Singing Christmas Tree.

Here’s choir director Shawn Lawton:

SHAWN LAWTON: The tree stands 67 feet tall. It holds approximately 220 students, and also there is a orchestra of high school students.

Picture a towering steel tree decorated not with ornaments, but with teenagers and 25,000 LEDs. Freshman near the bottom, upperclassmen above them. And the top adorned with a tree angel, a person who’s not much a singer, but full of heart.

You gotta see it to believe! Evidently it’s America’s tallest singing Christmas tree!

LAWTON: We claimed that title and no one has fought that title. No one has said no, we’re the tallest.

Lawton’s been the director for 32 years of its four-decade run.

LAWTON: Being a part of that has been such a reward and I am really going to miss that. Announcer: Mr. Shawn Lawton. [Cheering]

Sounds like they’re going to really miss him.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Tuesday, December 17th.

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

Good morning. I’m Mary Reichard.

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

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: Fa, la, la, la, la, la, la… lattes.

Eggnog may be the classic Christmas beverage, but gingerbread lattes and peppermint mochas are much in demand this time of year, too. Baristas can let their creativity loose over the holidays.

REICHARD: Today, WORLD Senior Writer Kim Henderson brings us along to some shops serving coffee and other libations that’ll leave you craving a cuppa your own.

AUDIO: [Sound of marching band and crowd]

KIM HENDERSON, SENIOR WRITER: Brookhaven, Mississippi, has about 15,000 residents. A good portion of them are here at the annual Christmas parade.

AUDIO: [Sound from parade]

It’s 40 degrees outside—that’s cold down here in the South. Parade goers are bundled up in heavy coats and scarves. Some have cups in their hands, a sure sign they visited one of the local coffee shops on their way to the parade.

A few blocks away, the Wild Fox Coffee Shop has a special holiday menu just for December.

CUSTOMER: The Yeti, The Snowglobe…

CUSTOMER: Chai Sugar Cookie. Chai, that’s interesting because chai’s like tea, right?

CUSTOMER: I want the “Drink that Stole Christmas.” [Worker: Hot, iced, or frozen?] Hot.

Behind the counter, employee Abbi Burgess fills the order.

BURGESS: So we’re going to put the matcha in first. One pump of white chocolate. I personally like to put the raspberry in the milk and it makes it a nice color, and then we steam it to 160 degrees.

What do the customers think? Is everything merry and bright?

CUSTOMERS: It’s very good. I normally don’t like matcha, but I like that one. Yeah, it’s not an overpowering green tea taste, but you can taste it.

But the hottest commodity on the menu is a recipe dreamed up three Christmases ago. It’s called “The Festive Fox.” Here’s store manager Desiray Boswell.

DESIREE: I believe the boss lady came up with this one. And it is a play on, um, a regular Mocha, mint, dark chocolate. But instead of that, we use white chocolate infused peppermint and white chocolate.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year. Customers like the holiday menu so much they don’t want to see it go in January.

DESIREE: I will have people come in July and ask for Festive Foxes, and I'm like, “We don't have anything, really.”

AUDIO: [Live music — “Noel”]

Back at the parade, the live music is pretty good. But there are bigger towns with bigger parades and bigger coffee shops not so far from Brookhaven. But Brookhaven manages to collect more sales tax than any other municipality in the region. Local Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Garrick Combs attributes that to a vibrant shopping climate.

COMBS: From furniture to gifts to jewelry to different things that are all locally owned and have been here forever and ever, and our people support.

He says the coffee shops and their special December menus are part of that. They build community spirit.

COMBS: Those winter time and Christmasy concoctions. It gets everybody in a festive mood and lifts everybody's spirits for the holiday time.

Across town at PJ’s Coffee, employee Alex Merrell is whipping up a Cookie Butter Latte.

ALEX: That was the cookie butter syrup. I put three pumps in there for our small size, and now I'm going to drop our two-ounce shot of espresso…

That’s a new pick on their menu, along with the butter rum latte. Demand keeps Merrell and other employees at PJ’s hopping.

ALEX: People who don't normally come during the year, they'll come out and get the Christmas seasonal drinks.

Ramping up business is important this time of year, according to PJ’s owner Angie Lambert.

LAMBERT: This is our, I guess, our time to shine, because it's coffee season. It’s what I like to call it. Summers are hard for the coffee industry, so once we get that first cool snap, we get excited.

Lambert says their top limited-time offering is peppermint bark, hot or even frozen. They call the frozen option “velvet ice.”

LAMBERT: It's white chocolate and Hershey's chocolate and peppermint sprinkles. So it's like Christmas in a cup.

But what about folks who aren’t fond of coffee? Brookhaven has a festive option for them as well.

NANCY: Hi, there. How are you? What can I get you this morning?

Nancy McKenzie is taking orders at Sipps. It’s a drive-through soda shop that blends a base soda with flavored syrups and other goodies.

Like the coffee shops, Sipps pushes the boundaries on signature holiday drinks, too. Employee April Norton explains how Candy Cane Lane is made.

APRIL: You start with the Dr. Pepper and you add vanilla, peppermint, vanilla cream, whipped cream, and peppermint flakes on top.

Starting in December, Sipps posts pictures of their holiday drinks on social media. Customers get excited when a new item drops.

MCKENZIE: People see it and they come by and say, “I want that drink that was on Facebook.”

It’s fun. And the community’s holiday spirit grows.

APRIL: (shakes drink) Here’s your Jingle Bell Rock. Thanks for sipping. Have a good day.

MUSIC: [Mariah Carey — All I Want For Christmas is You]

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kim Henderson in Brookhaven, Mississippi.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Tuesday, December 17th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard.

We heard quite a lot about the devastation that came to western North Carolina this summer … as Hurricane Helene brought heavy rains and devastating floods. Here now is WORLD senior gift officer Andrew Belz who spent some time with the helpers and shares this reflection.

ANDREW BELZ: December cold has settled in over the ruined riverbank in Swannanoa, North Carolina where I live. Upended propane tanks, tattered pieces of mobile homes, and a stack of crushed cars still litter one hardened vista a mile away. Some neighbors deeply hurt by Hurricane Helene have fled, but others have hunkered down. And neighbors from around the country have sent in aid.

And how relief flowed in.

First it was pallets of water, on day one. Then the utility trucks came in caravans. Followed by backhoes and skid loaders—removing trees and debris by the semi load. Then came the hot food. Ahhh, the hot food: we ate it under heaters at picnic tables, food cooked by some of the finest chefs in the region. Whether at the World Central Kitchen, the early Thanksgiving dinner tent near the car wash, or the sloppy Joes tent near the hardware store, the warmth flowed.

Next door were the FEMA hot showers, the Potable Water tanker, the portable laundry facilities, the Red Cross medical trailers.

Where did all this help come from? The first bottle of relief water I drank was from Baptists in Charlotte. Our electricity was restored by linemen from Canada. Our bridge was rebuilt under the eye of an engineer from Kentucky. Thanksgiving dinner came from church people in Georgia and Florida. And the Mennonites from Indiana served hot food for five weeks, no less.

On a recent snowy morning I had the privilege of sitting with Bart Tucker, organizer of a Fuller Center for Disaster ReBuilding team. It was a noisy breakfast lodge with 20 men chowing down before heading out with saws and skills. Bart, a retired Air Force pilot who lives in northern Virginia, has served in disaster areas like Hurricane Katrina, where crews under his leadership rebuilt 100 homes. He knows the emotional tolls these storms take on people. 

BART TUCKER: You know, that we all use the word PTSD. But you know, it's, it's exactly what it is. It's, it's, it's no different than a war wound. You know, one of the homeowners that we're helping got trapped outside her house and held on the doorknob of her porch to keep from being washed away by the floodwaters in chest deep water and, you know, she stayed there for two hours until they were able to rescue her.

Bart visited her after the first stage of her house had been rebuilt.

TUCKER: So the first time I met her, you know, in a 45-minute conversation and walking around her house, her eyes never dried up.

Now his mission is its final step.

TUCKER: But what our mission is is the rebuilding. So, you know, we, we transition into that as soon as we can. And the reason for that, of course, is, well, I mean, that's our, we defined it as our mission in life. But we think it's really important because this, you know, this is an important ray of hope when you see that first house going back together again. You know, it's not just that family, but the, the whole neighborhood sees it and the community sees it. So, you know, we talk about restoring homeowners and individuals and families, but of course, what it's really about is, restoring the community.

Bart and his Christian brothers and sisters will be coming back to North Carolina for several years, rebuilding one house at a time.

And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed. And all people shall see it together. As it has for 2000 years, the light and the heat of our Lord Jesus’ arrival are expressed in the hands and feet of those who love him…and it is surely being felt on earth once again this December in North Carolina.

I’m Andrew Belz.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Tomorrow: Washington Wednesday—the end of a raucous session of Congress. We have a recap. And, construction is booming during the holidays with lots of gingerbread and frosting. That and more tomorrow.  I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard.

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

Well, we are halfway through our Year-End Giving Drive … and we still need your help … would you make your gift today? WNG.org/YearEndGift.

The Bible says: “‘All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.’ And this word is the good news that was preached to you.” —1 Peter 1:24, 25

Go now in grace and peace.

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