The Pour Over Today - Friday, December 9, 2022

Episode Date: December 9, 2022

Today, we’re talking about Brittney Griner’s release, coups heard round the world, Time’s “Person of the Year,” and other top news for Friday, December 9th. Stay informed while remaining focused on Christ with The Pour Over. Sponsored by The Intentional Year. Get 30% off with code POUROVER

Today we're talking about Brittany Griner's release, Coups Heard Round the World, Times Person of the Year, and other top news for Friday, December 9th. Stay informed while remaining focused on Christ with The Pour Over. Here's the quote of the day. There's a difference between knowing God and knowing about God. When you truly know God, you have energy to serve Him, boldness to share Him, and contentment in Him. J.I. Packer. Let's start with some espresso shots.

Home for the holidays. Nearly 10 months after her arrest for possession of cannabis oils, WNBA star Brittany Griner was freed from Russia in a prisoner swap. Last month, she was transferred to a Russian penal colony to serve a nine-year sentence, but is now safely back in U.S. custody. Also headed home to Russia is convicted arms dealer Victor Bout, known as the Merchant of Death, whose dealings inspired the Nicolas Cage film, Lord of War. He had served just less than half of his 25-year sentence for conspiracy to kill Americans. Paul Whelan, a U.S. Marine veteran detained in Russia since 2018 on charges of spying, was not part of the swap, as U.S. officials had hoped. President Biden said he will continue to work for Whelan's release.

Life is full of joys and sorrows. Today, Brittany Griner's family rejoices while Paul Whelan's family swallows disappointment. The Bible instructs us to celebrate when times are good and to join with those who mourn. Take time today to do both. Romans 12 verse 15 says, Rejoice with those who rejoice, mourn with those who mourn. Tis the season for attempted uprisings. German police arrested 25 people including a former member of parliament, a special forces soldier, and Prince Heinrich people, including a former member of parliament, a special forces soldier, and Prince Heinrich VIII, a descendant of a lesser-known former royal family, for attempting to overthrow the government. The accused individuals were believed to partake in a conglomerate of conspiracy theories, such as QAnon and the Reich Citizens,

a far-right group that rejects the country's post-World War II constitution. It's unclear how realistic the plot was, but authorities War II constitution. It's unclear how realistic the plot was, but authorities took it seriously. In warmer climes, Peruvian President Pedro Castillo attempted to dissolve Congress after they voted to impeach him for corruption. Castillo was subsequently arrested and forcibly removed from his post by police. The nation's first female president, former VP Dina Baluarte, was installed in his place, promising a reset of the government after years of instability. Here's a verse to consider when watching dubious decisions being made on a global stage.

First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, for kings and all those who are in authority, so that they may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. 1 Timothy chapter 2, verse 1 through 2. Time magazine has selected its person of the year, Vladimir Zelensky and the spirit of Ukraine. The award goes to the person or group deemed the most influential on global events over the past 12 months. Time chose the comedian-turned-president for proving that courage can be as contagious as fear, calling his decision to stay instead of flee in the face of Russian invasion,

fateful. It's estimated the nine-month-old war has killed between 40,000 and 250,000 people and displaced 14 million. Other people shortlisted for Time's top spot included Elon Musk, who won last year, Xi Jinping, and the U.S. Supreme Court. Iranian women protesting the Islamic regime won the reader poll, and the K-pop group Blackpink was named Entertainer of the Year, and New York Yankee Aaron Judge was recognized as Athlete of the Year. Here's a verse to consider when wondering how people accomplish so much with the same 24 hours. Pay your obligations to everyone. Taxes to those you owe taxes, tolls to those you owe tolls, respect to those you owe respect, and honor to those you owe honor. Romans 13 verse 7. This episode is sponsored by The Intentional Year. As you plan for Christmas

and the new year, how will you prioritize what and who is most important? Several years ago, Holly and Glenn Packiam began taking a yearly retreat to review what God had been doing throughout the year and to discern the direction of the year ahead. They found that stopping to reflect and refresh helped them prioritize time with the people they valued most. With stories, practices, and a roadmap to intentionality, The Intentional Year will help you practice simple, sustainable, life-giving rhythms of an intentional life as well. Get 30% off with the code POROVER when you buy The Intentional Year. Check out the link in our show notes. In other brews, here's a rapid round of updates. A growing number of states are banning TikTok from being downloaded on state-owned devices, citing concerns about TikTok's data collection and connections with China.

And Indiana even sued the app last week. Here stays the judge. After much speculation he was headed elsewhere, including a now-infamous journalist tweet saying he was headed to the Giants, the reigning American League MVP Aaron Judge decided to stay with the New York Yankees. His nine-year, $360 million deal makes him the highest annually paid position player in MLB history. China is rolling back major portions of its zero-COVID policy, a surprising concession to unprecedented protests. The government is allowing people with COVID to quarantine in their homes instead of state-run facilities.

It's ditching the health QR code that was required to enter most public places, and it's loosening restrictions on travel inside the country. country. The lawsuits are in. Smoking is still hazardous to your health, and beginning on July 1st, major cigarette companies will be required to post health warnings at retail locations. The order stems from a 1999 lawsuit. It's, uh, been in court for a bit. Separately, Juul has agreed to settle 5,000 lawsuits that have pushed the e-cigarette company to the brink of bankruptcy. ChatGPT is a new language model developed by OpenAI that can generate human-like text in real-time conversation. We didn't write that. Chat GPT did when we asked it to write a 20-word news announcement about itself.

The recently released AI chatbot is startlingly proficient at writing computer code, essays for school, marketing plans, and well, basically everything else. That's all we have for today. Thanks so much for listening. If you're listening on the Apple Podcasts app, give us a five-star rating and drop a review. If you're listening on Spotify, give us a follow and hit the notification bell to never miss a new episode. We appreciate your support and hope you have a great weekend. We'll see you on Monday.