The least pleasant call I had in the process of building Flare was with a VC fund where Ran was an advisor.
Ran ranted at me for a good 15-20 minutes that XRP was worth nothing, that building DeFi for XRP was a pointless pursuit and that Flare would never work.
Fortunately my character is such that rather than dissuade me it made me more determined.
Tribulation produces perseverance, which develops experience, which ultimately cultivates hope—and this hope will not disappoint you because God’s love has been poured into your heart through the Holy Spirit (Rom 5:3–5).
If I’m honest I’m not feeling overly “hopeful” today. But I thought I’d share a few thoughts from my reading of Romans 5 this morning.
Paul here illustrates hope’s practical power: it emerges through hardship rather than despite it. Hope realigns your perspective so that temporary difficulties become manageable; problems ultimately pass away. When you’re facing difficulty, this reorientation prevents despair from becoming permanent.
Practically, hope motivates righteous action when your flesh grows weary; Paul urged believers not to lose heart in doing good, and hope should fix your eyes on Jesus so you walk in purity as he did. Rather than waiting passively, you actively pursue integrity because you’re anchored to something greater than present circumstances.
Hope then provides something superior to desire, when the world’s temptations appear attractive, hope redirects your longing toward God’s presence, where alone you’ll find the fullness of joy you truly crave.
And this is me speaking to myself — Wes, to put this hope into practice: cultivate Christ-like characteristics and show diligence in service. Hope isn’t passive sentiment but an active anchor that steadies you through life’s storms when you deliberately cling to it.
You're missing the point entirely.
The XRP protocol deliberately sacrifices some upside people are using elsewhere in return of not having the downside we are seeing as well.
We have no multiplicative risk composability via smart contracts and no staking. That's not grave dancing that's simply how the protocol works and i for one believe this is a more superior and robust design for financial applications.
This never gets old … John MacArthur explains the greatest gospel verse in the Bible:
2 Corinthians 5:21 - “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
Today is Good Friday.
Thank you, Jesus for your amazing and unthinkable sacrifice. You died so that we would have life, and life in abundance.
“It was nine in the morning when they crucified him. The written notice of the charge against him read: the king of the jews … With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last. The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how he died, he said, ‘Surely this man was the Son of God!’”
Mark 15
This Easter, I invite you to look at Jesus, consider what he said and did, and ask for yourself what I believe is the most important question you will ever answer: Did he really leave behind an empty tomb? And if he did, what does that mean for you?
This video was made possible and in collaboration with my friends at @ChildlikeMedia.