In my weekly Works & Wonders column, I combine a brief devotional with other interesting and uplifting bits and pieces I gleaned throughout the week. I hope you enjoy this week’s collection! It includes:
- Devotional: Bowing the Knee or Shaking the Fist
- 39 Years to Translate the Bible
- And Can It Be
- No Idea What a Trillion Is
- Landsat
- World Cup Covers
1.
Bowing the Knee or Shaking the Fist
R.C. Sproul makes a bold claim: “Men and women who refuse to acknowledge God’s existence do so, in the final analysis, because it is contrary to their manner of living. They do not want to bow to the moral claims of a Holy God on their lives.” He insists that those people who utterly reject the existence of God—not just any god, but the God of the Bible—do not do so ultimately on the basis of insufficient proof or inadequate arguments (even if that is their insistence), but on the basis of moral rebellion. They ultimately reject God because to admit his existence would be to admit his being, and to admit his being would be to admit his right to rule over them. If God exists as a personal and present being, then they live in a world fashioned according to his mind and governed according to his law. And they, like all of us, prefer to be a law unto themselves. Rather than bowing the knee, they shake the fist; rather than praising his name, they deny his existence. Rather than submitting to God, they elevate themselves to rule over God. They reject the one who made them and the one who is so willing to save them.
2.
39 Years to Translate the Bible
Christianity Today reports on a people group in Papua New Guinea who just recently received the first New Testaments translated into their language—a language that has just 3,800 people who speak it. What dedication to take the project to completion! Next up, of course, is the Old Testament.
Dozens of bare-chested men in leafy sashes and wreaths dance in formation down the road in Lossu 1, a village in New Ireland, Papua New Guinea. They wave colorful leaves in time to their song and make their way toward the village church. Women follow in traditional, brightly colored meri blouses with fresh leaves tied around their foreheads. Other villagers walk behind them, their cellphones held high to capture video of the historic Notsi New Testament dedication. It’s June 25, 2025—114 years since the gospel first came to the Notsi (pronounced NO-chee) ethnic group.
“What did you come here for?” a young man asks in Notsi to the parade leaders.
“We come to give you the Good News,” Bible translators Kevin and Gertrude Nicholas reply as church leaders carry a wooden ark holding a newly printed Notsi New Testament with a red cover embossed with the words Inesaait Mamainaang Laa Sin Notsi—The Good News Going to the Notsi.
Read 39 Years to Translate the Bible into a Language of 3,800 People. ( Gift Link)
3.
And Can It Be
I always try to give you something to sing along to, and this week it’s The Village Chapel’s rendition of “And Can It Be.” It’s a well-known hymn, of course, and probably one of the greatest of all times. What makes this version of it special, at least in my view, is the arrangement. I think they do an especially good job of arranging and leading it. It’s a joy to sing along on a Sunday morning!
4.
No Idea What a Trillion Is
I find it a bit funny when I read older books and encounter an author who speaks with awe of someone who has become a millionaire. While that was once a great feat, today it describes a vast number of people. In fact, most of us have been told that we need to be millionaires just to retire in comfort someday. Meanwhile, we now drop numbers like “billion” and “trillion” without really understanding what those terms mean and how much they differ from a “mere” million. (Remember, a billion is a thousand millions, and a trillion is a thousand billions.)
The Wall Street Journal put together a series of neat visualizations to try to help us wrap our minds around it. The timing was obviously meant to coincide with Elon Musk becoming history’s first trillionaire. ( Gift Link)
Bonus: I asked Claude to help me understand the difference between millions, billions, and trillions. Here are a couple of its best attempts:
5.
Landsat
Landsat is a NASA initiative that “provides the longest continuous space-based record of Earth’s land in existence. Landsat data are essential for making informed decisions about our planet’s resources and environment.” Of greater interest to Works & Wonders, Landsat freely shares stunning images of the planet taken from space. You can find and download many examples on the Landsat Multimedia page.
6.
World Cup Covers
In honor of the World Cup, Sports Illustrated hired artists from each of the 48 competing countries to “create an illustration that captures the cultural heartbeat of soccer in your country.” They would then create a cover suited to each one of the nations. The result is really interesting, even for someone like me who isn’t into soccer/football. Here’s how SI explains the project:
Sports Illustrated’s World Cup preview covers through the years have featured some of the biggest names in soccer: Messi, Ronaldo, Mbappé. But last fall, when we started making plans for the cover of this issue, creative director Stephen Skalocky had an idea: What if we tried something a little more … democratic? Yes, the World Cup is all about superstars. But the true joy of the tournament stems from the ways it brings communities and cultures together every four years. Soccer (or football, or fútbol) is the global game. It also carries a localized resonance in nearly every country on the map. This World Cup, with its expanded 48-team field, would directly touch more communities than ever before. What if we celebrated that local spirit rather than a few transcendent personalities?
You can see the results at 48 Countries, 48 Covers. Note that clicking the covers will show you that team’s ranking and describe their changes and challenges.
