During the summer of 2025, a monkey was abandoned by his mother and found by some people who carried him to the Ichikawa Zoo. They named him Punch. He was looking for some security, so they gave him a toy orangutan. Punch clutched it all day long. They just celebrated his one-year birthday, and he has become a hero in Japan. He received over 2,500 birthday cards from around the world and stories about how he had been an inspiration to many people. Tens of thousands of people have visited the zoo to see him. There are many abandoned people who need to be found by people who care and placed in a situation where they can be cared for and have someone to cling to. If some zookeepers can do that for Punch, what can you do for somebody who needs restoring?

A medieval church in Halberstadt, Germany is playing the longest composition known to man. It is designed to play for 639 years. The performance of composer John Cage’s ORGAN/ASLSP (As Slow as Possible). It actually began in 2001 and is now 4% complete. It is designed to end on September 4, 2640. Tickets are being sold today for $3,000. You can stay as long as you want, but you won’t hear the end of the concert. Where did the church come up with that idea? I hope churches today are not that slow in playing the composition of King Jesus about life abundant now and eternal life forever. Your only ticket to that is to receive and respond to the free gift of grace that God offers to you.

Every day that we wake up, it is a gift from God to be alive. We need to spend each day very wisely. Don’t waste any part of today. How we start the day determines how the day goes. Some people tell us to have a good day. My dad used to tell me that telling someone to have a good day means that there is little responsibility on our part. Instead of saying have a good day, say, “Make it a good day.” The Psalmist David said, “This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Making it a good day involves action on our part. Let me go a step further. Instead of saying, make it a good day, say, make it a God day. It’s really God’s day. Let God direct you in everything that you do today.