Brian shares an inspiring underdog story of an Alabama high school football team snapping a 101-game losing streak with a dramatic comeback win. He digs into a New York Magazine feature on the "pay-to-play childhood" of expensive, all-consuming travel youth sports, encouraging parents to weigh their own family's priorities rather than following outside pressure either way. Brian shares a Gospel Coalition piece on grieving well — honestly, patiently, in community, with gratitude and hope — from a pastor whose wife battled advanced cancer, and Randy Alcorn's reflection on investing in relational and eternal "riches" over earthly ones, illustrated by a powerful adoption story. He digs into Tim Challies's teaching on the discipline of good listening as an act of love and ministry, reflects on the danger of "performative" Christianity in a social-media-saturated culture, and closes with a story about Mike Pence's respectful treatment of a transgender former staffer as a model of holding convictions while extending genuine compassion.