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The latest on Ebola and an unexpected path to hope · The Daily Article

• 0:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's Wednesday, May the 20th, 2026.
• 0:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm narrator Chris Elkins, and welcome to Denison Forum's Daily Article Podcast.
• 0:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: Dr. Jim Denison, friend and co-founder, author today's Daily Article.
• 0:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm writing this week about finding hope in surprising places.
• 0:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: Today, we'll consider the most surprising place of all, to set the context.
• 0:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: At this writing, at least 136 people have died in the ongoing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, but health officials say the number could be much higher.
• 0:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: The director general of the World Health Organization said he is, quote, deeply concerned about the scale and speed of the epidemic, which is being caused by a type of Ebola for which there are no vaccines or treatments.
• 0:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: The virus is not airborne, but it is highly contagious through direct contact with bodily fluids.
• 0:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's later symptoms are terrifying, with internal bleeding, multi-organ failure, severe dehydration, and cardiovascular collapse leading to death.
• 1:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: An American doctor in Congo is among the newly confirmed cases of the virus.
• 1:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: Reading bad news can steal your hope.
• 1:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: Eight-father of two young daughters was killed by a great white shark while spearfishing with friends near Australia, Southwest Coast.
• 1:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: Massive storms across the central U.S. place nearly 120 million people at risk of severe weather.
• 1:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: More than 40,000 people were evacuated in southern California as over 20,000 acres of wildfires burned across the region.
• 1:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: Researchers have identified antivirus hotspots in Virginia, Colorado, and Texas.
• 1:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: Some strains can have a fatality rate as high as 50%.
• 1:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: Cuba has reportedly acquired more than 300 military drones and has been discussing plans to use them to attack the U.S. military and possibly key-west Florida.
• 1:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: The good news is that there is a way to navigate the bad news
• 2:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: Following World War II, and the advent of television, companies began persuading people to become consumers of their products on a scale never seen before.
• 2:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: Consumer spending now accounts for 68% of the total US gross domestic product.
• 2:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: Consumerism wants us to aspire to get more, while our performance-based society wants us to aspire to do more, confusing what we are with who we are.
• 2:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: By contrast, Paul instructed the Thessalonian Christians in 1st Thessalonians 4, verse 11, new international version, make it your ambition to lead a quiet life.
• 2:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: Make it your ambition translates a Greek word meaning to aspire to or strive earnestly for.
• 2:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: To lead a quiet life means to be calm, peaceful, and serene.
• 2:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: The Greek tense indicates a continuous choice that becomes an ongoing lifestyle.
• 3:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: How do we do this?
• 3:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: The remainder of First Thessalonians 4 vs 11 explains the first part.
• 3:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: You should mind your own business and work with your hands.
• 3:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: This did not mean that they were not to share the gospel boldly, a commitment to which the Scripture continually calls people in Matthew 28 verses 18 through 20, Acts 1, 8, and the second Timothy for verse 5.
• 3:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: Nor did it mean that they were to withdraw from society.
• 3:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: In Matthew 5 verses 13 through 16, Jesus called a salt and light, but both must contact that which they are to influence.
• 3:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: To bind your own business in the Greek, means to accomplish the work and purposes pertaining to your life.
• 3:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: To work with your hands, reminds us that we have a calling unique to us when we are designed and equipped to fulfill.
• 3:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: Take into gather the verse instructs us to prioritize peace and serenity in a complex and conflicted world by doing what God has called us to do and leaving the rest to him.
• 4:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: let's apply Paul's wisdom to today's news.
• 4:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: Our home was in the area of severe weather yesterday, so Janet and I worked with our hands to take necessary precautions.
• 4:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: I could do nothing so practical in responding to any of the other news I listed earlier.
• 4:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: But I can intercede for those affected, asking God to mobilize people, able to serve those in need, and to do what only he can do.
• 4:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: Then I can leave what I cannot change with him, and continue working to change what I can.
• 4:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: This then becomes my version of the famous Serenity Prayer.
• 4:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: Board, give me the courage to change the things I should, the faith to trust the rest of you, and the wisdom to know the difference.
• 4:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: In such wisdom, lies our peace.
• 4:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: Nothing is so frustrating as having responsibility without authority, feeling that need to change, but we have no capacity to change.
• 5:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: This leads to escalating stress in our souls and declining faith in our Lord.
• 5:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: We might even agree with Shun Rusuzuki's claim that, quote, life is like stepping onto a boat which is about to sail out to sea and sink.
• 5:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: End quote.
• 5:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: But when we place our hope in the living Lord Jesus, the most frightening use of the day becomes an invitation to trust His redemptive omnipotence and then work as He works.
• 5:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: The more violently the storm rages, the more transforming His peace becomes.
• 5:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: and in the worst days in places when we sing hymns in prison at midnight, then the other prisoners will hear us.
• 5:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: The foundations of our prison will shake and our jailer may even come to Christ as recorded in Acts 16 verses 25 through 34.
• 5:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: What prison needs your praise today?