Welcome to The Light, your quiet hour of reflection.
In Wenzhou, China, a city long known as a center of Christian faith, police raided a house church and took pastor David Tang and six of his colleagues into custody. They have since disappeared, their whereabouts unknown, their silence a weight carried by communities of faith around the world.
Closer to home, a judge has sentenced Adam Sheafe to life in prison for the killing of seventy-six-year-old pastor Bill Schonemann in Arizona this past April. The nature of the crime was deeply disturbing, and yet the sentence closes one chapter in a story that leaves grief behind it, unresolved and still asking questions.
And then there is this quieter story, perhaps the one most worth sitting with. Carlos Whittaker and his closest friend nearly lost each other in two thousand twenty after years of landing on opposite sides of nearly everything. What restored them was not an argument won or a position surrendered. It was soccer. Shared presence. The willingness to remain.
That's this hour's reflection. Carry the light gently.
