Burdens

On the slope of a hill in Camp John Hay, you will find a rather unconventional attraction. Rather than tombs enclosing remains of dead humans, this cemetery is filled with cute tablets with inspiring inscriptions.

The Cemetery of Negativism was established by John Hightower in 1981. At that time he was the commanding general of Camp John Hay, about a 30-minute drive from Baguio City in the Philippines. The cemetery is a symbolic site for burying negativism—emotions, frustrations, attitudes, and thoughts that today we would call “bad vibes.”

At the entrance of the cemetery, a reminder reads, “Negativism is man’s greatest self-imposed infliction, his most limiting factor, his heaviest burden. No more, for here is buried the world’s negativism for all time. Those who rest here have died not in vain—but for you a stern reminder. As you leave this hill remember that the rest of your life. Be More Positive.”

Inscribed on one of the tombs is “Itz not possible. Conceived 11 Nov 1905. Still not Born.” Another tomb says “Why Dident I? Born???? Lived wondering why. Died for no reason.” There are dozens of different shapes and styles adorned with tiny sculptures of animals, flowers, and humans among others. The inscriptions are open to interpretations but the overall theme encourages visitors to open their minds, reflect, and leave the place in a better state than when they came in.

Camp John Hay is a popular tourist destination in Baguio City known for its tranquility, beautiful well-maintained park and gardens, luxurious mountain retreat, and shopping. The camp served as the summer refuge of the Americans from 1900 until 1991 when American bases were turned over to the Philippine government.

Possible Preaching Angle:

The weight of past mistakes can be a heavy burden to bear. Regret and negativity can consume us, leaving us feeling trapped in a cycle of self-blame and shame. However, the Bible offers a message of hope and redemption. Through faith in Jesus, we can experience a transformation of heart and mind. We are given the power to let go of the past and embrace a new life filled with hope and purpose. (Rom. 8:1; Psalm 103:12).

Every year, YouVersion announces which Bible verses are the most shared, bookmarked, and highlighted by its users. The list often includes the classics like Jeremiah 29:11 or John 3:16, but this year, the app announced that Philippians 4:6 took the top spot.

The Scripture reads: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”

Yeah, that checks out for 2024.

YouVersion founder and CEO Bobby Gruenewald believes this verse’s popularity shows that people are regularly turning to God when they face stress and daily struggles.

Gruenewald said, ‘In many cases, our anxiety comes from holding onto worries that we aren’t meant to carry. To me, this verse being sought out the most this year is an illustration that our community is seeking God in prayer and choosing to trust Him to carry their burdens—and we’re seeing that supported in the data.’

There's been a lot of research about stress and here's the bad news: it's really bad for your body and your brain. Dr. Rajita Sinha imaged the brains of 100 participants and found that profoundly stressful events (not the normal, day-to-day kinds of stress) can actually shrink the part of your brain called the prefrontal cortex.

In addition, she and her team found that it’s not individual traumatic events that have the most impact, but the cumulative effect of a lifetime’s worth of stress that might cause the most dramatic changes in brain volume.

That area of the brain helps manage our emotions, impulse control, and personal interactions. Smaller brain volumes in these centers have also been linked to depression and other mood disorders such as anxiety.

Dr. Sinha said, “The brain is plastic, and there are ways to bring back and perhaps reverse some of the effects of stress and rescue the brain somewhat.” Relieving stress through exercise or meditation is an important way to diffuse some of the potentially harmful effects it can have on the brain. Maintaining strong social and emotional relationships can also help, to provide perspective on events of experiences that may be too overwhelming to handle on your own.

So, these overstressed individuals may not be able to "just get over it." They may need large amounts of love, patience, and prayer from their church community.

Lee So-hee, a 30-year-old office worker, used to live alone in Seoul. That changed in November when a friend gave her a rock. “If you really think of your rock as a pet, I do think it makes things a bit less lonely and more fun,” she said.

Pet rocks, a kooky and best-forgotten fad of 1970s America, are resurfacing in South Korea.

South Koreans, who endure one of the industrialized world’s longest workweeks, have a tradition of unwinding in unusual ways. They have lain in coffins for their own mock funerals, checked into prison to meditate, and gathered in a Seoul park each year for a “space-out” contest.

Pet rocks are the latest new thing. Lee, a 30-year-old researcher at a pharmaceutical company, made her pet rock a winter blanket from an old towel. It came into her life during a demanding stretch at work when she was working long hours in the lab, often late into the night.

“I’d occasionally complain to my rock about what a tiresome day I had at work,” she said. “Of course, it’s an inanimate object that can’t understand you. But it’s kind of like talking to your dog, and can feel relaxing in some ways.”

Choi Hye-jin, a 39-year-old Seoul homemaker, picked up a stuffed cloth trinket in the shape of a rock at a tourist shop next to one of South Korea’s famed rock formations. She takes pictures of it when traveling and has brought it to concerts and autograph-signing events of her favorite singer, who now recognizes her because of it, she said.

Daniel Skeel serves on the faculty of UPenn Law School, specializing in bankruptcy law. In recent years he has been increasingly bold in bringing his faith to bear on his scholarship. Much of that witness can be traced to what he sees as the New Testament’s inescapable—and inescapably radical—understanding of debt (and debtors).

Skeel reflects,

There came a point, where I realized that the story of the Gospel, and the idea of the fresh start with bankruptcy, are very closely parallel. The idea is that you’re indebted beyond your ability ever to escape that indebtedness (and) you can’t get out on your own. It’s almost exactly the same trajectory as the idea of who Jesus is from an evangelical perspective. (It) emphasizes that reconciliation with God can come only by embracing Christ as the Savior, not through a believer’s good works.

This sort of language might cause some hearers to balk (how simplistic!), but its pastoral traction cannot be denied. Not among those carrying student loans, not among those with mortgages, to say nothing of those asked to repay a “debt” to society. Debts weigh on people, and the prospect of the clean slate has a gut-level allure and immediacy, whatever your financial situation.

In other words, it’s not an accident that Jesus used so much debt language. It’s not something to be minimized. And not just because it’s timeless, but because it’s profound. What other type of imagery could make the burden of sin—and sin’s forgiveness—more concrete?

A beautiful wedding does not a wonderful marriage make. We know that and yet many couples get drawn into the business of weddings and the price tag can create a burden and stress for years. According to The Knot, the average cost of a wedding in 2022 was $30,000, including the ceremony and reception.

Just for reference, warehouse workers, nursing assistants and shuttle drivers make less than $36,000 a year on average. You also could buy a new car for $30,000 or pay for the cost of tuition, housing, and meal plan at a major university for the same price. There is also a massive cost burden for attendees. According to The Balance it costs individual members of a bridal party more than $700 to attend a wedding, including travel, accommodations, and clothing.

But, hey, you can always read up on the dozens of articles highlighting how to save money when planning a wedding … such as “open a new savings account earmarked just for the wedding.” Is that what we have allowed the industry to push us toward? Opening a new savings account just to finance a wedding?

Possible Preaching Angle:

Maybe it is time for us all to rethink our cultural obsession with elaborate weddings – and the staggering financial behemoth it has created.

On the afternoon of August 4, 1949, a lightning storm started a small fire near the top of the southeast ridge of Mann Gulch, Montana, a slope forested with Douglas fir and ponderosa pine. The fire was spotted the next day; by 2:30 p.m., a C-47 transport plane had flown out of Missoula, carrying 16 smoke jumpers. Fifteen men between 17 and 33-years-old parachuted to the head of the gulch at 4:10p.m. Their radio didn’t make it. Its chute failed to open, and it crashed. They were joined on the ground by a fireguard, who had spotted the fire. Otherwise, the smoke jumpers were isolated from the outside world.

The smoke jumpers were a new organization, barely nine years old in 1949. To them, the Mann Gulch fire, covering 60 acres at the time of the jump, appeared routine. It was what they called a “ten o’clock fire,” meaning that they would have it beaten by ten o’clock in the morning of the day after they jumped.

The rest of the story is long and complex, but only three men survived. Two of them managed to run for their lives and made it to the top of a nearby ridge. The young men at Mann Gulch had been trained to never, under any circumstances, drop their tools.

One of their tools was a Pulaski, a combination axe and pick that is very useful in fighting forest fires. It’s not useful to carry it up a 76 percent slope when a grassfire is racing toward you at 610 feet per minute. And yet, the reconstructed journeys of the victims of the fire show that several carried their Pulaskis a good way up the hill as they raced for their lives.

In short, more of the men may have lived if they had been trained to drop their tools—tools that worked in normal circumstances but became unnecessary baggage in a crisis.

Possible Preaching Angle:

In the race of life, we need to drop the sins that so easily entangles us (Heb. 12:1). Such as: the love of money (1 Tim. 6:10), resentment (Eph. 4:31), envy (1 Cor. 13:4), and pride (Prov. 29:23). We are to take hold of self-denial (Matt. 16:24), what is good (1 Thess. 5:21), our progress (Phil. 3:16), and wholesome teaching (2 Tim. 1:13).

For most of us, the older we get, the more we slow down physically. But for some, growing old also means slowing down socially—so much to the point that some home-bodied seniors go days with little to no human interaction.

A new survey sheds light on this sad, but true effect of aging, noting that hundreds of thousands of people often go a week without speaking to a single person.

According to the survey of 1,896 seniors over 65 in the United Kingdom, more than one in five (22%) will have a conversation with no more than just three people over the span of an entire week. That translates to nearly 2.6 million elderly folks who don’t enjoy regular human contact on a daily basis. Perhaps most alarming though is researchers say 225,000 individuals will go a week without talking to anyone face-to-face.

Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK says, “Loneliness is a huge problem because retirement, bereavement and ill health mean many older people find they are spending a lot less time enjoying the company of others than they’d like. Loneliness can affect your health, your wellbeing and the way you see yourself – it can make you feel invisible and forgotten.”

About 40% of seniors say they’d feel more confident to head out each day if they knew their neighbors. Just the thought of someone stopping to chat with them brightens their outlook. Half of respondents agree that even a short conversation with a neighbor or acquaintance would greatly improve their day overall. And a quarter of older adults say it makes them feel good when someone smiles or acknowledges them while waiting in line at places like the bank or grocery store. One in five would be thrilled if someone stopped to ask them how their day had gone.

The number of suicide attempts via poisoning are rising dramatically in children between the ages of six to nineteen according to a new report. Between 2015 and 2020, attempts rose 26.7%, highlighting a growing mental health crisis among youths.

Cases reported to the National Poison Data System included both attempted and deaths by suicide. In 2015, the number of suspected suicides through poisoning was 75,248. In 2020, that number rose to 93,532.

Data shows girls make up 77% of the cases. Children of all age groups showed increases in suspected suicide cases via self-poisoning, but alarmingly, there was a 109.3% increase in kids between 10 and 12.

The two most common self-poisoning methods in children were overdosing on acetaminophen and ibuprofen. Both pain reliever medications are available without prescription in stores and children are more likely to have easy access to these drugs. Among these, there were 276 deaths and 14,916 cases of self-poisoning that left children with life-threatening symptoms or long-term disability.

The study authors wrote:

This data demonstrates concerning rises in cases of self-poisoning between 6 and 19 years of age, suggesting that the pediatric mental health crisis is worsening and extending into younger populations. We need to be vigilant for the warning signs associated with suicide risk in our children. Our study is one of a number that demonstrates that we are experiencing an unprecedented mental health crisis in younger age groups.

Every year, about 1500 "thru-hikers" set out to walk the entire Appalachian Trail in a single season. Only 10 percent complete the 2,160 miles of challenging terrain stretching from Georgia to Maine. One reason some people drop out early is that they haven't learned to travel light.

A friend of mine launched his thru-hike carrying a seriously overloaded backpack. He had an audio player loaded with bird calls, an air pistol to keep the varmints away, a camera, a radio, and an alarm clock. "If it ran on batteries," he said, "I had one in my pack."

At his first stop, an experienced hiker helped him go through his pack and decide what to keep and what to send home. Each item was placed on a gram scale with the question, "Is it worth it? Do you want to carry this for the next 2,000 miles?"

My friend discovered that his biggest problem was an accumulation of little things. Most of his extra weight was in ounces, not pounds. He didn't need half of what was in his first-aid kit nor the extra tube of toothpaste. His heavy multi-tool knife was replaced with one weighing only an ounce. A metal knife-fork-and-spoon set gave way to a single plastic spoon. He sent home 26 pounds of unnecessary weight.

Possible Preaching Angle:

How many of us are trying to walk the trail of faith in Christ weighed down by an accumulation of things? Some of these might be an accumulation of possessions, our worldly habits, expensive hobbies, or sins, such as anger, bitterness, grudges, or lust. Instead of enjoying the beauty of life with Jesus, we complain about how hard it is to follow him. What do you need to unload today?

Last spring, a 15-year-old girl was rushed by her parents to the emergency department at Boston Children’s Hospital. She had marks on both wrists from a recent suicide attempt. Earlier that day she confided to her pediatrician that she planned to try again.

In the ER, a doctor examined her and explained to her parents that she was not safe to go home. The doctor added, “But I need to be honest with you about what’s likely to unfold. The best place for adolescents in distress is not a hospital but an inpatient treatment center. But there are no openings in any of the treatment centers in the region.”

Indeed, 15 other adolescents—all in precarious mental condition—were already housed in the hospital’s emergency department. They were sleeping in exam rooms night after night, waiting for an opening. The average wait for a spot in a treatment program was 10 days.

Mental health disorders are surging among adolescents: In 2019, 13 percent of adolescents reported having a major depressive episode, a 60 percent increase from 2007. Suicide rates, stable from 2000 to 2007, leaped nearly 60 percent by 2018, according to the CDC.

Without the inpatient option, emergency rooms have taken up the slack. A recent study of 88 pediatric hospitals around the US found that 87 of them regularly board children and adolescents overnight in the ER. On average, any given hospital saw four boarders per day, with an average stay of 48 hours.

Dr. JoAnna Leyenaar said, “There is a pediatric pandemic of mental health boarding.” She extrapolated from data to estimate that at least 1,000 young people, and perhaps as many as 5,000, board each night in the nation’s 4,000 emergency departments. “We have a national crisis.”

When the prospect of war threatened the viability of the annual international classical Kharkiv Music Fest, organizers were left scrambling. But their answer was found in the same place as many other Ukrainians looking for shelter amidst the conflict: underground.

Instead of the Kharkiv Philharmonic concert hall, musicians assembled their instruments inside of an underground subway station. They played their instruments for a grateful public in an ad hoc event known as the “concert between explosions.”

Among the first pieces was the Ukrainian national anthem, played while members of the audience stood with their hands over the hearts. Art director Vitali Alekseenok said, “Music can unite. It’s important now for those who stay in Kharkiv to be united.”

The program was intended to highlight the connections between Ukraine and other Western Europeans. It included arrangements of Ukrainian folk songs, interspersed with works by Bach, Dvorak, and other well-known composers.

One violinist said that the concert was unique among his performance experiences. “There was no stage excitement that usually happens when performing for people. But I knew that I was where I should be.”

Possible Preaching Angle:

Even in a time of deadly conflict, music and art are gifts that can point us back to God.

Soldiers in the Minnesota National Guard have had an exceptionally busy year. They helped process Afghan refugees fleeing to the United States and provided security at American military bases across the Horn of Africa. But none of those experiences prepared Minnesota’s National Guard members for their latest deployment. They are collecting bedpans, clipping toenails, and feeding residents at North Ridge Health and Rehab, a large nursing home in Minneapolis that is the largest in the state.

One soldier said, “I’ve had protesters throw apples and water bottles at me but that doesn’t compare to the challenge of giving someone a bed bath.”

30 Guard members have been working as certified nursing assistants at North Ridge, which has been so badly hobbled by an exodus of employees. Minnesota’s Governor Tim Walz said, “Our health care work force is heartbroken and fatigued. Having the Guard provide a bit of a respite is a godsend.”

One of them is Staff Sgt. Nathan Madden, whose civilian job is an assistant manager at a home improvement store. He said the past two weeks had given him a newfound appreciation for those who care for the sick and the elderly. “This kind of work is humbling for sure. … It’s great to help out in the community, but I have older parents, so in a way this is preparing me for what I might have to do one day.”

Shiro Oguni opened a restaurant in Shizuoka, Japan in which all the waiting staff have dementia. In a YouTube video, the owner explains his vision, “Dementia is so widely misunderstood. People believe you can’t do anything for yourself and the condition will often mean complete isolation from society. We want to change society to become more caring and easy-going, so we can live together in harmony.”

The video then shows us the kitchen where Shiro and the chefs are cooking food. In a voiceover Shiro says, “We opened a limited period popup restaurant where all the waiting staff are dementia patients … and what did we call ourselves? The ‘Restaurant of Mistaken Orders.’”

The video then shows the wait staff lined up at the door of the restaurant bowing to the customers as they enter the restaurant. Then they take orders and begin bringing the orders to customers seated at the tables. One elderly server has a delicious plate of food which she offers to a guest, who smiling shakes her head that this is not what was ordered. The server says with a big smile, “It isn’t? Oops! Sorry dear.” Another waiter puts a drink in front of a customer only to take it back. “Oh, sorry, that wasn’t right. Oh no it was! I heard what you said, but I just can’t remember!” Another waiter needs help in totaling the bill and the customers kindly help them with the math.

There is an atmosphere of joy and smiles at every table as the wait staff needs help getting the plates of food to the correct person and words of gentle apology about the confusion.

Shiro says, “Our restaurant is stylish, and serves great food. If your order was mistaken, you can shrug it off with a smile and enjoy what comes your way anyway. The name, ‘The Restaurant of Mistaken Orders,’ allows our customers to enter with an open mind. They expected mistakes, so were OK with it. It created an air of easy-going acceptance. I’m convinced that if our message become more mainstream society will become more tolerant and open.”

The video ends with a summary:

37% of orders were mistaken

But 99% of customers said they were happy

You can watch the 2-minute video here.

Editor’s Note: According to the World Health Organization (3/22), there are currently 55 million dementia patients worldwide and this number is predicted to increase to 152 million by 2050.

Officials from Colorado Parks and Wildlife recently posed for a photo of a large rubber tire that was previously stuck around the neck of a bull elk. The elk was four years old, weighed approximately 600 pounds, and required heavy sedation before his antlers were cut to remove the burdensome tire.

Officer Scott Murdoch said, “It was tight removing it. We had to move it just right to get it off because we weren’t able to cut the steel in the bead of the tire. Fortunately, the bull’s neck still had a little room to move. We would have preferred to cut the tire and leave the antlers for his rutting activity, but the situation was dynamic and we had to just get the tire off in any way possible.”

People on neighboring properties had reported seeing the elk wearing the tire for about two years prior, which suggested a potentially burdensome existence. Murdoch said, “The tire was full of wet pine needles and dirt. There was probably 10 pounds of debris in the tire.”

According to Murdoch and other officials, the bull was back on its feet within minutes of being administered the sedative reversal.

Possible Preaching Angle:

God is able to free us from the things that burden us, even when those burdens are out of our control or consist of things we don't fully understand

In a recent podcast interview with the Economist, actor Viggo Mortenson (he played Aragorn in Lord of the Rings) talked about his aging father who suffers from dementia. Mortenson’s father kept telling his caretakers about a seemingly strange incident from his childhood—the day when he forgot to close a pig pen.

Everyone thought the old man was spouting nonsense, until they discovered the truth behind the story. Apparently, when he was a boy during a time when food was scarce, he left the gate open, and the pigs got out and ransacked the family garden. He never admitted to his heedless mistake as a boy, but, clearly, his guilt had buried itself deep within his subconscious. Every secret, after all, is eventually brought to light.

A recent New York Times article had the following title: “America’s Mothers Are in Crisis. Is anyone listening to them?” The article pointed to other headlines that repeat the theme like a drum beat: “Working moms are not okay.” “Pandemic Triples Anxiety And Depression Symptoms In New Mothers.” “Working Moms Are Reaching The Breaking Point.”

You can also see the problem in numbers: Almost 1 million mothers have left the workforce—with minority and single mothers among the hardest hit. In 2020, almost one in four children experienced food insecurity. Philip Fisher, a professor of psychology who runs a national survey on the impact of the pandemic on families with young children, notes that the stressors on mothers are magnified by other issues, including poverty, race, having special needs children and being a single parent.

Fisher told the Times, “People are having a hard time making ends meet, that’s making parents stressed out, and that’s causing kids to be stressed out. And we know from all the science, that level of stress has a lasting impact on brain development, learning and physical health.” Almost 70 percent of mothers say that worry and stress have damaged their health.

The Times wanted to give mothers across the country the opportunity to scream it out, so they set up a phone line. Hundreds responded with shouts, cries, guttural yells, and lots and lots of expletives. A thirty-year-old mom with two kids under four captured what many moms are feeling with the following message: “I don’t know how to feel sane again. I’m just stuck in this position for God knows how much longer.”

Kevin Martin was a minister at a massive church—but one of those churches where it got too burdensome. The administrative machine ate him up, and his world was blackened with depression. At one point he was so depressed, so crushed, that he hastily wrote a letter to his board, immediately resigning from office, and then wrote a letter to his wife and his children saying he would never see them again.

Kevin got in his Buick and drove up to Newfoundland, Canada, without anybody knowing where he was. He got a job as a logger. It was winter. He lived in a small metal trailer, heated at night by a small metal heater. One night, when it was 20 below, the heater stopped working. In a rage, Kevin went over to the heater, picked it up with both his hands, and chucked it out the window—then realizing that was a stupid thing to do, for it was 20 below.

He throws himself on the ground and starts pounding the floor of this small metal trailer. As he’s pounding on the floor, he is yelling out to heaven, “I hate you! I hate you! Get out of my life! I am done with this Christian game. It is over!” He went into a fetal position.

Kevin writes, I couldn’t even cry. I was too exhausted to cry. As I laid there, I heard crying, and heaving breaths, but they were not coming from me. Instead, in the bright darkness of faith, I heard Christ crying, and heaving away on the Cross. And then I knew, the blood was for me: for the Kevin who was the abandoner, the reckless wanderer, the blasphemer of heaven. And then the words rose up all around me: ‘Kevin, I am with you, and I am for you, and you will get through this. I promise you.’

Kevin rose to his feet, got into his car, sped back home, and reconciled with his family and his church. And then went on to lead that church in a healthy way.

The Kudzu vine was introduced into the US from Japan in 1876 as part of an ornamental plant exhibition in Philadelphia. The Kudzu vine was subsequently promoted by the Federal government during the Great Depression, as a useful way to slow soil erosion. It has since got completely out of hand.

Its roots can grow up to 20 feet long and 5 inches in diameter. Unless the root is killed the plant survives. It can grow 16 inches in a day and as much as 100 feet in a year It spreads so fast that you can actually watch it grow. The vine now covers an estimated two to seven million acres in 13 Southeastern states.

Dr. Jack Tinga, at the University of Georgia, is a leading authority on the kudzu. He has even received calls from Hollywood producers keen to make a horror movie about the vine. Tinga says, “It's no joking matter. If you come across a kudzu, simply drop it and run.”

Possible Preaching Angle:

Jesus said spoke people who hear His word, but then become choked by the cares of life (Luke 8:14). Beware. These cares are more sinister than the Kudzu!

Eva Kor and her sister Miriam were the subjects of horrific experiments at the hands of Josef Mengele at the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II. In 1995, Eva returned to Auschwitz for the 50th anniversary of their liberation. She asked Dr. Hans Munch (who signed death certificates at the camp) to join them and sign an affidavit acknowledging what happened. Dr. Munch agreed.

Eva explains what happened afterwards:

I was so glad that I would have an original document witnessed and signed by a Nazi … to add to the historical collection of information we were preserving for ourselves and for future generations. I was so grateful that Dr. Munch was willing to come with me to Auschwitz and sign that document about the operation of the gas chambers, and I wanted to thank him. But how can one thank a Nazi doctor?

For ten months I pondered this question. All kinds of ideas popped into my head until I finally thought, how about a simple letter of forgiveness from me to him? Forgiving him for all that he has done? I knew immediately that he would appreciate it, but what I discovered once I made the decision was that forgiveness is not so much for the perpetrator, but for the victim. I had the power to forgive. No one could give me this power, and no one could take it away. That made me feel powerful. It made me feel good to have any power over my life as a survivor.

In an interview before her death, Eva shared: “If I had discovered forgiveness sooner, I would have had that 50 years of my life back. Forgive. See the miracle that can happen.”