Matthew Ropp

“Let us perform all our actions with the thought that God dwells in us. We shall thus be His temples, and He Himself will be our God, dwelling in us (cf. Eph. 15: 3).” St. Ignatius of Antioch

I can't figure out if vaccines work or not. Tough one. Need Sherlock Holmes on this one.

Can you read 900 words per minute? Try it.

"Only very sick kids should die from measles" No, Secretary Kennedy NO child should die from measles. Because there's a vaccine to prevent it.

Kids dont get 72 vaccines. They get 72 doses of 19 vaccines. We have 19 vaccines because their are 19 diseases that we can prevent with vaccine administration. The question is why would we NOT give children the best chance at survival?

Japan has a new stationmaster cat. The Wakayama Electric Railway Kishigawa Line is famous for its feline stationmasters. A new cat, Rokutama, has been appointed trainee stationmaster of 2 stations. Other cats received promotions. This is serious stuff.

Rights groups are first in Israel to accuse government of genocide wapo.st/459p6D4

Just. Wow. As we went over Mexico and the U.S. this morning, I caught this sprite. Sprites are TLEs or Transient Luminous Events, that happen above the clouds and are triggered by intense electrical activity in the thunderstorms below. We have a great view above the clouds, so scientists can use these types of pictures to better understand the formation, characteristics, and relationship of TLEs to thunderstorms.

@NoahRopp Preach it! 😉

So desperately need to find other people who enjoy FX’s The Americans as much as I do. My evangelizing isn’t working on my friends

Read this. It's remarkable. The UN is begging - literally begging - Israel to allow it to deliver to Gaza 160,000 pallets of food aid it has ready to go. Israel will not allow that. There is only one inescapable conclusion: Israel is deliberately starving Gaza to death.

This is the #HurstFire seen just a block from the 210 Freeway on Yarnell St in #Sylmar. Winds are extreme throwing embers across the freeway. People an horses evacuating from the neighborhood @kcalnews

@brookstweetz Revenge of the Jedi

I am so tired of waiting, Aren't you, For the world to become good And beautiful and kind? Let us take a knife And cut the world in two- And see what worms are eating At the rind. - Langston Hughes

Maybe it shouldn’t anymore, but it still shocks me how dehumanizing the former president is. Towards women, immigrants, and others like the disabled yet again. What shocks me even more is how people continue to support and justify such rhetoric. Only fear and hate can do that.

@masonmennenga 😭

when you click “our team” on a multicultural megachurch website

I was thinking this morning what a wondrous and mysterious thing is prayer. Sometimes it’s everything I can do to get out of bed and to stumble to my place of prayer. But so often, as was the case this morning, 45 minutes or so later, I am strengthened with the strength of the Lord, my joy overflowing, some of my physical pain abated, my confidence renewed. And I was able to answer Keith, when he awakened several minutes after my devotions and asked how I was doing this morning, “I am well, my darling.” And I was telling the whole truth. Here, to me, is the most wondrous part. There is nothing miraculous about prayer in and of itself. Helpful? Yes, probably, in that it is good for the heart to speak one’s mind with one’s mouth. It is of value to the point that meditation alone is valuable. But that’s not what gets me out of bed come early morning. What’s wondrous about prayer in the name of Jesus is that, on the other side of that petition, is the Holy Presence. We are heard, seen, known and loved by him, in the words of Hebrews, with whom we have to do. The mystery, of course, is that we often do not get the specific petition we voiced. Perhaps not right then, perhaps not at all. And this is when we are challenged to remind ourselves that the truest miracle of prayer is not answers but access. We mere humans speak with the one who created the universe with the sound of his voice. One day we will see with our own eyes the One to whom we had access. And we will think among 10,000 other things that we should have prayed much bigger. For every single time he said no, he knew he was going to do more than we could ask or imagine. Bless all of you. Persist in prayer.

No genuine Christian can defend the things Trump does and says. The word Christian means “Christlike.” Most of us wouldn’t even allow our kids to insult people the way he does. Raise the bar of decency, especially if you claim to follow Jesus. Follow Christ, not Trump.

If your misogyny is full of Bible verses, it’s still misogyny. If your homophobia is full of Bible verses, it’s still homophobia. If your racism is full of Bible verses, it’s still racism. Stop using scripture to justify your violence. Do better.

“I rebuke you in the name of Jesus!” Sonya Massey “I don’t have a gun. Stop shooting.” Michael Brown “Please don’t let me die.” Kimani Gray “What are you following me for?” Trayvon Martin “I can’t breathe.” Eric Garner and George Floyd This has to stop. In the name of Jesus.

Women in positions of power may never hear your ignorant and disparaging comments about them. But the women in your life will.