The Pour Over Today - Wednesday, December 22, 2021

Episode Date: December 22, 2021

Omicron dethrones Delta as most common strain in the U.S. and its impact is being felt across industries, election results from Hong Kong and Chile, and other top news for Wednesday, December 22nd. Stay informed, while remaining focused on Christ, with The Pour Over.Sponsored by The Christian Standard Bible (CSB):https://link.thepourover.org/csb_nativead_122221

Omicron dethrones Delta. Election results from Hong Kong and Chile and other top news for Wednesday, December 22nd. Stay informed while remaining focused on Christ with The Pour Over. Here's the quote of the day. Rejoice that the immortal God is born so that men may live in eternity. Jan Hus. Let's get started with some espresso shots. It's been just 20 days since the first case of Omicron was documented in the U.S., and now it accounts for nearly 75% of all cases, making Omicron the only thing moving faster than you trying to secure last-minute Christmas gifts. Data suggests that Omicron is twice as transmissible as Delta, which was already more transmissible than the original strain.

While cases are on the rise, it's too early to tell how hospitals will be impacted. However, data out of South Africa suggests a decoupling of case counts and hospitalizations, further indicating that Omicron's severity may be more bark than bite. President Biden addressed the nation yesterday, outlining the administration's plan to make 500 million free at-home test kits available to deploy military service members to help hospitals and to potentially change the definition of fully vaccinated to include booster shots. He emphasized that this is not March of 2020 again because we're prepared and we know much more about the virus. As it turns out, Omicron is an equal opportunity postponer. The NBA's roster woes continue this week with more than 70 players benched due to the virus. The NFL had to shuffle games around, leading not one but two rare Tuesday night games. And the NHL decided to just start vacation early, postponing all games through Christmas in hopes of tampering outbreaks. Broadway and almost 650 schools joined the early vacay,

and the stock market, well, it wasn't happy, posting its biggest three-day drops since September before rebounding a little bit yesterday. Our hope is not contingent on the state of the pandemic or officials' responses to it. It's much more secure than that. No matter how chaotic or hopeless things get, God remains in control. The life of every living thing is in his hand, as well as the breath of all of humanity. Job 12.10. Grab your atlas for some global news. And for our Gen Z listeners, in Atlas, it's like a physical book of maps, like on physical paper. China recently passed a law in Hong Kong that allows only pro-communist candidates to run for office. Last week's election saw record lows in voter turnout, with no pro-democracy candidates claiming a single seat.

In Chile, 35-year-old Gabriel Boric, a former student protest leader, was elected president on a campaign of higher taxes and a promised dismantling of the private pension system. The country's stock market tumbled in response. Iran's 2015 deal with world powers to dismantle its nuclear program was officially paused last Friday. Days later, the country's Revolutionary Guards staged several massive military exercises, which raised concern over Tehran's nuclear program. A major way that we can reflect the security, peace, and hope of salvation is by worrying less about certain topics than the rest of the world does. What happens with the governments in Hong Kong, Chile, and Iran is not unimportant,

but neither is it all important. Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you will also appear with him in glory. Colossians 3, 2-4. Today's podcast is brought to you by the Christian Standard Bible. Sermons are great, we love Christian books, and of course, watching interpretive dances of Christian history is one of our favorite pastimes. But there's no substitute for actually reading the Bible. There's just one problem. There's literally hundreds of different English translations of the Bible. Our favorite translation is the one that you will actually read. And for us, that's the CSB.

The Christian Standard Bible is the product of over 100 biblically-minded scholars from 17 denominations dedicating years to translating God's word. It's both trustworthy and understandable. Check it out by clicking the link in our show notes. In other brews, we've got a rapid round of updates. Federal health officials announced $280 million to bolster the operations and infrastructure of the National Suicide Prevention Hotline as it transitions from a 10-digit phone number to a three-digit phone number, a 3-digit phone number, 988. They hope to launch the new number in July and say that it will support text as well as phone

calls. Last month, Peng Shui, a Chinese tennis star, disappeared after taking to social media to accuse a former top Communist Party official of sexually assaulting her. Now she's back and she's saying it was all a misunderstanding. The International Olympic Committee isn't convinced and is arranging an in-person meeting to assess her safety. Car manufacturers got a swift kick in the tailpipe on Monday. The Environmental Protection Agency announced the most ambitious federal greenhouse gas emission standards for passenger cars and light trucks ever, which will raise the average fuel efficiency on new vehicles to 40 miles per gallon by 2026. The previous standard only required 32 miles per gallon. Former President Trump is suing New York Attorney General Letitia James to stop a years-long investigation into his business practices,

including whether the Trump Organization misled banks by overvaluing assets. The lawsuit calls the investigation a thinly-veiled effort to publicly malign the former president for political reasons. James hopes to question Trump under oath on January 7th. Twelve of the 17 missionaries abducted in Haiti weren't released. They actually escaped. The group, which included a 10-month-old baby and children ages 3, 14, and 15, as well as five men and three women, silently broke out, evading guards and using the stars for navigation. All 17 missionaries are now safe. Well, thank you so much for joining us this morning. If you found this podcast helpful or informative, or even just a little bit encouraging, we would really appreciate it if you left us a review on Apple Podcasts.

Also, we recently learned that you can now give us a review on Spotify as well. We would really appreciate it.