The following post was written by my younger brother, Luke Thering, as a contribution to The Encouraging Times.

In the wake of recent global, national and local events, the world seems to be at a boiling point. Hopefully, though, it’s also a tipping point.

A pandemic has exposed our nation’s ill-equipped and upside-down healthcare system, and ‘leadership’ from the very top seems to be completely absent or worse, present, but fighting against basic human rights of life and liberty. Recent killings of Black men at the hands of the police are reminding us that we still have a long way to go in the fight for equality and peace.

It can all seem so hopeless, so bleak, so sad. And it is. But it’s not for nothing: What has given me hope–what has been encouraging, is seeing how the outrage, grief, and pain has been transformed into action, nationwide and indeed throughout the globe: Citizens banding together, organizing, marching in the streets, donating, spreading information, and having difficult discussions.

On a more personal level, I’ve some days been overwhelmed by it all. It’s so easy to see the stark magnitude of the world’s problems, and to feel the weight of it, and the weight keeps you paralyzed. Some days that weight has kept me from getting out of bed, or has stifled my voice, or has led me into a state of comfortable apathy. But other days, it’s different… Read more