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RECAP

2025 (Half) Wrapped

In January, Louisiana mourned the deaths of 14 people after a man drove through a crowd on New Year’s Day; the country honored President Jimmy Carter with a state funeral; and fires in Los Angeles forced 180,000 evacuations. Then, Israel and Hamas reached a phased ceasefire deal; TikTok was banned and went dark for ~14 hours; President Trump was re-inaugurated and signed a flurry of executive orders that set the pace for his 2.0 administration; and DeepSeek (a Chinese AI company) briefly caused U.S. tech stocks to crash out of fear they’d lose the AI race.

In February, President Trump rolled out tariffs on Mexico, Canada, and China; DOGE Chief Elon Musk pushed to “delete” USAID (a judge temporarily blocked it); and federal employees got “what did you do last week?” emails as the administration offered six months’ pay to quit. Then, the Eagles dominated the Chiefs in the Super Bowl while Kendrick Lamar performed the halftime show; a Delta flight lost a wing and landed upside down (amazingly, no one died); Microsoft unveiled a quantum computer… and allegedly a new state of matter; and Hollywood lost Gene Hackman and his wife.

In March, a Trump-Zelensky Oval Office meeting got heated; Ukraine accepted a ceasefire proposal, but Russia dragged its feet; federal layoffs continued; Kilmar Abrego Garcia was “mistakenly deported” to El Salvador; and President Trump invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act. Then, Heathrow Airport shut down from global power outages; an earthquake in Myanmar (formerly Burma) killed over 1,600 people; and Trump officials accidentally included The Atlantic’s editor in a group chat about Houthi strike plans in a scandal dubbed “SignalGate.”

In April, President Trump's “Liberation Day” tariffs brought a 10% baseline levy on imports from nearly all countries… the stock market reacted accordingly; tariff tensions escalated between the U.S. and China; and TikTok got another extension on its sell-or-farewell deadline. Then, Rory McIlroy donned the green jacket at the Masters; March Madness delivered rare top-seed Final Four action (Florida won the men’s and UConn took the dub for women’s); Harvard and the White House started feuding over antisemitism and funding; and millions mourned Pope Francis.

In May, Israel approved plans to “indefinitely” control Gaza; Newark Airport’s air traffic controllers took “trauma leave” after several equipment failures, causing weeks of delays; Pope Leo XIV—the first American Pope—was elected; Sean “Diddy” Combs’ trial began; the U.S. and China agreed to a 90-day trade truce; and the Trump administration accepted a luxury jet from Qatar, planning to add it to the Air Force One fleet. Then, 10 inmates escaped a New Orleans jail; a Mexican Navy ship hit the Brooklyn Bridge; the White House cut Harvard’s government funding and foreign student visas; and former President Biden announced he has cancer.

And in June, L.A. erupted in ICE protests and riots, leading President Trump to take the reins of California’s National Guard; Trump and Elon Musk’s friendship hit a rough patch over the “Big Beautiful Bill”; College athletes won the right to be paid; and Kilmar Abrego Garcia returned from El Salvador to face U.S. charges. An India Air crash killed over 260 people; Israel struck Iran… then the U.S. followed suit; stocks hit a record high; and a Minnesota lawmaker was assassinated, provoking the state’s largest manhunt.

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ETERNAL PERSPECTIVE
There will come a day when the geopolitical chess moves, market ups and downs, and political feuds of 2025 will be distant memories, but quiet moments of faithfulness—whispered prayers, extended forgiveness, and shared gospel conversations—will have proven to hold eternal weight.

“Set your minds 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 also will appear with him in glory.”
Colossians 3:2-4 (CSB) (read full passage)

FROM OUR PARTNERS

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The Pour Over began when I realized the news was shaping me in all the wrong ways. 

The 24/7 news cycle breeds division, fear, and anger, and Christians are looking for an alternative. That’s where we come in (we’ve already reached 1.3 million of ‘em!). 

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What We’re Doing
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