Are you tired of waiting? Feeling impatient with life's delays? You're not alone. In this insightful episode of FamilyLife Today, hosts Dave and Ann Wilson sit down with Pastor and author Mark Vroegop to explore the profound truth that "Waiting Isn't a Waste."

Mark, author of the powerful book Waiting Isn't a Waste, shares deeply personal stories and biblical wisdom to reframe our perspective on those frustrating "gap moments" between our current reality and our desired outcomes. Discover why waiting isn't a passive state, but a divinely designed process to cultivate dependence on God and foster profound spiritual growth.

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Tatum Green and Annie F. Downs describe the heartbreaking loss of Tatum’s 2nd child, TJ, who only lived for 56 days. In addition to navigating her own grief, Tatum also had to help her 2-year-old son Sam deal with the loss of his baby brother. A powerful program about trusting God and finding joy even in devastating grief.

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We’ve all gotten used to spam calls, right? We can sometimes see them coming. Maybe we don’t answer the phone. If we do, we have our way of ending the call as quickly as possible. When the Devil comes calling, some of us forget all those defensive techniques. We sit there and listen to his sales pitch. Today on A NEW BEGINNING, Pastor Greg Laurie returns to our series in Joshua with some practical advice on saying no to our enemy no matter how tempting his offer.

Learn more about this year's Harvest Crusade!

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A crypto enthusiast once wrote on Reddit, “Bitcoin is like winning the lottery in slow motion.” 

That might be a stretch, but one thing’s clear: Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies aren’t going anywhere. Today, Mark Biller joins us to unpack how crypto is moving into the mainstream and what that means for investors trying to make wise decisions.

Mark Biller is Executive Editor and Senior Portfolio Manager at Sound Mind Investing, an underwriter of Faith & Finance.

Here are two key insights to help investors make sense of today’s crypto market:

1. Bitcoin Stands Apart – It’s critical to understand that Bitcoin is not like the rest of the crypto world. It has emerged as a unique and dominant force, with widespread adoption, while other cryptocurrencies remain highly speculative.
    
2. Bitcoin Has Reached Critical Mass – Thanks to regulatory shifts and institutional adoption, Bitcoin seems to be here to stay. In just a few years, we've gone from government hostility toward crypto to SEC-approved Bitcoin ETFs and even a pro-crypto administration in the White House.

Bitcoin was the original cryptocurrency, launched in 2008, and today it represents about 60% of the entire crypto market. It’s gained institutional interest and widespread regulatory acceptance. By contrast, the remaining 40% of the crypto universe is fragmented, filled with thousands of projects, many of which will not survive.

Think of most other cryptos not as currencies but as startup tech ventures. That helps frame their high risk and their potential for failure. Bitcoin, meanwhile, has arrived. The rest? They’re still trying to prove themselves.

Many early Bitcoin advocates hoped it would serve as a usable currency outside of traditional financial systems. But that vision has mostly faded. Today, most investors treat Bitcoin like digital gold—a store of value designed to hedge against inflation and the devaluation of fiat currencies.

It’s volatile, yes. But its built-in scarcity (only 21 million bitcoins will ever exist) appeals to those who fear government overreach or reckless monetary policy. Bitcoin’s not just for tech enthusiasts anymore—it’s becoming a strategic asset for serious investors.

Generational preferences also shape Bitcoin’s rise. Younger investors, raised in a digital world of apps and virtual marketplaces, are far more comfortable with digital assets. What gold has long been to older generations, Bitcoin is becoming to younger ones: a hedge against inflation and a symbol of financial independence.

In fact, Bitcoin’s correlation with gold has grown significantly in recent years, signaling that institutions are viewing it in similar terms.

It’s not just individuals diving into Bitcoin. Global events—especially the 2022 freezing of Russian reserve assets—have prompted many nations to reassess their reliance on U.S. Treasury bonds. The result? A surge in gold buying by central banks, and increasing openness to alternatives like Bitcoin among private investors.

While governments aren’t yet buying Bitcoin, there’s reasonable evidence to suggest that gold investors are starting to “skate to where the puck is going,” diversifying small portions of their portfolios into Bitcoin as a forward-looking strategy.

With that being said, should we be concerned about the global shift away from U.S. treasuries?

Not immediately. While a shift away from U.S. Treasuries could eventu

Here's a crazy thought: Suffering is actually essential for spiritual growth and maturity - not exactly what everyone's preaching these days. Join Chip as he explains how the experience of suffering can bring us closer to Christ.

Review: Hope: The mental and emotional attitude that life is good, the future is promising, and progress is certain… even in the midst of difficult circumstances and challenging relationships.

Question: How do we experience this true HOPE in everyday life?

Answer: Philippians 3:10-11

Paul’s hope and consuming passion:

“I want to KNOW Christ (yada - Hebrew)

and the POWER of His resurrection, (dunamis - Greek)

and the FELLOWSHIP of His suffering, (koinonia - Greek)

BECOMING like Him in His death. (morphe - Greek)

and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.”

How do we experience this intimate relationship with Jesus?

1. His POWER in our weakness. - Romans 8:11 & 2 Corinthians 12:9-10
2. His PRESENCE in our pain. - 2 Corinthians 4:7-12 & Romans 5:1-5
3. His LIFE in our death. - Romans 6:4-7 & Galatians 2:20

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My microwave has this very useful ability to bring food back to life; like, oh, store bought baked goods for example. Have you ever noticed? It's just better if you pop them in the microwave. You know, nuking it? If you get some of that store bought coffee cake or donuts or muffins, you know, they may not be fresh from the bakery. But we found that they are so much better if you heat them up. What happens is the heat makes them softer. The other day I had a cookie that was getting a little on the old side, and I put it in the microwave and it was like it came right out of the oven - soft and warm. Sometimes the box will even tell you that you ought to "nuke it." And sometimes it will say, "Better when heated" or something like that. Actually, that would be true of about half of the human race.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Heat That Heals a Heart."

Now, our word for today from the Word of God comes from 2 Kings 5:1. We're reading about a man named Naaman who it says is "commander of the army of the king of Aram. He's a great man in the sight of his master, highly regarded, he was a valiant soldier." Now, that's at the beginning of the story. At the end of the story in verse 17, he is saying to God's man, Elisha the prophet, "Your servant will never again make burnt offerings and sacrifices to any other god but the Lord." Wow!

Something happened in between these two verses, something that made this man of war into a man of God. Now, what is it that makes a warrior into a worshipper? Well, I didn't read it after it said "He was a valiant soldier." Let's go on. "...but he had leprosy." So he goes, and Elisha tells him he has to wash in the dirty waters of the Jordan River seven times in order to get well. It says Naaman went away angry. He said, "I won't go into the dirty river. We've got great rivers back in our country I could get into." And his servants say, "Hey, if he asked you to do some great act, you would do it wouldn't you? Why don't you go wash and be cleansed."

Then we read in verse 14, "So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times." He's finally humble. "And his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy." Now, Naaman did not yield to God until there was something bigger than he could possibly handle. When I say that, we've probably just described about half the human race; my half of the human race, the male half of the human race. When God turned up the heat on Naaman, He softened his heart so He could save him.

You know, a man says, "Hey, I can handle it." That's our motto, "I can handle it!" And we give God money, we give Him time, we give Him belief, but we want the control. God hears us say, "I can handle it" and He says, "Oh no, you can't." And so He sends to us men something that all our ability, and our power, and our connections cannot handle: a child goes astray, something happens to our health, our job, our marriage, an injury. The breaking of the man is the making of the man. It's not because God doesn't love you, it's because He does.

One man told me recently, "God could never get control of my life until my son attempted suicide." Another man recently said, "I almost died in an accident, and finally I surrendered to Christ." See, God does this over and over again with us men, this humbling thing so we will finally let go to the Lord.

And guess what? Then we're finally complete; we're finally whole like Naaman was only after he was broken. See, God turns up the heat on us men because we get pretty hard like those old pastries, and He uses this heat to soften us up so we can finally become all we were created to be.

Maybe He's been turning up the heat so you will finally turn your heart to Jesus. Would you do that today and let Him make you a man you could never be without

In 2009, famed atheist Richard Dawkins proposed a test for evolution. If Darwinism is correct, he claimed, every gene in a group of organisms will give “approximately the same tree of life.” On the other hand, if intelligent design is an accurate depiction of the origin of life, a designer would pick and choose the best proteins for the job, and genes would NOT all give the same tree of genetic resemblances. Join us as we ask Dr. Casey Luskin, a geologist, to tell us who won that challenge: Richard Dawkins or Intelligent Design?

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As inflammatory rhetoric and unprovoked violence against Jews surge worldwide, Christians are faced with significant questions: What is next on God’s agenda for His people of promise? And how can we, as friends of the Jewish people and of Israel, fight against this rising hatred? Olivier Melnick will join us to provide a roadmap for Christians seeking to understand and confront this age-old prejudice. Join us to learn how to battle this insidious hatred.

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