The World and Everything in It: September 10, 2024

PREROLL: The World and Everything in It is made possible in part by listeners like us. I'm Anna Grace Shidler, and I'm a mom and a musician in Nashville, Tennessee. I hope you enjoy today's program.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Good morning!

China halts international adoptions, putting vulnerable children in a tragic situation.

NEWELL: They had met their families, and their families had met them, and now they're inexplicably stuck.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Also today, Nicaragua sets free religious leaders wrongly imprisoned. And the lending-library movement a response to the decline of the public library system.

AUDIO: When we found out about living books, that’s when we switched from the public library to a private library.

And later, an all-new surgeon-general’s warning, the public-health hazards of parenting.

REICHARD: It’s Tuesday, September 10th. 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: Debate » During the last presidential debate, President Biden was on stage. Tonight, the White House says, like millions of other Americans, he’ll be tuning in. Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.

PIERRE: The president is going to watch the debate. He's looking forward to watching the debate. I'm not going to preview or, or confirm any conversations between the president and the vice president. As you know, they speak often. He will be watching. 

Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump have taken sharply different approaches in gearing up for the debate.

Trump remained out on the campaign trail over the weekend while Harris huddled with her team at a Pittsburgh hotel.

Republican Sen. Ted Cruz says cramming for the debate won’t be enough.

TED CRUZ:  Kamala, this is the one time they're letting her be unscripted. Her campaign team is terrified for her to answer questions. She reads from, from the teleprompter. This debate, she can, she can step on landmines. 

But Democratic Congresswoman Madeleine Dean said Harris will be more than ready.

MADELEINE DEAN: She’s a skilled storyteller. She’s a skilled prosecutor. And my, there is a case to be prosecuted here for the future of America.

ABC News will host the debate in Philadelphia at 9pm Eastern Time.

House budget bill » On Capitol Hill, lawmakers are clashing over a Republican push to attach election security to a government funding bill. They’re looking to merge spending legislation with what’s known as the SAVE Act.

GOP Congressman Chip Roy:

CHIP ROY:  We have an obligation to secure our border, but also make sure that only American citizens vote. Republicans are standing up for that.

But Democrats see it differently. And Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer signaled on Monday that if a funding bill attached to the SAVE Act reaches the Senate … he’s prepared to kick it back to the lower chamber.

CHUCK SCHUMER:  It's a shame that the House of Representatives is once again wasting time catering to the hard right, instead of doing the hard work of responsible, bipartisan governance. 

Members are working on a stopgap funding bill with three weeks left till the end of the fiscal year.

Afghanistan report » Meantime, House Republicans on Monday released a detailed and scathing report on the botched withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan three years ago.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul:

MICHAEL MCCAUL: President Biden had no justification to go to zero – pulling all military troops out, all contractors -- going to zero, leaving…our marines at the end of the day were completely unprotected.

But National Security Council spokesman John Kirby pushed back. He said the decision to withdraw when we did avoided future American casualties. But he did concede …

KIRBY: Not everything went according to plan. Nothing ever does. And we mourn the loss of those 13 lives at Abbey Gate. Every single day here, their sacrifice does – is not forgotten.

Democrats released their own report Monday, laying blame at the feet of the Trump administration for inking the deal with the Taliban that preceded the pullout of U.S. forces. They claim that agreement forced President Biden’s hand on the hasty complete withdrawal.

Tropical Storm Francine » A storm now swirling over the Gulf of Mexico could strike the U.S. Gulf Coast this week as a hurricane.

Michael Brennan with the National Hurricane Center said Tropical Storm Fancine is heading north.

MICHAEL BRENNAN:  The center reaching the coast sometime Wednesday afternoon within the hurricane warning area that's now been issued from Sabine Pass to Morgan City, Louisiana. That's where we expect landfall to occur, but hazardous conditions are going to extend well away from the center. 

Officials have already extended tropical storm watches along much of the Texas coast.

Francine is expected to dump heavy rains in northern Mexico and Texas before making landfall possibly in northern Texas or Louisiana.

Cancer-free Kate » Kate Middleton said she’s officially cancer free according to a personal video the Royal Family posted on Monday.

Kate: Doing what I can to stay cancer free is now my focus. Although I have finished chemotherapy, my path to healing and full recovery is long and I must continue to take each day as it comes. 

The Princess of Wales stepped back from her royal duties earlier this year after doctors discovered an undisclosed form of cancer during surgery on her abdomen in January.

King Charles also announced his battle with an unnamed cancer just before Kate in February.

James Earl Jones obit » James Earl Jones has died at the age of 93.

His agent confirmed that Jones passed Monday at home. Jones was a pioneering actor who eventually lent his deep, commanding voice to CNN, “The Lion King” and, of course Darth Vader.

SOUND (Star Wars clip): I find your lack of faith disturbing.

Working well into his 80s, he won two Emmys, a Golden Globe, two Tony Awards, and a Grammy, among other awards. In 2022, a Broadway theater was renamed in his honor.

I’m Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: Why China is halting international adoptions. Plus, homeschool lending libraries.

This is The World and Everything in It.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: It’s Tuesday the 10th of September.

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, the end of adoptions from China.

Thousands of Chinese orphans found homes with American families over the last few decades. But last week, China announced it was halting all international adoptions.

REICHARD: That included many who were in process—children who had been matched with families in the U.S., some of whom had even met them in person.

Back in March, WORLD’s Lindsay Mast brought us the story of a family cleared to get their daughter before the door to adopt from China closed for good. Today she has an update.

DIANNE CHINERY: We put part of our hearts on a shelf in a box and said, “Okay, we have to move on. But we know you're there.”

That was how Dianne Chinery described the nearly four years of her life she spent waiting to adopt her daughter Mei back when she still didn’t know if they would bring her home. Her family had been just days away from traveling to China when the COVID pandemic halted their plans.

The Chinerys had already adopted three other children from China, but when the government finally gave them clearance to adopt Mei, things were different. They didn’t see any other Americans while in Guangzhou, where much of the U.S.-China adoption activity happens.

SOUND: [MEI AT ZOO]

They were allowed to take Mei out to the zoo, but told to keep a low profile while in the country.

DIANE CHINERY: They wanted us to stay in a certain hotel that had government oversight. We were, we were, I don't want to say watched or followed, but we were, you know, there was a someone in the lobby of the hotel every time that we went down.

The Council for Foreign Relations estimates there are more than a half million orphans in China. In the 12 years prior to the pandemic, US citizens adopted an average of more than two thousand Chinese children each year. That number was dropping even before the pandemic, and fell to zero during fiscal years 2021 and 2022. The State Department recently reported just 16 adoptions for 2023.

And then last week, China announced that it’s halting international adoptions, except for certain inter-family situations…China says the decision is in line with recent international conventions–though it did not specify which ones. That’s left families hurting, and trying to understand the change.

HERBIE NEWELL: These families that have been waiting for four and a half years have been patiently waiting. It's been an arduous journey. 

Herbie Newell is President and Executive Director of Lifeline Children’s Services. He estimates that some 400 children who had been matched to U.S. families won’t be coming home to them. Lifeline was working with 62 of them.

NEWELL: Twelve of those had actually come to the United States on a hosting program in 2019 and so they had met their families, and their families had met them, and now they're inexplicably stuck.

He doubts China’s decision was made quickly, and says it's likely multi-faceted: China has changed, and so has the landscape of international adoption.

Two decades ago, China announced it would focus on releasing only special needs children for adoption. As China’s economy improved he says it’s possible the country was more able to care for its own children.

Additionally, China’s policy allowing families to have just one child ended in 2016. That has led to fewer children being given up for adoption. The Council for Foreign Relations says that domestic adoptions within China have been on the rise, but at nowhere near the rate needed to match the number of children in need, and the children who have the most severe needs will likely still struggle to be placed.

On the American side, Newell says changes in the State Department’s approach have contributed to a decline in international adoptions generally.

NEWELL: When I started doing this over 20 years ago, the Department of State, Office of Children's Issues, very much was proactive and diplomatic to travel to countries to talk about our partnership and our cooperation of helping find homes for children…

But then between 2006 and 2008, the department put more energy into policing and safeguarding its agencies…with unintended consequences.

NEWELL: …and a lot of that safeguarding, just like a lot of red tape that’s bureaucratic, came with a cost, and that cost went to parents.

Newell also says some countries have expressed skepticism about what might happen to children now arriving in the U.S.

NEWELL: I think the the redefinition of family has has concerned a lot of more conservative leaning governments that have, and China was one, you had to be married, you had to be a heterosexual couple. And I think a lot of governments were scared as to what would happen once those children got to the United States.

Newell says whatever went into China’s decision-making, this step is a sad one for many children.

NEWELL: We don't believe there's a way possible for them to come home, although, as an organization, as a ministry, we're continuing to lobby both our government as well as the People's Republic of China to ask for a special exclusion and a waiver for these 400 children that were waiting for their families to come.

AUDIO: (MEI IN POOL) You want 5 more minutes Mei-Mei? You can have lots more minutes! 

These days, Dianne Chinery spends lots of time watching over her daughter Mei in their new home’s pool. The family moved there over the summer so Mei could swim more—the water seems good for her cerebral palsy.

SOUND: [MEI IN POOL]

Watching Mei chase a toy across the pool in the bright September sun, it’s hard for her to think about the children who won’t get the same chance to thrive.

CHINERY: This is not about just the people that didn't get their children out. It's again, a policy affecting the flourishing of people, because they've taken away an opportunity, an opportunity to live, to thrive, to—all those things.

And while human efforts to move the government are limited, Chinery trusts that God can provide homes for these children in China.

CHINERY:  So we pray for gospel hope, and we pray for the church in China too. The underground church. I've wondered how if they're going to be able to adopt children, if the government would allow true Christians to adopt these children, because those children would be raised in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, not the nurture and admonition of the Chinese government.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Lindsay Mast in Stone Mountain, Georgia.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: the persecuted church in Nicaragua.

Last week, the United Nations reported on increasing persecution against churches and nonprofits in the Central American nation.

Days later, the Nicaraguan government released 135 political and religious prisoners. Thirteen of those freed are associated with an evangelical ministry based in the United States known as Mountain Gateway.

MARY RECHARD, HOST: Does this mean more religious freedom for Nicaraugans, or the calm before the storm? WORLD’s Paul Butler has the story.

PAUL BUTLER: When Britt Hancock got the news that team members in Nicaragua had been arrested and their electronic devices seized, he was shocked.

HANCOCK: At first I was like, there has to be some mistake. We had a really good, I thought, relationship with the government.

Hancock is the founder of Mountain Gateway, a Texas-based ministry with a branch in Nicaragua. Beginning in 2013, the ministry started planting churches in rural villages.

HANCOCK: We purchased a coffee farm in 2017 and sort of expanded our activities into fair labor, fair trade practices to engage in a broader footprint for working and doing community development and expanded reach from a church planting standpoint.

When hurricanes Eta and Iota hit Nicaragua only fourteen days apart in 2020, Mountain Gateway provided disaster relief. Then the ministry took on a bigger project.

HANCOCK: And so we planned and conducted in 2023, eight mass evangelism campaigns.

Those campaigns involved some 6,000 churches. About a million people attended the eight gatherings. In the beginning, Mountain Gateway had the full cooperation of the Nicaraguan government. But that didn’t last long. On December 1st, Hancock and his family left Nicaragua for a trip back to their home base in Texas.

HANCOCK: And then on December the 12th, they arrested our main coordinator. He's the guy that sort of was key, did all the logistics planning.

Within a week, authorities arrested the coordinator's wife and nine other pastors. The government also jailed two lawyers who had helped them comply with the laws of the country.

HANCOCK: And, and then kind of things went from bad to worse, they seized all of our assets, about $5 million worth of assets, 47 vehicles, four or five pieces of property.

The eleven ministry leaders and two lawyers were charged with money laundering and organized crime. The accused watched the trial proceedings from a video livestream with no audio feed from their side, meaning that they couldn’t offer any evidence or testimonies. They were sentenced to between 10 and 15 years in prison apiece…

HANCOCK: …and $80 million each in fines, that's over a billion dollars collectively. And that's essentially a life sentence for everybody because it’s not even in the realm of possibility, you know.

After spending 9 months in the notorious La Esperanza and La Modelo prisons, the 13 ministry leaders and attorneys were freed and sent to Guatemala.

KRISTINA HJELKREM: And actually the female religious leader, she had just given birth two months prior to her detention, so she's been able to be back with her baby.

Kristina Hjelkrem is a lawyer with Alliance Defending Freedom International who represents Mountain Gateway. While there’s much to celebrate, she says the good news is bittersweet.

HJELKREM: Of course from a human perspective we are really glad and grateful to God that these people are no longer deprived of their freedom for arbitrary and unjust reasons.

It doesn’t necessarily signal that things will improve for Nicaraguan churches and nonprofits.

STEPHEN SCHNECK: Despite the release of those 135 prisoners, there remain many, many more people imprisoned or otherwise detained by Nicaraguan authorities on the basis of their religion in the country.

Stephen Schneck is the Chair for the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom or USCIRF. —

SCHNECK: USCIRF currently recommends Nicaragua as a country of particular concern to the State Department, and this is our highest category of concern there. You know, this would be at the same level that we have countries like China, North Korea, Iran and so it’s a country we have a tremendous amount of concern for.

He says that the Nicaraguan Church has faced persecution since that country’s current president first came to power in the 1980s. But the recent crackdown traces back to protests against the government in 2018. Audio from PBS.

PBS: They started in April after the government of President Daniel Ortega introduced changes to the nation’s pension system. The protests turned violent after a government crackdown, and more than 300 people - nearly all of them civilians - have since died in fighting on the street.

That’s when churches stepped in and started providing safe haven for protestors. Since then, Nicaragua’s government has seen Christianity as a threat. This past August, the Sandinista government shut down more than 1,600 churches and nonprofits…accusing them of failing to properly report their finances.

SCHNECK: What we see is an authoritarian country that really does not want to provide or allow for its citizens to have any source of appeal or authority, or, for that matter, measure of what is right and wrong, than what the authoritarian regime itself sets up.

Back in Texas, Pastor Britt Hancock and his family can’t return to Nicaragua without risking arrest. Neither can the 13 pastors and lawyers who were just set free. For those churches that remain in Nicaragua, it’s unclear what the future holds. But Hancock is confident that human governments can not stop the work God is doing in the country.

HANCOCK: There's a famous quote from the kingdom of France from years ago, and I can't remember who said what, and I think it was Louis XIV that wanted to try to stamp out Christianity. And his advisor said, “Sire, The gospel is an anvil that's worn out and broken many hammers...

Bekah McCallum wrote and reported this story. For WORLD, I’m Paul Butler.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Sports creates a brotherhood of sorts. But for one high school football team in Wichita, sports brotherhood takes on a whole new meaning.

There’re four sets of twins on the same team! The coach is Corbin Milleson. You’re gonna have to get good with names, bud. The audio from 12-News KWCH:

MILLESON: It’s hard enough to learn 90 kids’ names. To have eight of those kids look just like another player is a little more daunting.

We’re talking the brothers Kincaid, O’Bar, Brashear, and Simmons. Height and weight differences help the coach a bit, and I’m guessing the numbers are helpful, too. But, you know, they’re not always in uniform as the O’Bar brothers point out.

O’BAR: If I had the same hair as him, we would be pretty hard to tell apart.

There is fifth twin on the team. Good thing for coach his brother’s a basketball player.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Tuesday, September 10th. 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: Lending Libraries! Some time ago we did a series of reports on church libraries. How some parents are using them to fill the gaps left by a public library system they no longer trust.

After those stories aired, a number of listeners wrote in to tell us about another alternative.

EICHER: As promised, we did our research and have put together a three-part series on the lending library movement and the homeschool families behind it.

WORLD’s Myrna Brown begins our coverage in Johnson City, Tennessee.

AUDIO: You want to see what the library looks like? Uh huh. We’ll find out…

MYRNA BROWN: It’s library day for Rachel Showens and her four children.

RACHEL SHOWENS: We moved from Vermont to Tennessee, and I met a friend and she said, “Oh you should consider joining this library.” And I said, “Why would I pay to join a library when we just go to the public library?”

The answer to that question is inside Alison Dykes basement. That's where the Showens are headed.

AUDIO: Oh my goodness. It’s so good to have you. Tell me your names. I haven’t met you. I’m Grabriella…Gabriella…J.J….. J.J. hi….Solomon……hi Solomon. My name is Barnabas. Barnabas? What great names… Come in…welcome…

Dykes leads the Showens down a narrow hallway between unfinished walls. The studs and insulation lead directly to her living books lending library.

AUDIO: There’s Pilgrim’s Progress guys…

There are a few different views on what exactly a living book is but they're usually written by one author. Instead of short, choppy sentences you often find in today's graphic novels, the stories in living books are written in a narrative form, presenting ideas, not just facts.

ALISON DYKES: Living books are the best. They are books that you remember. They are books that stick with you. So, when we found out about living books, that's when we switched from the public library to a private library.

That was in 2012 when a then 41-year-old Dykes was a homeschool mom of four. Dykes remembers losing faith in her local public library.

DYKES: It was ok for a while. When they couldn’t read it was ok. When they got up to teenage years and some of the content in the books, then we had to stop going.

Content that clashed with her family’s Biblical values. Then, a friend introduced the Dykes to living books and invited them to become members of her lending library.

DYKES: The only problem was it was out in the country and we all have car sickness and it was worth it to get the books. But it was an event.

They eventually stopped making those trips and instead started collecting their own books. Their biggest discovery came from an online ad.

DYKES: It just said children’s books for sale. We’re always up for an adventure.

The adventure took Dykes and her husband to an old rundown barn with thousands and thousands of books for children, written between the late 1800's and 1960.

DYKES: Mice nests, mouse droppings, bugs that were still alive and then dead things like mouse carcasses, snake shedding in the books.

The books, owned by a former professor, had been stored in that barn for a decade.

DYKES: But the books were like jewels. They were so incredibly valuable and so rare.

The Dykes bought them all. After the arduous task of cleaning them and discarding those too far gone, they were finally ready to open their own lending library. Or so they thought.

DYKES: We had the books on the shelves. We just didn’t have them organized or any kind of system for lending and that’s what the trouble, the trouble began.

Dykes says they also lacked the proper infrastructure.

DYKES: In our house where we were before, we didn’t have a private entrance. So, the families would have to come through our home. It was an open floor plan.

Dykes says they served a dozen families for 18 months before they decided to close their doors.

DYKES: But I do have some regrets from that because I only have so much mental and physical and emotional energy. And I was spending it on the library. 

But they still had all those books. As their children became adults, Dykes and her husband decided to relocate to try again. The hunt began for the perfect setup. After nine months of searching they finally found it..

DYKES: We didn’t love the neighborhood. I didn’t like the house, but then we saw the basement.

A 3,300 square foot basement, with a separate entrance and a bathroom. They bought it in 2022 and spent the next two years outfitting the basement.

Dozens of wooden and metal book shelves, almost as tall as the basement’s 10-foot-ceiling, cover nearly every inch of the concrete floor. And stacked, bar coded and labeled on each shelf, are 24,000 living children’s books.

But this time around, Dykes has a different approach to running a lending library.

AUDIO: Everybody gets their own cart when they come…

Before she re-opened last month, she spent an entire year experimenting with a few families.

DYKES: I knew that’s what I needed to do. I gave them free membership in exchange for me making mistakes on them and their feedback.

Feedback that helped inform decisions about operating hours, book placement and…

AUDIO: [KIDS INTERACTING WITH TRAIN SET]

the giant train set that keeps the kiddos busy while moms like Showens explore.

SHOWENS: Having access to high quality books. This library makes it much more affordable. Because to buy all the books that we could get here would be incredibly expensive. So this helps us homeschool, I think, at a much higher level.

Along with the Showens, the Dykes are serving 35 other families in their community. Those families pay a yearly membership fee for unlimited checkout. And patrons can keep the books for up to twelve weeks.

Dykes says despite the temporary setback with her first lending library, she never lost the desire to share her books with others.

DYKES: We knew we were going to start the library. That’s what God had for us.

And that leaves moms like Showens inspired.

SHOWENS: I probably don’t fully grasp the amount of time, effort, money, resources and energy that something like this takes. Maybe we can’t all have a living library, but we should all ask, how can we contribute back to the community.

With paper and hardback treasures in each hand, Showens and her crew of redheads stroll out the basement storm door and down the driveway.

AUDIO: Alright, bye! Thank you!

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Myrna Brown in Johnson City, Tennessee.

AUDIO: You got a good find there with those two books. Are you happy with them?

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Tuesday, September 10th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. World Opinions Contributor Candice Watters now on an unusual public health advisory. 

CANDICE WATTERS: In recent weeks, a flurry of headlines announced that parenting may be harmful to your mental health. That argument came from none other than U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, who issued a public health advisory. NPR reported it’s “a significant public health issue.” The Wall Street Journal noted: “Parenting is hazardous to your health.” This follows months of reports about falling birth rates worldwide. Now we can add to fears that we’re not having enough babies the possibility that those who do venture into parenthood may suffer from mental illness. Either we go extinct or we go mad trying not to.

The fine print of Murthy’s advisory clarifies that his concern is parenting stress that leads to “mental challenges,” defined as not “necessarily meeting the criteria for a diagnosable mental health condition.” But this nuance is lost in the news stories. Instead, reporters and columnists call on the government to step up spending on programs to address the crisis.

Why is this news? Parenting has always been hard.

When my husband and I drove away from the hospital with our firstborn more than two decades ago, we were scared and overwhelmed. Our doctor assured us that we wouldn’t break our baby, but we weren’t so sure. “How could the nurses let us leave without an owner’s manual?” we asked each other. You bet it was stressful!

But we never thought to ask the government to help us.

Alleviating parental stress happens best close to home, with the support of family members, neighbors, and especially your church. At my lowest point, I called a seasoned mom I knew. She offered encouragement: “You’re emotional, but that’s normal.” “You will sleep again.” “Let me hold the baby so you can take a nap.” She spoke truths from Scripture and prayed with me. She helped me press on.

The real story here isn’t that parenting is hard but that our culture is preoccupied with feeling “mentally well,” all the while becoming more cut off from the very people who increase mental well-being. It’s delusional to think the government can solve problems caused by frayed human relationships by creating more dependence on the government.

Christians need to remember that God designed parenthood to drive people to Him. It’s one of His primary means of sanctification. And it reveals a level of weakness and need that may make unbelievers more open than ever to the gospel. God’s purpose for hardship isn’t to send parents to Uncle Sam for early childhood education programs or tax credits but to call them to Himself.

True help for the bone-wearying work of parenting comes from older parents teaching younger parents what they learned from the generation before them: mother to daughter, uncle to nephew, neighbor to neighbor. Common grace takes the form of new fathers and mothers receiving help and learning from those who’ve done it before. Even more remarkable is the special grace that flows when weak, exhausted parents realize that they’re sinners in need of salvation and the grace God provides.

Now that I’m the older mom, I look for opportunities to encourage young moms around me as they embark on motherhood. I tell them it will be the hardest, most rewarding work they’ll ever do. And I encourage them to ask for help along the way. The stress is real, the challenges are hard, and God’s grace is sufficient. Older parents, this is rich territory for evangelism and sanctification. Let’s not squander it.

I’m Candice Watters.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Tomorrow: takeaways from tonight’s presidential debate in Philadelphia on Washington Wednesday. And, reflecting on 9/11, 23 years later. 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 Psalmist writes: But I will sing of your strength; I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning. For you have been to me a fortress and a refuge in the day of my distress. —Psalm 59:16

Go now in grace and peace.

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