For over 30 years, Point of Grace has shared music, faith, and friendship with listeners across the country.

Now Denise, Lee, and Shelley are inviting you into their circle. Welcome to Circle of Friends.

The podcast is Point of Grace. Each week they're talking real life, current events, stories of true friendship, wisdom from God's Word, and all their favorite things.

If you're looking for a little company, a few laughs, and a lot of Jesus to hold it together, circle of friends.

The podcast is waiting for you.

Subscribe now wherever you listen or watch podcasts and circle up with point of grace.

Welcome to today's podcast, sponsored by Hillsdale College, all things Hillsdale at Hillsdale.

I encourage you to take advantage of the many free online courses there. And of course, I'll listen to the Hillsdale dialogues, all of them at

Hugh for Hillsdale.com or just Google Apple, iTunes, and Hillsdale. Morning, Gloria,

and evening, Grace, America, and a happy new year to you. It is the first big weekend pod of

2026. I'm back behind the microphone after moving west for a couple of months and getting the flu in doing so.

So that's why I was off the air.

Thanks to Kurt Schlichter who filled in for me.

The big weekend pod today is pretty much a couple of monologues by me, Matt Contenni, Eli Lake, and that's it.

Now, the monologues are interesting because CBS Evening News has made a promise that I talk

about in the opening monologue.

Second monologue, beginning of the month, beginning of a new year, stations switch around,

stations are added.

I've got to do the who I am and why am I doing this first

broadcast of the month business. And so if you're new to this, you'll hear that. And if you

don't like it, just fast forward through it to get to Continentie and Eli Lake. And all

I can tell you is it was a great, a great time being, having the flu. That's, there's no better place to have the flu than in California because you realize that it doesn't matter where you are.

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