@GingerSherpa@Strike I'm sure it's an automated edge case. @owenbjennings@bradwrage is there a team member you could tag to look into this for Chester? He's an awesome dude in the Bitcoin space.
So when does $150–$180 actually hit?
Based on current inventory draw rates:
Now → May: Market still pricing hope. $95–$110.
Late May → June: Asian refiners outside Japan & China run dry. They pay any price for barrels. $130–$150.
July: US inventories approach operational minimum. Government intervention likely. $150–$180.
Aug → Sep: If Hormuz stays shut — we enter the $180–$224 zone. But by then, governments act first.
The critical window: June–July 2026.
That’s when inventory depletion meets zero alternatives.
NEW: In just 48 hours, 75 fire hydrants in Detroit have been destroyed after thieves started stealing the metal nozzles and stems.
Local officials are now needing to tell scrapyards not to accept the stolen fire hydrant parts, which are worth about $600 each.
"One hydrant here or there is manageable, but the problem is whoever's doing this is doing multiple hydrants in a row," said Executive Fire Commissioner Chuck Simms.
"So when DFD shows up, they're not going to have a hydrant within 600 or 900 feet, which put people's lives at risk."
Officials are asking the community to help find the suspects.
The church is the new Israel. Paul explicitly calls the church the “Israel of God” in Galatians 6:16: "And as many as walk according to this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.”
Some argue that Paul distinguishes two groups in this verse. For example, a Christian Zionist paraphrases the verse this way: "For all [Gentiles] who walk by this rule [the new creation], peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God [Jews who walk by the new creation].”
But this is simply an impossible reading of the text. For one thing, the entire letter of Galatians argues that Jew and Gentile believers are one in Christ. There is no way Paul would suddenly break them apart into two groups at the very end of the letter. Paul summarizes the theological argument of the letter in Galatians 3:28: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” There is one Israel of God – and it includes both Jews and Gentiles who are untied to Jesus by faith/baptism.
So what is Galatians 6:16 saying?
Galatians 6:16 is a fitting conclusion to the letter: just as Paul began the letter with the threat of a curse, a malediction, so he ends the letter with a promise of blessing, a benediction. But since Paul does not know if the Galatians will heed the warnings in this letter, he has to formulate his blessing in conditional terms: “as many as walk according to this rule” will be the recipients of peace and mercy.
Further, it is likely that in 6:16 Paul is echoing a familiar Jewish blessing, “The Blessing of Peace” from Shemoneh Esreh, used in ancient Jewish synagogues, but now repurposed by the Apostle for the use in the church: “Bestow peace, happiness, blessing, grace, and loving-kindness, and mercy upon us and upon all Israel, your people.” In this benediction, the “us” is not a group distinct from “all Israel,” but a subset of “all Israel.” The “us” is the locally gathered people; “all Israel” is the entire covenant community. So it is here.
We can paraphrase Paul’s benediction this way:
“And as many as walk according to this rule that circumcision and uncircumcision do not count for anything in the new creation, may peace and mercy be upon them in your community, and upon the whole Israel of God of which you are all a part.”
1/4
I just returned from a lovely coffee with an older saint, and it reminded me how crucial these things are to the life of the church. Pastoral home visits and coffee with parishioners should be a thing...a consistent thing, no matter how large your congregation is.
I have come to see this more clearly the longer I serve. There is something about stepping into a home, sitting at a table, or sharing a simple cup of coffee that cannot be replaced by emails, texts, or even Sunday conversations. You begin to see people as they really are, not just as they appear in the pew. You hear the tone of their lives. You notice the small things. You sense the burdens that never quite make it into formal speech.
I have found that when I neglect this, even unintentionally, my ministry begins to feel thinner. My preaching can drift toward generalities. Faces blur into a crowd. But when I am in the homes of the saints, when I sit across from them and listen, something changes. I carry their stories with me into the pulpit. I pray more particularly. I speak with a greater sense of who is actually before me. It grounds everything.
In a larger congregation, I understand the temptation to rely on structure and efficiency. There are always more people, more needs, more moving parts. But I do not believe the answer is to become distant. It simply means we must be more intentional. It may require planning, sharing the load with other elders, or setting aside regular time for these visits, but it should not disappear. If anything, the larger the church, the more deliberate we must be about remaining present.
These moments also remind me that the Church is not just what happens on Sunday. When I enter a home, pray with a family, or laugh over coffee, I am reminded that the life of the Church stretches into the ordinary spaces of the week. It is there, in those unspectacular moments, that much of the real shepherding happens.
And candidly, I need it as much as they do. It keeps me from becoming a voice rather than a shepherd. It reminds me why I do what I do. It ties my heart to the people God has given me to serve.
A church can grow in size, but it should never outgrow this kind of care.
@resisfertile The Law of Entropy dictates that all things decay; as the salt and light of the world, Christians must actively uphold God’s order, for any retreat (cowardice) into disobedience accelerates the collapse of the culture around us.
Travel ball was a big regret of ours, and we only did it for a few years. Our culture worships sports, and travel sports is the tithe. It skews kids perspective about what's really important in life. It also wastes their prime learning years and doesn't prepare them for the future.
Just had the privilege of being the first person to made a Bitcoin payment via @CashApp at Sweets and Sprouts Bakery in Gadsden, AL.
They have incredible cinnamon rolls baked daily and are launching homemade soft serve next week.
Birmingham area Bitcoiners: support them!
Some merchants have turned bitcoin payments on themselves, square is starting to roll out it being on by default for some merchants, but that hasn’t been rolled out to all merchants quite yet. They’re going to phase it in. My neighborhood coffee shop has it on and we’ve been paying for our coffee for several months using the lightning network. 🤙 @milessuter
Ansel is right. People with this view don’t truly understand the open source aspect or the proof of work aspect fully.
A strong point about Bitcoin is that it literally doesn’t matter who created it. It can be assessed on its own merits since it’s transparent and decentralized.