January 7, 2026

Viewing all things through the lens of the True and the beautiful!

The Equipped is turning three years old! We are honored to join with you in endeavoring to carry the life-giving power of the Gospel to all things in our world! It is a counter-cultural effort to intentionally limit your news intake, and to put on this lens of the True and the beautiful, and we are grateful to be in this together with you! Please help grow the impact in 2026 by sharing The Equipped with a friend (or 100 friends) and by giving to support the mission. Happy New Year!

The True

Choose Overstory

There are so many understories in your life.

Think about it. There is the understory of your family of origin. The understory of your educational pursuits. Your marital status. Your children and immediate family. Your extended family. Your education. Your job and career. Your responsibilities. Your relationships. Your finances and bills. Your health. Your emotions. Your, your, your . . . !

The list could go on forever, and it isn’t even a pejorative statement. Your existence has countless understories—important and even intimate understories—constantly running full speed ahead and seemingly in need of your every moment’s attention and care.

Let’s be real—especially as your New Year’s resolutions are freshly written out and posted on the refrigerator: Many of the things listed above should get your attention! Your relationships are valuable and should be cultivated. You should be growing in wisdom and knowledge and stature with God and men (Lk. 2:52). You should be stewarding your finances and caring for your body and mind in recognition they form a temple of the most high God (1 Cor. 6:19). These are real things and real responsibilities from God. They warrant your attention and focus.

Even so, they are understories. That reality does not make them insignificant. In fact, in one of the most astounding aspects of God’s character, He chose to make your understories and mine the building blocks for His overstory! Your understories are important specifically for the reason that they combine with the understories of other Jesus followers to join with the overstory that matters—the story of the One who created you!

​Isaiah 43 is my favorite of the many passages that reveal this truth, and I encourage you to spend time meditating on it this week. It contains multiple reminders to not be afraid (vv. 1, 5), affirms you are God’s creation and handiwork (v. 1), and then twice reiterates why you were made:

“[E]veryone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made” (Is. 43:7).

“[T]he people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise” (Is. 43:21).

You were made for God! This amazing reality does the opposite of dismiss the importance of your understory. To the contrary, it sweeps all of your understory up into the magnificence of His all-encompassing overstory!

So it is true you were not made for yourself, and the totality of your purpose is to bring glory to your God. But contrary to being a sacrifice, it is the grandest and most beautiful invitation imaginable for your “small” understories to be aimed at telling the one transcendent overstory that encompasses all of time and space!

I have a prediction to make: Multiple of your understories will present challenges to you today and every day this week. It is a given in this life. Our lives—even the important aspects of them—are often challenging. You will be tempted to be fully consumed and absorbed by those very real understories.

Choose overstory instead! Remember that your understories are actually writing the one big overstory that matters, and in that story, God wins and He reigns! The end of the story is written and the current challenges in your story will be redeemed forever!

So choose overstory! Keep the big story in focus!

World

Midnight Raid

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife were captured by U.S. Delta Forces during an overnight raid of his compound early Saturday. According to U.S. President Donald Trump and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, the surprise raid was conducted with no loss of American life, but dozens of Venezuelans and Cubans providing security to Maduro were reportedly killed. Maduro was flown through Cuba to New York City, where he appeared in court on Monday and pleaded not guilty to charges of drug trafficking. President Trump said the U.S. will “run Venezuela” temporarily until a “safe, proper and judicious transition” can be accomplished.

Analysis and eternal perspective: This is a weighty story with numerous layers worthy of careful consideration. As with virtually every headline story these days, there is also a lot of fury and finger-pointing around various aspects of it. As always, your ability to be faithfully discerning will depend on your setting aside the commotion and intentionally applying the lens of truth to the various components. No matter your political persuasion or ultimate perspective here, this is a story with complicated components on which nearly every two people—including those responsible for ordering and carrying out the raid—are likely to have varying perspectives.

First, Maduro is charged with leading a high-volume drug trafficking operation that shipped deadly drugs (most notably cocaine) into the U.S. and ultimately led to the addiction and death of countless people. Maduro, even as a foreign prisoner, is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a U.S. court of law. If convicted, however, these crimes are of the most serious nature and certainly warrant accountability.

Next, the Venezuelan people have suffered greatly under the dictatorial rule of Maduro. Despite being a country of tremendous natural resources, his authoritarian reign has resulted in severe economic oppression, restricted individual liberty, and soaring crime. Most world observers conclude his 2024 “reelection” was fraudulent, with Maduro announcing his own victory and remaining in power despite strong evidence he was overwhelmingly defeated. The most pressing immediate question for this component is about the future of Venezuela. Regime change is always controversial, but it is also frequently unsuccessful in accomplishing a true improvement for the people of the country. On this point, our mandate to defend the oppressed involves praying and working for a truly free Venezuelan people.

Third, the question of jurisdiction to conduct the raid and capture an acting foreign leader will be hotly contested in both a U.S. court of law and the international court of public opinion. This is a question that will skew sharply along partisan lines in the U.S. and would almost surely skew sharply the opposite direction on the same question if partisan control of the White House was different. It will be important for The Equipped community on all sides of the partisan divide to lead the way in considering this component of the story through a lens of truth rather than politics.

There are many additional layers, as well, but the three components above are packed full of two mandates we regularly root ourselves in at The Equipped: 1) We are a people who seek justice and defend the oppressed (Is. 1:17), and 2) We are a people who give careful and wise consideration to the merits rather than the partisan spin (Pr. 18:17).

This story is far from over. It will be in the headlines for months to come. You can lead the way in modeling a level-headed analysis of its very complicated components.

World

Unrest in Iran

There is significant unrest in the streets of Iran, and dozens of demonstrators have reportedly been killed in recent days, including during a reported raid on a civilian hospital. Demonstrations in Iran have been frequent in recent years and have often centered on the lack of human rights, especially for women in the country. Numerous world leaders have spoken out in defense of the Iranian people and U.S. President Donald Trump said that if peaceful protestors continue to be attacked, the U.S. will come to their aid.

Analysis and eternal perspective: Many of the principles from our previous story apply here. The Iranian people, and especially the women of Iran, have suffered greatly under an oppressive regime. It is common to hear about the human desire for freedom, and that is typically expressed in terms of political freedom. To be sure, political mechanisms play a large role in securing in practical terms what the U.S. Declaration of Independence describes as rights and freedoms “endowed by our Creator.”

But in order for you to have maximum impact in this space, it is critical that you root your understanding of freedom in scriptural truth. God’s word talks a LOT about freedom, including the tangible concept of day-to-day freedom our headline stories invoke. But true freedom in Jesus is about far more than liberty in daily life. It extends to an eternal hold on the promise of shedding the bonds of this temporary home. It includes the promise of walking in that eternal freedom even on this side of heaven.

While there are many passages that discuss this truth, you would do well to meditate on Galatians 5:1 and John 8:36 today (both are included below). Taken together, you will find you were created to be free and that a rooting in truth can realize that freedom.

As you take hold of a freedom that is secure beyond the reaches of this world, stand in the gap for the Iranian people who are largely without earthly freedom. Pray specifically that as many of them risk their lives in pursuit of that earthly freedom, they would come to know the deeper, eternal, and true freedom for which they were created.

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery” (Gal. 5:1).

“So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (Jn. 8:36).

U.S.

Birthday Kickoffs

It is a major birthday year for the United States of America, as the dawn of 2026 brings with it the kickoff of a celebration (complete with newly minted coins) commemorating 250 years since the formal establishment of the nation. The year-long event will crescendo on July 4, 2026 on the 250^th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, but the entire 2026 calendar will be full of commemorations marking both the lead up to and the aftermath of that day.

In true American fashion, this kickoff coincides with another kickoff—the NFL playoffs. Fourteen teams advanced to the postseason, which will culminate in Super Bowl LX on February 8, 2026.

Analysis and eternal perspective: The American experiment has been remarkable by any human standard. For those living in modern day America, it is easy to default to a perspective that America has long been prosperous and blessed. The reality, however, is that the nation’s rise has been rapid and the country is still in its relative infancy.

It is also easy to assume that America’s leading posture in the world is automatic and permanent, but that assumption flies in the face of human history and even biblical truth.

In human terms, liberty requires vigilance. In a self-governing system like America, the people must regularly choose self-restraint and limits on government power if they are to preserve the vibrancy demonstrated over America’s first quarter millennium. Human history is full of empires and kingdoms that rose to power and then collapsed, usually under their own weight as a result of abandoning any limitation on power.

In eternal terms, true liberty is not bound by any earthly rule. God’s kingdom is not of this world (Jn. 18:36) and you are a citizen of heaven (Philip. 3:20). Therefore, you may certainly have an understandable and appropriate fervor for your home country (I certainly do for America, which has secured historically unprecedented freedom and opportunity for my family), but your ultimate home is—and your ultimate allegiance belongs to—heaven.

As for the football, let’s go Bears!

The Beautiful

Pleasant Refreshing

“I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint” (Jer. 31:25).

After God gave those words to Jeremiah in his sleep, the prophet writes, “At this I awoke and looked around. My sleep had been pleasant to me” (Jer. 31:26).

You serve a God of refreshing. It comes in many forms—His Word, the bounties of His creation, and certainly sleep—and you should delight in them! May you walk in a beautiful and rested refreshing today!