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Former Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona dies at 84, leaving a quiet legacy on water policy. Sen. Cornyn breaks with a Texas GOP candidate over a misleading post. And a UN mission alleges US war crimes in Iran strikes that killed children.
Former Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona dies at 84, remembered as a workhorse who quietly shaped water policy for decades. Sen. John Cornyn refuses to back a Texas GOP candidate after a misleading post about UT students, while a UN mission says there are grounds to believe the US committed war crimes in February strikes inside Iran.
Stories Covered
• Former US Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona dies at 84 after a career shaping water policy and tribal water rights.
• Sen. John Cornyn says he won't vote for Texas Republican Bo French after a controversial post about UT students.
• UN experts say there are reasonable grounds to believe the US committed war crimes in February strikes on sites in Iran.
Scripture References
• Colossians 3:23
• Proverbs 18:13
• Psalm 82:3
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Understand the news. Keep your peace. Follow Christ. The Gospel Briefing is a five-minute weekday Christian news decision brief hosted by Charles King. Each episode brings three consequential stories into the light of Scripture, helping you enter the day informed and steady - without panic, outrage, or partisan noise. Go deeper with Bible Copilot.
A workhorse is gone.
This is The Gospel Briefing. I'm Charles King.
Former U.S. Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona died Wednesday night. He was eighty-four. His family says the cause was a neurological disorder. He had stepped back from public life last December after a dementia diagnosis.
Kyl spent nearly three decades in Congress. Four terms in the House. Then the Senate, where Republican colleagues elected him minority whip. He briefly returned in 2018 to fill John McCain's seat.
But the headline of his life wasn't the titles. It was water. Kyl helped shape Arizona's 1980 groundwater code. In 2004, he authored one of the largest tribal water rights settlements in American history, delivering the Gila River Indian Community enough water to fill nearly three hundred thirteen thousand Olympic swimming pools every year. Senator Mitch McConnell said Kyl worked fifteen years, mostly behind the scenes, to close that deal.
Former Governor Doug Ducey called Kyl a workhorse in a town full of showhorses. On flights, he sat in coach, in the aisle, reading bills.
Kyl said in 2012 that most of his best achievements were preventing bad things from happening, rather than forcing good things to happen. Nobody puts that on a campaign poster. But Scripture honors it. Colossians 3:23 says, whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men. Not for the camera. For the Lord. Most faithful work in this life is invisible. God sees it anyway.
Keep Colossians three open in Bible Copilot as we go.
Story two. Texas.
Outgoing Republican Senator John Cornyn said Thursday he will not vote for Bo French, the Republican candidate for Texas railroad commissioner. Cornyn called French an embarrassment to the party after French posted a photo of University of Texas students, many of them students of color, and claimed Texans were being shut out for foreigners.
The facts don't hold. Texas law requires UT Austin to reserve ninety percent of undergraduate spots for state residents. International students make up about four point three percent of enrollment. Republican strategist Karl Rove said he'll vote for the Democrat. Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows told French to delete the post.
Proverbs 18:13 says, if one gives an answer before he hears, it is folly and shame. A photograph is not evidence. Mocking people for how they look is not a policy position. Pray for wisdom today before you repeat what you have heard.
Story three. Geneva.
A UN fact-finding mission reported Thursday that there are reasonable grounds to believe the United States committed war crimes in two February strikes inside Iran. At Shajareh Tayyebeh Primary School in Minab, at least one hundred fifty-six people were killed, including one hundred twenty children. At a sports complex in Lamerd, twenty-one civilians died, seven of them children.
The U.S. denies striking Lamerd and says the Minab investigation is ongoing. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says the U.S. would never target civilians. The report is contested. The children are not.
Psalm 82:3 commands, give justice to the weak and the fatherless. Christians can support a nation's right to defend itself and still grieve dead children without qualification. Grief is not disloyalty.
This episode is presented by Bible Copilot. Today's verse is Colossians 3:23. Open Bible Copilot and study the Verse of the Day first. You'll get a guided study that walks through what the passage says, what it means, what it teaches about God, and how to apply it this week. Three questions a day are free. Start at mybiblecopilot dot com slash gospel. That's mybiblecopilot dot com slash gospel, or search Bible Copilot in the App Store.
Here's the verse. Colossians 3:23. Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.
That verse honors the workhorse in Arizona. It convicts the showhorse in Texas. And it steadies the Christian grieving honestly over children in Iran.
Thanks for listening. Most faithful work is quiet. God sees it. I'll see you Monday.