September 2, 2026
The Tigers have imploded in August. The one benefit is that I am not tempted to watch them. Sadly, there is really no point. Instead, I’ve been able to do a bit more reading at night and am currently working through a book by David Remnick called Lenin’s Tomb: The Last Days of the Soviet Empire (1994), for which he won a Pulitzer Prize and I can see why. David lived in Moscow as a reporter for the Washington Post and traveled extensively throughout Russia. I’ve been to some of the places he traveled to and can appreciate his experiences and observations.
One of his observations is how many meaningless words filled the speeches of the Communist Party members as their empire and economy was crumbling around them. Slogans, cliché’s, banners, emotional testimonies and appeals to loyalty and brotherhood do not replace honesty, competency and meaningful action.

I thought of that as the leaders at the G-20 Summit in Asheville, NC, gathered this week in order to address the economic wrecking ball that is about to hit our structures. Our national debt is currently over $40 trillion, 100 billion dollars and climbing by the second (www.usdebtclock.org). That amounts to over $360,000 per tax payer. But it is not just our country. This is the case for many countries and inflation is not going down, deficits are getting worse, tariffs, trade wars and wars in Iran and Ukraine are adding to a strain that is unsustainable. What are the leaders going to do about this? Will someone please stand up, be an adult, and address the elephant in the room?

Apparently not. Instead, we’ve heard speeches, words, hopes, but no meaningful progress and the bond market as responded. Bonds service the debt. People buy bonds because they have tended to be safe. However, a $40 trillion debt is no joke and with interest rates rising the cost servicing the debt is only getting worse. So, in order to get people to buy bonds, the bonds have to promise higher interest rates which make the cost paying for the debt even worse.

We are in a midterm election cycle. How many people running for office are screaming bloody murder about this? Instead, we have people running for office promising free health care for all. More words. Socialism works until you run out of other people’s money to spend (credit to Margaret Thatcher for that one).

One of the reasons why I love studying the words of Jesus is that every word matters. Everything Jesus says has significance. There are no filler words or empty slogans. He is clearly the adult in the room. He says what has to be said. He is not afraid of getting voted out of office. He tells us what we need to hear and what we are dying to know whether or not we realize it. His words have power and authority because he is truth and all power. He acts on what he says.

We are right to listen with deep suspicion to many political speeches today. We are also right to listen with deep assurance and confidence to the words of Christ. They are life-giving. This Sunday is Luke 22:14-23. Come ready to listen and encouraged.

Grace and peace,
Bob