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American passengers exposed to hantavirus return to the US · The Daily Article

• 0:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: Good day, and welcome to Denison Forum's Daily Article podcast for Monday, May the 11th, 2026.
• 0:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: Today's Daily article is written by Dr. Jim Denison, co-founder, and narrated by your truly, Chris Elkins.
• 0:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: At 17 Americans, who evacuated from a cruise ship, hit with a deadly outbreak of hand of virus, have arrived in the U.S. early this morning.
• 0:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: One had mild symptoms of the Andy's virus, another tested, quote, mildly PCR-positive, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.
• 0:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: Officials continue to assure us that the risk of the general public remains low.
• 0:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: In other news, thousands of schools in dozens of states were affected last week by an attack on a widely used digital learning platform called Canvas.
• 0:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: The incident disrupted classes, coursework, and exams during finals week for many schools in this latest example of cybercriminals using AI for nefarious purposes.
• 1:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: Here's what the two stories have in common.
• 1:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: I don't want to write about them, and you probably don't want to read about them.
• 1:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: We can't do anything about either threat, so we'd rather not think about them.
• 1:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: We don't want to contemplate the prospects of another pandemic, however low the risk, or the thought that we could be defenseless victims of a cyber attack.
• 1:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: However, as Tennessee Williams reminded us, quote, not facing a fire doesn't put it out.
• 1:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: This is a principle that relates not just to the news, but to our souls, and we'll see today facing such fires can be the best way to embolden our faith.
• 1:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: Johnny Thompson taught philosophy at Oxford for more than a decade and now writes full time.
• 1:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: In a recent post titled, Every Generation loses its sense of loss.
• 1:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: He discusses what is known as Creeping Baseline Theory.
• 1:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: As he describes it, a quote, Creeping Baseline is, when we grow accustomed to the reality we have and where we normalize the world as it is,
• 2:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: We accept our losses as the new reality, often without even asking what happened to them.
• 2:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: A forested field becomes a housing project, a long time neighborhood diner becomes a fast food restaurant.
• 2:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: This reaction makes sense.
• 2:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: Our world is changing so rapidly and constantly that we must decide which parts to care about.
• 2:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: If we grieve every time a store goes out of business or a friend moves away, we'll grieve all the time.
• 2:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: Better to accept things as they are and for say hope that only hurts.
• 2:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: Reading Johnny's article, my thoughts turn to all the times and ways I've done the same with God.
• 2:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: When I became a Christian at age 15, I was assured that I could pray to the God of the universe and he would answer my prayers.
• 2:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: I could ask him for guidance with decisions and help with problems.
• 2:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: It didn't occur to me in those days that he wouldn't give me what I asked for.
• 2:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: After all, I was now his child and he was my father.
• 2:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: Then came prayers that when an answer, as far as I could tell, unconverted friends remained unconverted despite my intercession for them.
• 3:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: I days often didn't go the way I had hoped, despite my morning quiet time with God.
• 3:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: And the big one, my father died of heart disease at the age of 55 despite my earnest prayers for his healing.
• 3:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: I struggled to understand my frustrations with God, but over time, I devolved from such questions into tacit acceptance.
• 3:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: I grew a creeping baseline in my soul by which I lessen my expectations of God, so as to lessen my disappointment when he did not do as I had hoped.
• 3:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: I wouldn't have put this sentiment into words, but sentiments are as real as words, and sometimes more dangerous.
• 3:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: Isaiah 1 verse 18 is one of my favorite verses in Scripture.
• 3:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: Reason together, translates a Hebrew word that means to argue it out.
• 3:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: This is God's invitation to struggle with our faith to wrestle with Him in our minds and hearts.
• 4:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: If Jesus could cry out from Matthew 27 verse 46, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me and remain sinless according to Hebrews 4 verse 15, we can ask our hard questions as well.
• 4:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: To this end, I'll close with five practical principles
• 4:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: One, expect faith questions.
• 4:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: Some questions referencing Genesis 3-1 come from Satan who wants us to question God's word and will.
• 4:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: Some come from asking speculative questions of a practical book noted in 2 Timothy 3.16.
• 4:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: But some, as seen in Isaiah 55 verses 8 and 9, are genuine and even inevitable from finite fallen people seeking to understand God's transcendent ways.
• 4:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: to ask them as specifically and honestly as possible.
• 4:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: For years after my conversion, I thought faith questions meant a lack of faith.
• 5:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now I understand they are actually evidence of faith.
• 5:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: Atheists don't ask questions of God for the same reason you and I don't ask questions of Zeus.
• 5:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: Our Lord invites us in Jeremiah 33 verse 3, come to me and I will answer you and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.
• 5:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: I have this verse framed on my desk where I can see it every day.
• 5:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: I encourage you to claim it as well.
• 5:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: Three, listen to God for his answers.
• 5:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: How Lord speaks rationally through his word evidenced by Hebrews 4 verse 12, practically, through our world revealed by Acts 16 verses 6 through 8, and intuitively,
• 5:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: Through our worship, according to Romans 8 verse 16, he cannot always explain his ways to us, since he is omniscient and we are not, but he will tell us what we need to know when we need to know it.
• 5:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: or, act to believe, rather than believing to act.
• 6:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: The 11th century Saint-Anselam coined the phrase, fetus quarrons intellectum, translated, faith seeking understanding.
• 6:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: All relationships require a commitment that transcends the evidence and becomes self-validating.
• 6:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: Accordingly, we understand more of God by obeying what we already know.
• 6:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: As a mentor taught me, we are wise to stay faithful to the last word we heard from God, and open to the next.
• 6:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: And, five, walk daily with Jesus.
• 6:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: When I practice the presence of Christ, seeking to commune with Him through my day, my questions don't always disappear, but I experience Philippians four verse sevens, the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding.
• 6:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: The closer I am to him, the better I can sense his voice, and hear his wisdom for my mind in heart.
• 6:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: We read in Luke 24 verse 32 that went two disciples on their way to Emmaus, shared their walk with Jesus.
• 7:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: They said afterward, did our hearts not burn within us, while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the scriptures?
• 7:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: When lasted, your heart burn, like theirs.