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The World and Everything in It: May 23, 2023

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WORLD Radio - The World and Everything in It: May 23, 2023

Pro-life lawmakers in South Carolina face unexpected challenges from some Republicans; Lawmakers and media outlets question Supreme Court ethics, and how veterans and family members are remembering the heroes who remain missing in action decades later. Plus: a body surfing gator in Alabama, commentary from Steve West, and the Tuesday morning news


PREROLL: The World and Everything in It is made possible by listeners like us. Hi. My name is David Ladwig, and I live in beautiful Pella, Iowa where I’m a compliance manager for a local manufacturing company. I’m also blessed to be a husband, father, and opa. I hope you enjoy today’s program.


MARY REICHARD, HOST: Good morning! Moves and countermoves to save the lives of the unborn are underway in South Carolina.

AUDIO: We have this opportunity now to protect unborn children, and I think now it just gives them an opportunity to show their true colors.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Also ethics accusations swirling around Justice Clarence Thomas. We’ll talk with one of his critics. Plus, America’s prisoners of war and those missing in action. The search doesn’t end.

AUDIO: We have a moral obligation, a moral imperative with which to go find them, to give their families answers.

And the stories we tell ourselves.

REICHARD: It’s Tuesday, May 23rd. 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: Up next, Kent Covington with today’s news.


KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Debt ceiling » Still no deal on moving the debt ceiling, but they’re getting closer. That’s what House Speaker Kevin McCarthy told reporters on Monday after another White House meeting with the president.

KEVIN MCCARTHY: I did feel the discussion was productive in areas that we have differences of opinion. We’re going to have the staffs continue to get back together.

President Biden also struck a positive tone:

PRESIDENT BIDEN: We still have some disagreements, but I think we may be able to get where we have to go. We both know we have a significant responsibility.

McCarthy suggested a deal could come together any day with just over a week remaining until a June 1st deadline.

That’s when Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says the United States could start defaulting on its debts without a debt ceiling deal.

Republicans have been working to reduce overspending as part of any such agreement.

Tim Scott » Another Republican is challenging Donald Trump for the Republican presidential nomination.

TIM SCOTT: I will be the president who stops the far left’s assault on our religious liberty. I will preserve one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott kicked off his campaign Monday in his hometown of North Charleston.

Scott was twice elected to the U-S Senate after being appointed to the seat in 2013 by then Gov. Nikki Haley who is also now running for president.

Scott joins a field of more than a half-dozen declared GOP candidates with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis expected to file campaign papers this week.

Sen. Tom Carper won’t run for reelection » Meantime, Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware says he will not run for reelection in 2024 with a Senate map that could be tough on Democrats next year. WORLD’s Anna Johansen Brown reports.

ANNA JOHANSEN BROWN: The 76-year-old Democrat announced Monday that he’ll call it a career at the end of his fifth term in office.

Carper is one of several incumbent Democrats who have announced that they will not seek reelection next year.

The others are Ben Cardin of Maryland, Dianne Feinstein of California and Debbie Stabenow of Michigan.

Their party now has a slim 51-to-49 majority in the Senate. But of the 34 seats on the ballot next year, only 11 of them belong to Republicans, setting up a tough road ahead for Democrats to keep control of the chamber.

For WORLD, I’m Anna Johansen Brown.

Ukraine » With Russian forces reportedly making gains in Ukraine’s east, EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell says the West must continue providing aid to Ukraine:

JOSEP BORRELL: The success and extent of Ukraine's defense depends not only on the bravery of their soldiers and their people but also on the pace of ammunitions and weapons.

The U.S. announced a $375 million aid package to Ukraine over the weekend.

Meta EU lawsuit » A European Union court has ordered Facebook parent company Meta to pay $1.3 billion in fines under its new privacy laws. WORLD’s Lauren Canterberry has more.

LAUREN CANTERBERRY: Regulators say the company doesn’t do enough to protect European users’ data from U.S. spy agencies.

The court on Monday struck down a previous data-sharing agreement between the E-U and the U.S. and officials are still working to craft a new one.

Meta says it’s being unfairly singled out among hundreds of businesses that have the same data-sharing rules.

And it argues that restricting the flow of information between countries could fundamentally change the internet.

Meta says it will appeal the decision.

As it now stands, Facebook will have to delete all E-U user data from U-S servers by October.

For WORLD, I’m Lauren Canterberry.

Tim Keller » The Redeemer network of churches in New York has posted a final message from the late pastor and author Tim Keller, sharing his vision for the road ahead.

TIM KELLER: So what we should do the next ten years is to be a network and continue to serve the whole city, not just ourselves.

He helped launch the ministry in 1989.

In his parting message, he also offered advice from Jeremiah 29.

KELLER: Engage, but at the same time, be different. Don’t assimilate and just pick up all the views of the culture. But don’t stay out and keep your skirts clean, denounce everybody, no.

Keller died on Friday from pancreatic cancer at age 72.

I’m Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: the unexpectedly bumpy road for a pro-life bill in South Carolina. Plus, remembering the heroes who are still missing in action decades later. This is The World and Everything in It.


MARY REICHARD, HOST: It’s Tuesday the 23rd of May, 2023. Glad to have you along for today’s edition of The World and Everything in It. Good morning, I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. First up today: a last-ditch effort to protect the unborn in South Carolina.

With the overturn of Roe v. Wade, South Carolina seemed guaranteed to enact strong protections for unborn babies. South Carolina did have a heartbeat law on the books, meaning once a heartbeat is detected in the womb, the child was protected, but the state Supreme Court ruled that law unenforceable.

And that turned South Carolina from what might have been a haven for the unborn into a destination for women seeking abortions.

REICHARD: So last week, the South Carolina House of Representatives took up another heartbeat bill they hope will fix legal problems with the previous law. But pro-life efforts have had their share of pushback from Democrats—and Republicans.

WORLD’s life beat reporter Leah Savas has the story, and we begin on the floor of the state House:

SPEAKER MURRELL SMITH: The pending question is adoption of amendment 905. All in favor signify by saying aye.

HOUSE: Aye.

SMITH: Opposed?

HOUSE: No.

SMITH: The nos have it. The House refuses to adopt the amendment. Clerk will read.

CHARLES F. REID: 906. Miss Bauer.

SMITH: Miss Bauer is recognized to explain the amendment.

REP. HEATHER BAUER: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

LEAH SAVAS, REPORTER: You heard that right. Amendment nine hundred and six. This was the scene inside of the Republican-majority South Carolina House of Representatives around 6:30 on Wednesday night.

It was roughly the same scene that had been replaying over and over and over again since 10 a.m. that morning and for almost 14 hours the day before. For the pro-abortion Democrats in the chamber, that was by design.

The week before, they filed almost 1,000 amendments to delay a vote on the heartbeat bill.

REP. BETH BERNSTEIN: We have no intention of pulling any amendments. We're going to stand and debate every amendment that we're allowed to. We are going to make it hurt if they're going to force this on us.

None of those amendments passed the majority-Republican House. Speaker Murrell Smith listed some that he dismissed from debate as absurd.

SMITH: We have Welcome to South Carolina signs that say “South Carolina does not support women's rights” as you enter our state. We have driver's license messages that says “South Carolina does not support women's rights.” Abortion is illegal here. We will put signs on buildings saying that we don't support women's rights. We require each person in this state to read The Handmaid's Tale.

After working through the hundreds of remaining amendments, the House finally passed the heartbeat bill around 10 p.m. Wednesday night. From there, it heads to the state Senate for final approval later today.

The Senate passed an earlier version of this heartbeat bill in February. But that was before six Republican senators joined Democrats to kill another bill that would have protected babies starting at conception.

One of the Republican senators opposing the bill was Katrina Shealy. The state’s National Right to Life affiliate endorsed her in 2020. But last month, she had some strong words to say against the bill.

KATRINA SHEALY: Once a woman became pregnant for any reason, she would now become property of the state of South Carolina if the Human Life Protection Act were to come into law. She could no longer make decisions on her own.

SAVAS: . One of Shealy’s constituents is Mark Baumgartner. He runs a sidewalk counseling ministry called A Moment of Hope outside of a Planned Parenthood in South Carolina’s capital.

MARK BAUMGARTNER: So, yeah, I'm looking forward to voting her out of office, I hope somebody will run against her because I will certainly vote against her.

SAVAS: One of the volunteers at Baumgartner’s sidewalk ministry is Elizabeth Kilmartin. She is married to pro-life Representative Jay Kilmartin.

ELIZABERH KILMARTIN: I think once Roe vs. Wade, once that was lifted, it exposed a lot. It exposed what was really going on in here, and there wasn't a pro-life agenda in South Carolina. It was being hidden under Roe v. Wade. And I try to encourage Jay, and I'd like to encourage a lot of the other men in office and just in general, that these women do not speak for all women.

If you had asked most pro-lifers last year what states would have strong protections for unborn babies by now, South Carolina would have made the list. Ingrid Duran, the state legislative director for National Right to Life, was no exception.

INGRID DURAN: Oh, South Carolina. South Carolina definitely. Just because they have been consistent at least since 1998 in passing pro life laws quickly.

But she said Roe’s overturn put a spotlight on Republicans there and across the country.

DURAN: We have this opportunity now to protect unborn children, we have an opportunity now to do things that we could never do before. And, and I think now it just gives them an opportunity to show their true colors to either be in alignment with what they say they are or not and make room for for those that are.

On Wednesday night, many Republicans in the South Carolina House showed true pro-life colors. During the speeches before the vote on the legislation, nine pro-life Republican women gathered at the front of the chamber in support of the heartbeat bill. One of them was Representative Melissa Oremus.

MELISSA OREMUS: Thanks for my Republican women standing behind me today. Not all of us in this chamber feel the same as the Democratic women. You can call it what you want. I've heard you call it a chemical fluttering. I've heard you call it a glob of tissue. I've heard you call it a fetus. But not one of you women who stood up here—or men said—my baby, my baby. It's a win today for all the babies that are yet to be born.

Hearing Oremus speak was a highlight for Kilmartin. She and her daughter watched the livestream of the debates on an iPad from home.

KILMARTIN: The Democrats just droned on and on, about all the reasons why they need to kill these babies. And so when you did finally get to hear somebody with with just a refreshing take on why these babies lives are valuable, it was, it was beautiful. We were sitting literally holding hands with tears in our eyes.

Pro-life lawmakers in the House say they have assurances that the Senate will pass the latest version of the heartbeat bill, but that outcome is not a guarantee. So Kilmartin is praying.

KILMARTIN: We do pray that these men and women will have a change of heart, especially these women in the Senate, you know, many have run on that pro-life platform, and then here they are exposed. So I believe that the rot will be exposed from within.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Leah Savas.


NICK EICHER, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: ethics at the Supreme Court.

By law, the justices are required to file annual financial disclosure forms. What’s supposed to be included and how the forms are to be filled in and filed. Well, of course the devil’s in the details, and words can be ambiguous.

Multiple media reports lately have been critical of one justice in particular: Clarence Thomas.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Justice Thomas says he has followed advice from colleagues.

So to gain some understanding, I called up Richard Painter. He signed a letter of complaint to Chief Justice John Roberts about Justice Thomas. Painter was the chief White House ethics lawyer in the George W. Bush administration. He was also vice chair for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, known as CREW, founded to counter conservative watchdog groups.

Painter is now a law professor at the University of Minnesota.

I ask him in turn about each accusation against Justice Thomas. But first, I wanted to get the elephants in the room acknowledged. One, Thomas has long been a target of liberal groups.

PAINTER: I couldn't care less what his politics are. And if I saw George Soros trying this stunt, I'd be going after it too. And I've gone after George Soros for the various expenditures that I believe have a corrupting influence on congressional elections and presidential races. I haven't seen him getting near the Supreme Court. He better not be. We do not want our Supreme Court justices being influenced by gifts from anyone, in particular billionaires, regardless of whether they're left, right, or center.

EICHER: And a second elephant: other justices have also done ethically questionable things.

PAINTER: Yes. CREW sent this letter asking for investigations specifically of the disclosure lapses by Justice Clarence Thomas. But there's a broader problem with respect to all of the justices on the court and a need to have a clear process for enforcing the ethics rules, disclosure rules, and keep recusal rules that are set forth in the United States statutes.

Understand, there are no official rules governing recusal. The justices decide for themselves whether they should.

Painter points out the bigger dilemma:

PAINTER: I'm very concerned about the fact that there are rules, there clearly are rules that are set forth in the United States Code and federal statutes, but there's no mechanism for enforcing the rules. And I'm very concerned that the Supreme Court does not acknowledge that they have a problem in this area.

REICHARD: On to the specific accusations against Justice Thomas. First, is it wrong for a justice while a justice to acquire new, wealthy, influential friends? Specifically, Justice Thomas’s friendship with billionaire real estate developer Harlon Crow?

PAINTER: It is a violation not to report gifts from friends, whether they're rich or not. There are exceptions to the reporting requirement. It is hospitality in the home of a personal friend, that is accepted if the personal friend is present, and need not be reported an invitation to dinner by a personal friend, or entertainment need not be reported. But it is very clear that transportation travel on yachts and private jets does need to be reported. 

The rules around travel hospitality must have been unclear, as the Judicial Conference clarified that aspect in March. More activities must now be disclosed, such as free lodging at commercial properties and resorts.

Another accusation is that Justice Thomas did not disclose that Harlon Crow paid for his great-nephew’s private school tuition, when Thomas was the child’s legal guardian. Was that wrong?

PAINTER: Yeah, this isn't a gift to the child. If someone pays my child's tuition, child under the age of 18, their tuition or private school, that is not a gift to my child, that's a gift to me. He had the legal guardianship, he chose the private school and it was his obligation had to pay the fees if the fees had not been paid.

EICHER: The law governing this defines dependent children as son, daughter, step-son or step-daughter. So by strict wording, a great-nephew doesn’t qualify. But Painter says the law’s intention is clear enough and he believes Justice Thomas should have reported the tuition payment.

Another accusation is that Justice Thomas didn’t disclose the sale of his mother’s home to Harlan Crow, although he says he will amend the form. The explanation came from Mark Paoletta on the podcast Verdict. Paoletta is also a friend of the Thomases who was a lawyer in George H.W. Bush administration.

REICHARD: He said Thomas owned a third of his mother’s estate, and didn’t report income when the home sold because he’d spent more than that amount on maintaining the home.

But another part of the disclosure form says to report any transaction over $1,000.

Another accusation: failure to report payments to his wife Ginny Thomas as a consultant. But she had no pending business before the court. Does that make any difference to Painter’s way of thinking?

PAINTER: The disclosure rules are completely independent of whether someone has business before the court. The disclosure rules are designed to reveal the financial relationships and gifts.

There is a fundamental problem, a loophole with the ethics and government act. The loophole is that we do not require disclosure of the underlying payments into the LLC. at the corporate level, whether it's a Trump LLC, or Ginni Thomas's consulting firm.

EICHER: Painter argues that what’s needed is enforcement of ethics rules already used in the lower courts and apply those to the Supreme Court. But the justices themselves point out that recusing for reasons of convenience or just to avoid controversy leaves an empty seat on the bench. So some play in the joints is necessary.

And finally, the problem of the media:

PAINTER: The media in this country is very segmented along political lines. So for example, when I expose the corruption of the Pen- Biden arrangement, And I exposed that. Fox News was very interested in interviewing me and I went on Fox News, but MSNBC had no interest in it. When I expose corruption on the part of the Trump administration, MSNBC, MSNBC, and CNN will call me on, but not Fox News. When I criticize Justice Thomas, I will get interviews with MSNBC, and CNN, not Fox News. So it all depends. Everyone wants to look out at the corruption on the other side. So if I criticize George Soros, and what he's doing to corrupt politics in the United States, MSNBC doesn't want to talk about it. Fox News is on the phone, probably waiting for my call. But we go on and on this way. And as an ethics lawyer, I want to get back to the main point, this shouldn't be about partisan politics, and whether you're liberal or conservative, we should have the same rules for everybody.

REICHARD: According to the conservative investigative think tank Capital Research Center, CREW gets funding (Influencewatch) from several left-leaning organizations, including George Soros’ Open Society Foundations. CREW itself doesn’t reveal its donors, although Painter told me he believes nonprofits ought to. But the law doesn’t require it, so CREW doesn’t.


NICK EICHER, HOST: With the start of summer, the beach community of Dauphin Island, Alabama, is getting ready for tourists. One travel website calls the barrier island one of Alabama’s secret gems.

The local visitor’s guide boasts of pristine white-sandy beaches, amazing seafood, a laid back vibe.

SOUND: [ALLIGATOR IN SURF]

So perhaps that’s what attracted one recent visitor to the beaches of Dauphin Island. Audio here from a video shot by Matt Harvill. And I should add, it’s not what you hear, but what you see a massive alligator body surfing.

Harvill explained the gator didn’t seem aggressive. I imagine it’s just the laid-back vibe just as the brochure says. The alligator, he says, didn’t hiss, didn’t charge, didn’t open its mouth at all.

But, ah, you know, it didn’t make him anything other than an alligator, and that’s all the information I need. How about you?

REICHARD: I thinking Gator jambalaya.

EICHER: Don’t mess around! It’s The World and Everything in It.


NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Tuesday, May 23rd. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day. Good morning. I’m Nick Eicher.

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

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: The search for America’s prisoners of war and those missing in action. MIAs and POWs.

This Memorial Day, our country will remember those who gave their lives to protect and defend us. But the Department of Defense lists more than 80,000 U.S. troops as still MIA.

Their bodies never returned from the battlefield. And their families are still wondering what really happened to their loved ones. WORLD Senior Writer Kim Henderson brings us this report.

KIM HENDERSON, SENIOR WRITER: Last December, I had an interesting visitor show up at my front door.

RICK GUNDER: My name is Rick Gunder. I’m 71 years old. Been riding on ‘Run for the Wall’ since 2014.

Rick wears wireframe eyeglasses and the unmistakable cap of a proud military veteran. The “Run for the Wall” he’s talking about is a cross-country motorcycle event. It raises awareness for America’s missing in action and prisoners of war . . . the ones who didn’t come back from our wars.

GUNDER: That's where I first got Danny's bio. I carried that from Eagle Nest, New Mexico, to the Washington, D.C., wall.

The bio he’s referring to belongs to my cousin, Danny Entrican. He was a soldier who went missing in 1971 in Vietnam. Actually, just over the border in Laos.

Rick taped Danny’s bio to his Victory Vision, a sleek, top-of-the-line touring motorcycle. Then he rode 2,600 miles in honor of Danny.

And now, Rick and his wife, Cleta, have crossed several state lines just to meet us. Because we’re Dannys relatives.

The Vietnam War was the longest and most unpopular war in American history. Rick knows all about that. He served there, working on turbine engines.

Cleta remembers it, too.

CLETA: It was very hard. When he came home, he was called baby murderer, baby killer, baby rapist horrible things. He did not even put a uniform on while he was at home until we got to the next military base, because of what people were saying. So we didn't tell people.

Rick feels a connection to my Green Beret cousin.

GUNDER: Right after I got his bio, I was sitting in the hotel room. And when I started reading it, I found out that he went MIA exactly 30 days to the day before I left country and went back to the United States.

The correlation hits Rick hard. He explains what the bio says about Danny.

GUNDER: They got ambushed, and he wasn't able to make it back. And he told his guys to get on the aircraft. It was there. He didn't make it back.

The next morning, the Gunders visited the VFW post named in honor of Danny. We also went to the local military museum.

GUNDER: I never would have dreamt I would find so much information about Danny.

The museum has a case full of Danny’s personal items.

But all of Danny’s immediate family went to their graves not really knowing what happened to him. He’s listed as an LKA case. That’s “last known alive.” He was last seen alive near enemy forces. No remains have ever been recovered.

GUNDER: That just tugged at my heart. So horrible. I'm just. I can't wrap my head around that. I just can't. Somebody has to make sure we don't forget all of these guys.

There’s actually a government agency whose main job is making sure “all those guys” aren’t forgotten. It’s the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, the DPAA for short. Its job is to recover, identify, and bring home the remains of the missing.

In March, I spoke with Agency Director Kelly McKeague at a gathering in Dallas for families of MIAs. McKeague says the effort to recover remains is an inherently American pursuit.

KELLY MCKEAGUE: We have a moral obligation, a moral imperative with which to go find them, to give their families answers. And families have not moved on. It's still something that is a hole in their heart, a void in their life. And it's something that we as a nation owe it to them.

It’s a massive mission. They’re striving to account as fully as possible for more than 81,000 personnel missing from World War II, the Korean War, the Cold War, and the Vietnam War.

At the conference, attendees heard from all kinds of team members working to solve these mysteries.

The planning.

SPEAKER: Recovery team. Their purpose is to go out there and methodically excavate the site.

The challenges.

SPEAKER: One of the big things in Southeast Asia is unexploded ordnance. So we always take out explosive ordnance technicians.

Things that compromise DNA.

SPEAKER: Pesticides. Are those going to give as much as a degradation.

The highlight at these gatherings is something called a “remembrance ceremony.” Family members introduce the crowd to their loved ones that never came home.

SPEAKER: My father was lost between Japan and the Philippines.

SPEAKER: Our uncle, Noel Shue, who was killed over France. His plane was shot down by the Germans.

SPEAKER: He participated in the Bataan Death March.

SPEAKER: We had to go to the local Air Force Base to look at pictures of POWs, hoping that he would be one of those people that was identified.

SPEAKER: My uncle, Master Sergeant James Henry Calfee of Bowling, Texas. No remains have been found.

But sometimes remains are found. More on that in my next segment.

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

EICHER: This piece is a companion to Kim Henderson’s recent cover story in WORLD. It’s a detailed three-thousand word piece on the search for America’s missing military members. You can look for the May 20th issue of WORLD Magazine or head over to today’s transcript and we’ll have a link for you.


MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Tuesday, May 23. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Mary Reichard.

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

Sometimes the best part of getting together with family isn’t about what’s on the menu. More often it’s about the memories and old stories that just seem to flow from that familiar kitchen table. Here’s WORLD’s Steve West.

STEVE WEST, COMMENTATOR: History—just getting facts straight about past events—is a challenging but rewarding enterprise. Just consider the stories told at family gatherings.

When my now-departed 92-year old aunt used to tell of her early years, her stories were indisputable—not necessarily because they were true but because she was the only living witness. And because she was the age at which she could not be set straight. Her memories had calcified.

Even when memories are shared, perspectives differ. At three or so, I remember being pushed from my tricycle by my older sister, though she says differently. No one else remembers, so this little bit of family history will have to wait for resolution. Besides, I forgive her.

Yet there are great swaths of family history that are communal, shared by all, and the memories we share are rich.

For my immediate family, the memories might be of family vacations, often in Arizona, or elsewhere in the West. And so the expansive sky and dry air of the deserts, grasslands, and prairies of the West have become a part of who they are, of who our family is. Cacti prickle through our photo albums and rock and sky crowd out the "family" in family photos.

Communal history may be other things as well: back-seat Broadway sing-a-longs on car trips, favorite television shows, side-by-side singing in church, a parade of animals, family jokes, holiday traditions, mealtimes—even, sadly, shared grief. 

A family is not simply a collection of individuals. It is our smallest society—a little church, a hospital for the hurting, a school to disciple us all, even a mission to the lost and lonely. Even Jesus had an earthly family, submitting to his parents when as a young boy he wanted to stay behind at the temple, entrusting his mother to the apostle John as he hung on the Cross.

Sadly, not all families work well. Some are barely strung together—under the same roof, sharing the same last name, but with individuals moving in their own orbits. Even in the good ones, it’s work to continue to know each other, to share our lives, to say no to self, to swim against the tide of personal autonomy that permeates our world. To have a conversation not distracted by the presence of a screen. To listen well. To not tear down but build up, speaking blessing and life. To keep telling the stories that we share. To forgive. To love one another well.

But it's worth it. There come those moments when loving each other isn't work, when it just is, like breathing the crisp spring morning air of the desert, and you think, "It doesn’t get much better than this. Heaven must be a bit like this." That’s right before someone says "He or she touched me!" And the fight of faith is on again. But that’s just family.

I’m Steve West.


NICK EICHER, HOST: Tomorrow: a long-expected presidential announcement: that of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. It’s coming tomorrow, they say. And we’ll talk about it on Washington Wednesday.

And, part 2 of a story about the search for America’s missing heroes. 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.

The Bible says: Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. Ephesians chapter 4, verse 29.

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.

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