2026 Reads: The Book of Love A Better Way to Read the Bible by Richard Beck 📚 Not perfect, but very, very good.

A Black man with the surname Freeman scored for the USA on Juneteenth in a home World Cup match.

My wife and daughter were supposed to be home tonight, DCA -> CLT -> CID. Flight into CLT got diverted to RDU thanks to storms. Might get to CLT really late tonight. Best rebooking option is tomorrow evening to ORD and then I get to drive 4 hours over there to pick them up. What a mess!

😳

My random playlist has decided it’s a choral music morning. I just got Palestrina, Rachmaninoff, and now Vaughn Williams all in a row. Lovely.

The New Yorker’s Best Books of 2026 so far This list was longer than I expected… and gave me several to add to my library holds list.

Hot take: in the modern world, geographically-defined judicial districts at the appellate level are unnecessary. Have a national pool of judges, get a random draw. End court shopping.

“To read the Bible as a book of love, we have to trust that nothing can separate us from the love of God, not even our interpretive mistakes.” Richard Beck, from his new book The Book of Love. Boom.

I fear to become the old guy posting about the weather, but how can you not appreciate this morning? A splash of rain overnight to freshen things; clear blue sky and crisp air only in the 50s as the sun came up. For June in Iowa, today is a treat.

Pete Crow-Armstrong gets a single to complete hitting for the cycle tonight against the Rockies…. then immediately gets picked off first base. In the 7th inning of a one-run game. #sigh #Cubs #MLB

Wife and youngest daughter are out on a trip this week, which means the middle kid and I are holding down the fort. Had a nice day today - the kid made dinner, then I spent the evening out with a fire in the firepit and a good book.

I have never read any Brandon Sanderson before starting Mistborn: The Final Empire yesterday. So far it seems workmanlike almost to the point of being formulaic, but I’m enjoying the experience enough to want to keep on reading.

Tagging author @aaronjsmith.net who I was not smart enough to tag on the initial post…

“I was good enough to serve [the church], but not good enough to care for. And care is what I needed.” And with that Aaron J. Smith perfectly summed up my experience of two decades as an adult in the evangelical church. theclutteredmouth.com/sent-into…

2026 Reads: And the Dragons Do Come Raising a Transgender Kid in Rural America by Sim Butler 📚 A practical, honest voice. A lot of feelings that are familiar to me as the parent of a nonbinary kid.

I read this a couple months ago also having grown up with LIW’s books my most frequent rereads. Such an impressive dissection and social history and agricultural history. A great read.

2026 Reads: Prairie Fires The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder by Caroline Fraser 📚 Having grown up with the Little House books, this thoroughly-researched biography puts them in quite a different light.

listen, if I have to live with this brain, the least I can do is put it on speakerphone

An amazing collapse by the Spurs. 76 points in the first half and only 30 in the second. Kudos to the Knicks for hanging in there. Brunson just refused to be stopped.

Masterful & sickening reporting on the Tate brothers by Heidi Blake: A Web of Abuse www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

This just in: #WNBA officiating is still hot garbage.

The Western Hemisphere should never be allowed to host the World Cup. The whole point is to be able to get to work and watch soccer all day until I need to pick up my kids from summer camp. I should be watching Ghana-Uzbekistan at 9am.

🤦‍♂️

2026 Reads: The Violins of Saint-Jacques by Patrick Leigh Fermor 📚

Ran the 10k this morning as a part of the Cedar Rapids Marathon Weekend. 21st overall, first in my age group, and improved my PR by more than 3 minutes!

It’s Jadzia now, thanks.

2026 Reads: God’s Homecoming by N. T. Wright 📚 Wright’s prose is clear as ever, his theology fine, but he leaves some big gaps that leave me less than satisfied overall.

english isn't for cowards. if you're not saying 'torpify,' that's a skill issue. there's no Académie Française telling you what to do. if you try to type 'pallific' and freak out when you see a little red underline, maybe you're not ready to roll with the big dogs.

The Cubs disaster continues… sports.apple.com/event/umc…

2026 Reads: A Systematic Theology of Love - God and Creation by Thomas Oord 📚

The #Cubs are such a disaster. For two weeks the offense couldn’t manage to score. Tonight they finally score a few runs and the bullpen gives up 2 in the 8th and one in the 10th, and the Cubs can’t plate a run from 3rd with one out in the bottom of the 10th. Miserable. #MLB

A Little More on Reconstruction: https://chrishubbs.com/2026/06/02/a-little-more-on-reconstruction/

I dream about something like this happening when I’m in the audience. So cool. www.nytimes.com/2026/06/0…

If you come at the king... you best not miss? Congrats to Sir Idris.

What a lovely morning for a run! I’m happy with those reverse splits, too. Dialing it in this week for a 10k race on Sunday.

Back in early April we were looking at our calendar and saying “we just have to make it through May”. And today we have. I’ve been home for roughly 2 of the last 5 weeks and made 3 separate west coast trips. We now have two full weeks of the family and just the family at home. Thankful.

I would like AOC to run for three reasons: 1. I think the D candidate in 2028 is strongly favored to win regardless of who it is 2. We need to elect someone who understands the moment and is committed to a new reconstruction 3. Of all plausible candidates I am most convinced AOC meets that bar

2026 Reads: Beyond the Empire by K. B. Wagers 📚 Books 2 and 3 could’ve used some significant editing, but they were still fun.

Reconstructing: https://chrishubbs.com/2026/05/29/reconstructing/

2026 Reads: After the Crown by K. B. Wagers 📚 Not as strong as the first one but I still loved it.

I never thought I’d feel sympathy for Rory Kinnear playing a British Prime Minister after his turn as a thick, pompous ass of a PM in The Diplomat. But then tonight I watched the first episode of Black Mirror (“The National Anthem”). And, well, holy shit.

My next post is gonna demonstrate that I’m waaaaay behind on some popular media, but stick with me here.

Andrew Peterson's Ragamuffin concert live recording - some thoughts: https://chrishubbs.com/2026/05/27/andrew-petersons-ragamuffin-concert-live/

Cubs lose ignominiously to the Pirates 12-1, dropping their 10th game in a row. Oof.

This photo of Andy Kim in the moments before ICE gassed everyone at Delaney Hall is going into the history books. We need more of this from our electeds.

A Knicks championship followed by the team rebuffing the White House and visiting the mayor would feed this city for centuries.

It’s a short work week, but it’s a travel work week. CID ✈️ DEN ✈️ SEA Let’s do this.

Yesterday at church a friend who is an editor for Random House was talking about editing a new biography of Pope Leo. Someone mentioned the Pope’s upcoming encyclical, to which my friend replied that oh yes, he’d read an advance copy. I mean that’s a nice flex, but it’s a helluva flex.

Working to set up a new iPad for my MIL. Going from an 8-year-old iPad still running iPadOS 17 to a new A16 iPad. The device-to-device transfer setup failed, as I expected it might. Restoring from iCloud backup now. Fingers crossed…

So far this morning: assembled cinnamon rolls from last night’s dough left them to rise 5.5 mile run baked and frosted the rolls Got ribs thrown on the smoker Washed up the resulting dishes And it’s, what, not yet 9 AM? It’s gonna be a great holiday.