Guilt

Researchers find one in four people grapple with compulsive overspending during the holiday season. An overwhelming 56% of respondents feel pressured to spend money during the holidays, with family emerging as the primary source of financial strain.

More than 75% of respondents experience what researchers call “money wounds” — emotional difficulties stemming from financial challenges that cut to the core of personal well-being.

The study reveals that low self-esteem, compulsive overspending, and shame from past financial mistakes emerge as the most common “money wounds.” The financial stress takes a significant emotional toll. 68% of those experiencing money wounds report that these challenges hold them back from feeling fulfilled and successful.

Many of those with money wounds admit to avoiding their financial troubles during the holidays. This avoidance manifests in various ways: refrain from buying gifts (37%), declining party invitations (33%), and avoid checking their bank account balances (29%).

Perhaps most heartbreaking is the social isolation that follows. 42% of respondents say they’ll become distant from others to avoid experiencing spending pressure. This distancing comes at an emotional cost, with participants reporting feelings of shame, guilt, and loneliness.

There is a glimmer of hope. 61% of respondents are actively trying to embrace the philosophy that “money and spending don’t equal happiness.” However, the road to recovery is long. On average, respondents believe it takes six years for a money wound to heal. More sobering still, many don’t believe financial trauma ever completely resolves.

As the holiday season approaches, the serves as a powerful reminder of the emotional complexity behind financial stress, urging compassion, understanding, and support for those struggling with money-related challenges.

A new survey from Bankrate.com found that 40% of adults in the U.S. with a live-in partner have committed financial infidelity. Younger generations were more likely to keep money secrets: 67% of Gen Zers said they have confessed at least one instance of financial infidelity, followed by Millennials at 54%.

What sort of things are they hiding? 33% are spending more than their spouse or partner would be cool with, and 23% have racked up debt that their partner has no knowledge of. Others keep secret credit or savings accounts.

Avigail Lev, director at Bay Area Cognitive Behavioral Therapy says, “Choosing to be private about where and how you spend your money is just privacy. (But) having agreements with your partner about how you use money and hiding it on purpose, lying or deceiving, that’s financial infidelity.”

Money is one of the leading causes of divorce, yet often couples still struggle to communicate openly about finances. CPA Melisssa Pavone says, “Many couples never unpack their financial history and beliefs, leading to misunderstandings and resentment. Without open dialogue, secrets fester and financial infidelity can erode trust — just like physical infidelity.”

Why would someone who loves you deeply be dishonest about money? CPA Emily Luk says, “Sometimes it’s about guilt or fear — worrying that their partner won’t approve of a certain purchase, or that an old financial mistake might scare them off. Other times, it’s a way to avoid conflict or keep the peace. They might think it’s easier to conceal credit card statements than to have a tough conversation."

There can be differences in couples' money personalities and values: One is a spender, the other a saver. But money can also take the form of power, control, safety, past financial trauma, or even a mental health issue, substance use, or gambling disorder.

A man and a woman in Tennessee were arrested when they attempted to sell stolen goods at a pawn shop. 30-year-old Jeremy Watts and 24-year-old Jessica Heady tried to sell two PlayStation systems along with controllers, video games, and DVDs. The only problem with their plan was that the goods happened to be from the house of the pawnshop owner.

The owner, Edward Dial, said that he recognized the items and when he went home to check, saw that his home had indeed been burglarized. Watts and Heady were arrested and charged with aggravated burglary.

Possible Preaching Angle: Sin can be a tempting choice when the victim is faceless and nameless. But in reality, that's never the case. Sin always has a victim, as David says in Psalm 51:4 "Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight."

Do you have a deep, dark secret?

Edgar Allan Poe’s 1843 short story “The Tell-Tale Heart” describes a man slowly going mad because of a dark secret. The narrator recounts a murder he has committed, of an old man with a filmy blue “vulture eye,” whose regard the murderer simply could not endure.

The narrator-killer hides the old man’s body under the floorboards of his house, but then he begins to hear the beating of the dead man’s heart beneath his feet. The sound—clearly a metaphor for the murderer’s tormenting shame and guilt—grows louder and louder. In the end, the narrator can stand the thumping no longer; seeking relief, he confesses his crime to the police.

Most, if not all, of us have guilty secrets, secrets we have never told anyone. Psychologists call the secrets we keep about ourselves “self-concealment.” Although what you self-conceal might feel uniquely shameful, the experience of carrying a guilty secret really doesn’t vary that much across the population. Michael Slepian, a professor of leadership and ethics at Columbia University, maintains a website called KeepingSecrets, which organizes into various categories the things that people are hiding from others. The most common secrets anonymously cataloged involve infidelity or indiscretion. In short: Your own tell-tale heart probably involves love and sex.

We all carry the memories of unspoken words and missed opportunities. The quiet echoes of regret and the whispered reminder that perfection is elusive and regret is a constant companion. So, it’s no surprise that a new poll finds that most Americans are concerned about the road not taken in their lives. And when it comes to regrets, people are more likely to dwell on things they didn’t do than the things they have done.

A survey of 2,000 U.S. adults, which found that only 11% of Americans don’t have any regrets. Among the regrets the majority of us have are the following:

Not speaking up (40%)

Not visiting family or friends enough (36%)

Not pursuing our dreams (35%)

The missed chances to take a once-in-a-lifetime trip

On the other hand, the top actions Americans regret doing include:

Spending money or purchasing something they later regret (49%)

Fighting with friends or family (43%)

Making an unnecessary comment (36%)

32% of baby boomers have a regret that spans three decades and still crosses their minds an average of three times per month. While the oldest regret millennials’ is only about 11 years-old, they fret about it on average almost once per week, more than any other generation.

Do you occasionally find yourself waking up at 3am, going over embarrassing memories, or having a cringe attack, and begin picking on yourself?

According to a psychology researcher specializing in sleep, the 3am wake-up call often coincides with a surge of negative self-talk. This phenomenon is commonly referred to as "barbed-wire thinking." It’s not just you, but is shared by many people and can be particularly distressing due to the vulnerable state we find ourselves in during the early morning hours.

Research suggests that around 3 or 4am, our bodies experience a natural shift in sleep patterns. Core body temperature begins to rise, sleep drive diminishes, melatonin secretion peaks, and cortisol levels increase in preparation for the day ahead. While we may awaken multiple times throughout the night, the combination of stress and the unique physiological factors present during this specific sleep phase can often lead to increased awareness of these awakenings.

At this point in the sleep cycle, we are both physically and mentally at our lowest ebb. Our internal resources are depleted, making it challenging to cope with negative emotions or thoughts. Additionally, the lack of social connections, cultural support, and problem-solving skills typically available during the day exacerbates our vulnerability.

Furthermore, the solitude and quiet of the early morning can contribute to a heightened sense of self-focus. Without external distractions, it's easy to become engrossed in negative thoughts and emotions, such as guilt, regret, or fear.

Possible Preaching Angle:

Besides the natural circadian rhythm that explains early morning “barbed-wire thinking” early morning can be a time of heightened spiritual awareness, both positive and negative. 1) Experiencing God - God can more easily speak to us at night when we are not distracted by busyness; 2) Spiritual Warfare - Satan can take advantage of our vulnerable state and use this time to attack us to cause us shame and guilt involving past actions and memories.

London's metropolitan police force has seen just about everything in terms of crime, and they've saved much of the evidence. A forward-thinking officer in 1874 began saving items from historic cases to show new recruits. The museum includes items like: Letters from the Jack the Ripper case, an oil drum used to dissolve murder victims in acid; Cannibal Dennis Nilsen's cooking pots; The umbrella-fired ricin bullet that the KGB used to kill a Bulgarian dissident in London during the Cold War; Items that once belonged to Charles Black, the most prolific counterfeiter in the Western Hemisphere, including a set of printing plates, forged banknotes, and a cunningly hollowed-out kitchen door once used to conceal them.

The museum houses evidence from some of the most twisted, barbaric criminal cases of recent history. It is not open to the public, as some people think it's just too gruesome for public viewing, but it is used as a teaching collection for police recruits. It also may show the monstrous side of humanity, what we have been and still are capable of doing to each other.

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).

U.S. District Judge Michael H. Simon asked an unusual question to attorney Janet Hoffman during the sentencing phase of a recent case. “Do you want me to refer to your client as Mr. Pearce, Mr. Doe or Mr. Casper?”

Normally a defendant’s name is one of the first established facts in a criminal proceeding, but in this case, it was a mystery behind the whole thing. Hoffman’s client was a well-known attorney who went professionally by the name Roger A. Pearce Jr. He had spent more than three decades practicing law in Oregon and Washington. Now, at age 77, he was living a comfortable life, having retired with his wife to a million-dollar condo on Lake Washington in Seattle. But recently authorities discovered that he’d been living a lie. Roger A. Pearce Jr. was not his legal name.

The ruse was discovered in 2022 when the State Department flagged his passport application because he applied for a new social security number as an adult. So, prosecutors indicted him as “John Doe,” after he was arrested on a warrant. After pleading guilty to misdemeanor identity fraud, the judge asked his courtroom deputy to have the defendant state his name for the record.

He said, “My birth name was Willie Ragan Casper Jr.” Casper, a.k.a. Pearce, explained that he went to college at Rice University in Texas, but made a series of poor choices, dropping out of school, then quickly marrying and splitting apart. In desperation, he engaged in petty theft and check-kiting schemes.

He said, “I was a young person, confused, depressed. I felt the failure. I was ashamed that I had wasted a lot of my parents’ money supporting me in a distant city they couldn’t really afford. My marriage had fallen apart. I had no real career prospects.”

So, he illegally changed his name as a way of finding a fresh start. He purchased the birth certificate of a baby who’d died, then used that certificate to apply for a social security number.

Assistant U.S. attorney Ethan Knight said, “Every person is responsible for and owns their own history and really the shadow that that casts and the consequences that ultimately may bear out. The defendant’s choice in this case really is an abdication of that basic principle.”

The defendant intends to legally change his name to Roger A. Pearce Jr. and resume the remainder of his years under that name. He also has a chance to mend old fences with the family he left behind so many years ago. He said, “Perhaps paradoxically, this prosecution may give me the chance to recover some of what I’ve lost.”

Possible Preaching Angles:

1) Identity in Christ - While the defendant sought to create a new identity for himself through deception, the Bible teaches that true identity and renewal come through faith in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17); 2) Forgiveness; Second Chance - The story suggests the possibility of forgiveness and a second chance (Lam. 3:23;1 John 1:9); 3) Accountability - The prosecutor's statement about owning one's history and facing consequences illustrates personal accountability (Rom.14:12).

Saying farewell to yesterday might be a challenge for some, but not for the numerous New Yorkers who bid a traditional farewell to 2023 in Times Square ahead of the big New Year's Eve celebration. At the 17th annual Good Riddance Day Thursday, bad memories were burned – literally.

Good Riddance Day is inspired by a Latin American tradition in which New Year’s revelers stuffed dolls with objects representing bad memories before setting them on fire.

In Times Square, attendees wrote down their bad memories on pieces of paper. "COVID," "Cancer," “Our broken healthcare system,” “Spam calls and emails,” “Bad coffee,” and “Single Use Plastics,” were some of the entries.

Every December 28, this event gives people the opportunity to write down everything they want to leave in the past and destroy any unpleasant, unhappy, and unwanted memories – so that they can toss them into an incinerator and watch them vanish.

Possible Preaching Angle:

What painful experience, memory, or consequence caused by sin would you like to leave behind in the New Year? This is a reality for the believer “Because of the loving devotion of the LORD we are not consumed, for His mercies never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness!” (Lam 3:22-23). With Paul we can say “Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead” (Phil. 3:13).

A report released by the New York City public school district alleges that school employees misused funds intended for homeless students' enrichment activities, including trips to Disney World, New Orleans, and other destinations. Six employees took their children or grandchildren on these trips, which were funded by grants specifically designated for homeless students.

Linda Wilson was identified as the key figure in this scheme. Wilson served the regional manager responsible for assisting students in temporary housing in Queens. The report alleges that Wilson not only took her own children on trips sponsored by grants for homeless students but also encouraged her subordinates to do the same. She allegedly told staff, “What happens here stays with us.”

To cover up the misuse of funds, Wilson forged permission slips using students' names and worked with an outside contractor to book the trips, flying under the radar of the less stringent oversight of community-based organizations. Had she booked directly through the city's Department of Education (DOE), she would’ve likely been caught sooner.

The investigation into this misconduct was initiated in May 2019 following a whistleblower complaint and concluded in January 2023. The report recommends the termination of Wilson and the five employees involved, and that the DOE seek reimbursement for all misappropriated funds. Both the DOE and the NYC Conflicts of Interest Board have accepted the report's findings and initiated actions accordingly.

Possible Preaching Angle:

God is deeply concerned with the welfare of the poor and oppressed. When those in positions of power misuse funds intended for the vulnerable, it is a grave injustice that God sees and will hold them accountable.

In September 2024, a Portland, Oregon advocacy group for safe and sustainable transportation rescinded its endorsement of mayoral candidate Carmen Rubio. This was after troubling reports of Rubio’s driving habits came to light. Daily newspaper The Oregonian reported that Rubio damaged a parked Tesla and left the scene without leaving a note.

This seemingly minor incident was of great public interest since it followed previous reports of Rubio accumulating 150 parking and driving tickets over the course of her advocacy career. Rubio also had at least one instance of failing to appear in court, had her car towed due to unpaid fines and fees, and had her license suspended six times.

Initially, The Street Trust advocacy group expressed disappointment but chose to stand by Rubio, citing her commitment to safer streets. However, the incident involving the damaged Tesla prompted the group to withdraw its support. The Street Trust stated that Rubio's actions contradicted their values and that they could not hold candidates accountable if they didn't act when those values were compromised. The group emphasized its commitment to supporting candidates who align with its mission of creating safer streets and promoting sustainable transportation.

While many of Rubio's prominent supporters, including Oregon governor Tina Kotek, did not withdraw their endorsements, Rubio was eventually defeated by another candidate.

Possible Preaching Angle:

Leaders must be held accountable not only for their values, but their actions. Those who serve the public must abide by the same laws that they enforce on others.

When jurors are seated onto a panel for a trial, they’re expected to assist in the pursuit of justice. But rarely does it result in a literal foot pursuit.

However, the trial of Nicholas Carter was the exception to the rule. The Portland Press Herald reported that 31-year-old Carter had just been convicted of aggravated assault against a 14-month-old when he attempted to escape custody by running out of the courtroom while his hands were cuffed.

Detective Jeremy Leal was present in the second-floor courtroom at the time. After Carter bolted, Leal and several judicial marshals immediately gave chase, following Carter down the stairs and toward the exterior door.

“All of sudden, we hear this huge bang. Crash. Boom,” said attorney Dawn DiBlasi. “And this guy comes running down the stairs. He’s handcuffed or shackled. He’s trying to escape. Literally, he’s got his hands on the railing, coming down, trying to jump three stairs at a time. His feet weren’t shackled.”

Security footage from the incident shows another attorney, who happened to be waiting in the hallway, attempting to thwart Carter’s escape, but he was unsuccessful. Carter eventually made it outside, crossed the street, and then tripped and fell in a yard.

That’s when he was apprehended by two other men, bystanders who just happened be to serving the court as jurors in a different case, according to Sheriff Dale Lancaster. As they held him down, Detective Leal was able to bring Carter back into custody.

Nicholas Carter now faces additional charges for the escape attempt.

Possible Preaching Angle:

Just as this guilty man tried to run but was captured, there is no one fast enough or wily enough to escape the Lord’s judgment.

Michael Meyden, a 57-year-old father was sentenced to two years in prison for spiking fruit smoothies with a prescription sedative during a sleepover, in an attempt to make his daughter and her three friends go to bed. After Meyden dosed the girls, two of them blacked out, leading the third girl to text her mother in a panic, leading to the discovery of the incident. The girls were taken to Randall Children’s Hospital where they tested positive for benzodiazepine. Meyden pleaded guilty to three counts of causing another person to ingest a controlled substance, a felony.

The three 12-year-old victims and their mothers spoke in court, expressing their deep sense of betrayal and lasting harm.

One girl said, “Adults are not people I can simply trust anymore. They are people who scare me and make me think twice: What if they were to hurt me the same way as Mr. Meyden?”

Another girl, whose best friend is Meyden’s daughter, tearfully stated, “I trusted him because he was my best friend’s dad. He abused that trust.”

The third girl directly addressed Meyden, saying, “I am disgusted by the look of your face and your actions and all that you have done. You are horrible and I will always hate you for what you have done.”

“You played Russian roulette with my child’s life,” one mother told Meyden. She detailed how her daughter, “barely five feet tall and on a good day 70 pounds soaking wet,” had dangerously high levels of the drug in her system.

Another mother condemned Meyden’s behavior, stating, “No decent parent feels the need to drug their own child and her friends. No decent parent puts their hands on drugged and unconscious young girls without nefarious intent.”

Meyden explained he had spiked the smoothies because he wanted the girls to sleep so he could rest, but admitted he was overly fixated on getting them to bed. “My whole life is destroyed,” he lamented. Judge Ann Lininger acknowledged his remorse but emphasized the severe impact of his actions, telling him he had “created some tremendous wreckage through your decisions.” She praised the victims for their bravery and pursuit of justice, describing them as “strong, articulate young women who experienced an unfathomable injustice.”

Possible Preaching Angle:

This is an example of how extreme selfishness can lead to behavior that harms others resulting in a dramatic betrayal of trust that children place in those in authority over them such as parents, teachers, or church leaders.

Sometimes the wheels of justice turn slowly, but eventually they do turn. Such was the case for Billy Ray Trueblood, who was finally sentenced in May of this year for charges in connection with the 2019 death of accountant Alex Reser. Authorities say that Trueblood sold Reser counterfeit Oxycodone pills laced with fentanyl, which resulted in Reser’s death from overdose.

According to federal officials, the investigation zeroed in on Trueblood fairly quickly, as he was known for dealing opioids like Fentanyl. But they’d been unable to locate Trueblood until May of 2019, when one of the investigators happened to be watching the Portland Trail Blazers in an NBA playoff game and saw Trueblood captured on camera, seated just a few rows behind Blazers head coach Terry Stotts. Federal officials notified local police on hand at the arena, and Trueblood was arrested without incident.

At Trueblood’s sentencing hearing, Reser’s loved ones asked U.S. District Judge Michael W. Mosman for a harsh sentence. His father, Marty Reser, said in court:

[Alex] had so much to live for, but he died one day after we returned [from vacation]. For Billy, it was all about the buck … We were hoping for justice because our son Alex is not coming back … No one will ever again have the opportunity to spend time, create more memories with Alex.

Trueblood was sentenced to 41 months in federal prison and four years of supervised release.

Possible Preaching Angle:

Even when people think we’re successful at hiding from God, it’s all a fantasy. God knows us down to our core and there are consequences for sin. “… you may be sure that your sin will find you out” (Num. 32:23).

Bitcoin is a digital currency that promises complete anonymity for user’s transactions on the web. Among the users of Bitcoin are speculators who hope to profit from its volatility. Others like to use Bitcoin hoping to escape from the control of governments and central banks. A third group are criminals who use Bitcoin because they think it can provide them with anonymity when they buy and sell illegal goods, such as drugs, weapons, and hacking tools.

Sarah Meiklejohn, a UC San Diego computer science grad student, began to fill the shelves of a storage room in a building of UC San Diego with strange, seemingly random objects. A Casio calculator. A pair of alpaca wool socks. An album by the classic rock band Boston on CD.

Sarah was conducting a novel experiment to test Bitcoin's anonymity. She challenged the notion that Bitcoin was an ideal way to conceal one's identity and money online. She aimed to prove that Bitcoin transactions could often be tracked, even by users who thought they were anonymous.

So, she used her random purchases to test her theory and recorded all her transactions on a spreadsheet and checked the blockchain's public records. Her goal was to find patterns that would expose the owners and spenders of Bitcoins. She was confident that she could link those addresses to real individuals or entities.

Meiklejohn manually tagged hundreds of addresses with her transactions, which were a tiny fraction of the whole Bitcoin network. But when she applied her tagging, chaining, and clustering methods to the immense Bitcoin blockchain, many of those tags revealed not just one address but a huge cluster owned by the same person. With just a few hundred tags, she identified more than a million of Bitcoin's pseudonymous addresses.

In their final paper, Meiklejohn and her coauthors stated their conclusions: The blockchain was not untraceable, but a transparent ledger could expose large portions of transactions among people, many of whom believed they were anonymous. After Meiklejohn's work, a new era of cryptocurrency tracing began, and they would not stay anonymous for long.

Possible Preaching Angle:

Hiddenness; Omniscience of God - The belief that sins can be concealed is as old as the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve mistakenly thought that they could hide from God. In the same way, many people today believe that they can hide their activities from God and that they can do whatever they want without accountability or penalty. Their misplaced confidence will lead them to a shocking day of judgment at the Great White Throne of the all-knowing God.

Judge Michelini said to the defendant, “You just don’t get it. It’s obvious to me that you feel justified. You don’t take any responsibility for the outcome of your actions.”

After those words, Michelini issued a sentence of 25 years to life in prison. The defendant, Kevin Monahan, had been convicted of second-degree murder for his involvement in the killing of 20-year-old Kaylin Gillis. Gillis was a passenger in a car that accidentally turned into Monahan’s driveway while attempting to find a friend’s house nearby. In response Monahan shot at the car, fatally injuring Gillis.

Monahan had taken the stand in his own defense, attempting to testify that what happened was an accident. But the judge was unconvinced, not only by the substance of Monahan’s words, but his demeanor during his testimony. The judge said to Monahan:

The first thing you do on the witness stand is you made a joke to the jury about them finally being able to see your face. You senselessly took the life of Kaylin Gillis and you have the gall to sit here and talk about how you plan to finish up the work on your house and race motocross in the future. You don’t deserve that. What would make you think that you deserve those things?

After Monahan’s conviction, the defense asked for leniency in sentencing. But Michelini wasn’t having it:

Any remorse you have isn’t for the harm you’ve caused. The only regret you have is that you’re finally facing the consequences for your actions. You murdered Kaylin Gillis. You shot at a car full of people and you didn’t care what would happen and you repeatedly lied about it. You deserve to spend the maximum time in prison allowable under our law, and I don’t make this decision because it’s easy. I make it because it’s what’s deserved. I make it because it’s what’s just.

At the time of the killing, Gillis’ family made a statement, praising her as a “kind, beautiful soul and a ray of light to anyone who was lucky enough to know her.”

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, telecom companies have left behind a sprawling network of cables covered in toxic lead that stretches across the US. The toxic lead exists under the water, in the soil, and on poles overhead. As the lead degrades, it is ending up in places where Americans live, work, and play.

The lead can be found on the banks of the Mississippi River in Louisiana, the Detroit River in Michigan, the Willamette River in Oregon, and the Passaic River in New Jersey. The metal has tainted the soil at a popular fishing spot in New Iberia, Louisiana, at a playground in Wappingers Falls, New York, and in front of a school in suburban New Jersey.

There’s a hidden source of contamination—more than 2,000 lead-covered cables—that hasn’t been addressed by the companies or environmental regulators. These relics of the old Bell System’s regional telephone network, and their impact on the environment, haven’t been previously reported.

Lead levels in sediment and soil at more than four dozen locations tested exceeded safety recommendations set by the US Environmental Protection Agency. At the New Iberia fishing spot, lead leaching into the sediment near a cable in June 2022 measured 14.5 times the EPA threshold for areas where children play. “We’ve been fishing here since we were kids,” said 27-year-old Tyrin Jones who grew up a few blocks away.

For many years, telecom companies have known about the lead-covered cables and the potential risks of exposure to their workers, according to documents and interviews with former employees. They were also aware that lead was potentially leaching into the environment, but haven’t meaningfully acted on potential health risks.

Possible Preaching Angle:

In the same way, unconfessed and unaddressed sin or wounds from our past can leach toxins into our body and into the body of Christ.

Your brain is planning to remind you of the stupid thing you did 15 years ago in the early hours of tomorrow morning. It reckons on waking you up with a jolt after only three hours of sleep. Then it will spend much of the rest of the night replaying a list your greatest (mistakes).

The spongy grey lump which sits between your ears is planning a real “greatest hits” retrospective which will include every dumb thing you’ve ever said. That time you got it completely wrong with the person you really fancied and doomed yourself to a life of regret and loneliness. Every stupid … choice you’ve ever made and how people are only your friends because they pity you.

It expects this will be complete by about 6:30am, by which time you’ll have to get up and go to work and pretend you’re just fine. When asked, your brain said it intends to do this randomly at intervals for the rest of your life.

Possible Preaching Angle:

Since no one is without sin (Ps. 143:2; Rom. 3:10), you will have many regrets, shameful memories, and sins to ponder late at night (Ps. 32:1-6). Only in Christ can we find true forgiveness, release from a guilty conscience, and the promise that “God’s mercy is new every morning” (Lam. 3:23-24).

Calls for a federal investigation by the Department of Justice (DOJ) are mounting after the latest discovery into the unjust death and burial of Dexter Wade of Jackson, Mississippi. Both attorney Ben Crump, representing the Wade family, as well as civil rights activist Rev. Al Sharpton, have publicly called for an investigation into Wade’s death.

In March, Wade’s mother Bettersten Wade called police for help, anxious about the whereabouts of her son, who’d gone missing. After repeatedly asking for updates, Bettersten was eventually notified in August--more than six months later. She was told that Dexter had been killed by a police cruiser while attempting to cross the highway. By the time Bettersten was notified of Dexter’s death, he’d already been buried anonymously in a plot of land owned by the county.

Initially, Bettersten says local officials explained the time gap by saying that Dexter had been found with no identifying information. After his body was exhumed, however, an independent pathologist confirmed in an autopsy that Dexter had been carrying a wallet that included the local address that he shared with his mother. These findings suggest that authorities knew where Dexter lived. Yet they made no attempt to contact her about her son, despite the fact that she’d already filed a missing person report.

Their attorney said, “The fact that Dexter had a state identification card and several other identifying items shows us that there was a concerted effort to keep the truth and manner of his death from his family. There is no excuse, not even incompetence, for not notifying a next of kin of an identified man’s death.”

Possible Preaching Angle:

Though it's important to differentiate between accidental death and murder, every human is made in the image of God, and therefore loss of life is inherently sacred and should not be minimized or concealed.