Devotional

Biblical Response to Violence - Focus on the Spiritual Battle

It’s been heartbreaking to hear about the latest assassination attempt on President Trump this past weekend.  At times it makes you lose heart to see how violence has become a systemic part of American culture. Worse yet, evil people in positions of power and influence continue to incite violence against political opponents like it’s a game. The result is the radicalization of individuals that feel justified into violent acts like it's their life calling.  What have we come to as a nation and how does a Christ follower respond?

At the heart and core of all this is deeply seated evil from the pit of hell. As a Christ follower we must lead with love and bring that love to our hurting and dying world - easy to say but so hard to do these days.  Paul warned us of this age in graphic detail:

“But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.” (2 Timothy 1-5)

Now more than ever we need the power of God to transform our cities, states and nation. Holy Spirit reminded me during church service on Sunday that just last week President Trump participated in America Reads the Bible, and read the passage that calls a nation to repent:

“if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14)

A week later Satan rose up in another vain attempt to take his life. Satan is gunning for you and I also. His mission is clear: to steal, kill and destroy. But ‘greater is He (God) that is in us than he (Satan) that is in the world’. We must remember ‘no weapon formed against us will prosper’ and ‘the battle is not ours but the Lord’s.’ Your commander in chief is not in the White House, He’s eternally in heaven.

As Christ followers, we have a responsibility and our mission assignments are clear. We are called to:

1. Repent for our sins and that of our nation. 

2. Declare God’s Kingdom come and His will be done in our nation as it is in heaven. 

3. Boldly live out our faith in the face of opposition, knowing that we are in Christ and have the power through Holy Spirit to change the environments we step into. 

Battle on for your King and Savior!

Financial Update

Investing In Elder Care Facilities

Earlier this year, I had the pleasure of sitting down one evening with a gentleman, where we discussed life. It was a college basketball game that had initially gathered us around a common TV, but our conversation quickly turned from sports to everything but sports, including business and investing.

His line of business definitely caught me off guard, and as someone who has been writing about different investment topics over the last 10 years, including real estate, I felt the need to share.

Elder care facilities

Every single day, 10,000 baby boomers turn 65. By 2030, the number of Americans over 80 is expected to jump by 28%. Interestingly, almost nobody is building new senior living facilities. Construction is at its lowest it's been in decades.

Elder care facilities (assisted living and senior communities) have been quietly outperforming a lot of traditional investments. While the overall real estate market struggled to hit 1% returns in 2024, senior housing delivered over 3.6%. Go back ten years and the numbers were better: senior facilities averaged over 10% annual returns while regular apartment buildings hovered around 6-7%.

When one of your elderly loved one’s needs help with everyday tasks, nobody's shopping around for the cheapest option. They're looking for the best care they can afford. Monthly costs run anywhere from $4,000 to $8,000 per person, which is significantly higher than what most apartments charge. And once someone moves in, they typically stay for a couple of years, which means steady, predictable income month after month.

During the 2008 financial crash, when the housing market imploded and apartment buildings sat half-empty, senior facilities barely felt it. People still needed care. Bills still got paid. That kind of stability is rare.

There’s various ways to gain exposure to such an investment class depending on your desired involvement and responsibility levels.

One of the most hands-off methods is investing in a REIT that specifically targets investing in elder care facilities such as Welltower INC. (WELL), Ventas (VTR), and CareTrust REIT (CTRE).

One could also venture down the syndication investment path, where they essentially pool their capital together with other investors, and then the “Syndication General Partners” (the ones who originally created the syndication) will manage the operations.

Then of course, there is the independent and fully-hands-on (essentially running a business) route where you source, vet, and manage your own full-cycle deal. Most who venture down this path hire a management company who takes 5-7% of what comes in, but they deal with all the day-to-day headaches. You collect rent or profit checks, they handle staffing and operations.

The wave of aging boomers isn't a maybe, it's already here. The question is whether you'll be positioned to meet it with quality care and sound business practices.

Tech Update

Social Media - Serious Call to Action

If I warned you to keep your child away from alcohol, drugs and pornography you would respond with ‘obviously’ or ‘you would have to be an irresponsible parent to not do so’.

Yet, with ever growing serious warnings about the danger of social media (SM) on child mental development and health, many are opting to play it cool. Their response is ‘every child has access’, ‘they might as well use it young’, or ‘how bad can it be’.

Late last year headlines were made when Australia became the first nation to implement a SM ban to protect children as we covered in a past SC article. There are now 9 countries with some form of a ban in place or under consideration, including Portugal, France, Spain and Italy.  Just last week Norway announced plans to extend their current ban to children under 16 years old. This was driven by ongoing studies which show damaging impacts of social media to cognitive development and classroom performance. Two specific areas were:

Impaired "Top-Down" Attention Span: Heavy exposure to fast-paced, passive content was linked to a decline in top-down attention—the ability to focus on a single task despite distractions.

Increased "Bottom-Up" Sensitivity: Conversely, early device use increased sensitivity to "bottom-up" stimuli (algorithms, notifications, and rapid scene changes), effectively training children’s brains to respond to "pings" rather than sustained study.

In the U.S., adolescents spending more than 3 hours a day on social media face double the risk of symptoms of depression and anxiety.

Don’t wait for your government to legislate what we already know is dangerous to children.  God has given us wisdom and insight and we have a responsibility to care for His little ones.  If you have a child or a role in raising children please take this warning seriously and make changes to safeguard their minds.

Health Nuggets

A Biblical Perspective on Healing

We encourage you to check out this recent Elijah Streams interview with Dr. Josh Axe as he shares on the topic “They Were Wrong. You Can Heal!”

He provides great insight into the medical establishment along with excellent suggestions to pursue healthy living from a Biblical perspective.

Note: Health Nuggets are opinions and not medical advice.

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