Parents, Spring Has Sprung! Words From COVID 19 quarantine*

 Parents, Spring has Sprung. I remember as a boy being so excited when Spring came after the cold weather. I enjoyed the warmth of the Sun after having to bundle up to stay warm when going outside. But I recall that Spring was always fickle. Usually by Easter, we had enjoyed some warm days; days warmed enough to wear shorts or go out in short sleeves a few times... and I don’t mean upper 30/lower 40’s warm, where kids in Ohio think its a heat wave and wear shorts and run down the street with no shirt, SMH, BRRR. I mean like mid 70’s warm. But there was always another deep freeze or two coming before Summer. Looking back to childhood, Mom made a big deal out of Easter clothes for my sister and me. Yes, one year, I had the light blue pastel and white striped Seersucker suit with shorts, I guess I should be glad the outfit didn’t include the straw hat with ribbons hanging off and matching two toned saddle oxfords, with white socks. Apparently, we get the word “Seersucker” from Hindi and it originates from two words meaning “milk” and “sugar.” As a kid I thought it meant, “dressed up” and “uncomfortable”… just give me some well worn Sears Toughskins jeans and t-shirt with the tag cut off. But we dressed up for church, especially Easter. My biggest anticipation for that day was to hunt the couple of dozen Easter Eggs that Mom had boiled hard and helped us dye with PAAS and vinegar the day before. I wanted to get up and hunt eggs before church, but that didn’t happen because everyone was getting ready. I expected to go to church in my Easter Sunday Best, come home, put on my Toughskins, made into Jorts by my Mom after I had worn through the padded knees by sliding on them all the time, and hunt eggs. But NOOO! I got up and it was cold and windy. Spring had given up once again to Old Man Winter. Yet, because I had a Seersucker outfit, I had to wear it to church. I nearly froze to death, but apparently cold doesn’t count when Mom wants “cute” and I would outgrow it before Easter the next year. When we got home, I ran to my room to change out of my pastel pretty-boy suit, only to have to change back for Easter pictures. Then I grabbed the Easter basket, ready to go hunt some eggs, but we had to eat first. The meal usually included ham, yams, some sort of green beans, salad or something and some deviled eggs (these were usually the casualties of the egg dying the day before… and BTW why would we have eggs from the Devil if Easter was such a Holy Day? IDK) and carrot cake (who knew carrots could taste so good?). Finally, my sister and I convinced my Mom to hide some eggs for us outside. Oh my! It was still really cold, but we found them, shivering, teeth chattering and blue lipped. Then it was time for the second round, which we moved inside and my sister and I hid them for each other all around the house. There was always that one egg we couldn’t find, assumed it cracked and was made into the devil’s egg, but several days later, caused a horrible smell, and instigated another more intense egg hunt.

As we read about the very first Easter/Resurrection Day, written by the once “bad egg,” Roman IRS agent named Matthew, who was found and called out by Jesus to become His disciple and a gospel writer, we understand that some Jesus-follower ladies, both named Mary, were eagerly seeking the One they loved, Who had been crucified and placed in a tomb sealed with a great stone. The former tax collector tells us, “After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to view the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, because an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and approached the tomb. He rolled back the stone and was sitting on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow. The guards were so shaken by fear of him that they became like dead men. The angel told the women, ‘Don't be afraid, because I know you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here. For he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, 'He has risen from the dead and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; you will see him there.' Listen, I have told you.’ So, departing quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, they ran to tell his disciples the news. Just then Jesus met them and said, ‘Greetings!’ They came up, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him. Then Jesus told them, ‘Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to leave for Galilee, and they will see me there.’" Matthew 28:1-10 (CSBBible) Even when Spring weather and other things on this planet can be fickle, we can rely on Jesus to always be True to His Word. He said He would be resurrected again, and He was! God promises that if we seek Him with our whole heart, He will be found by us (Jeremiah 29:13-14). If you are hunting eggs this Easter in your Seersucker outfit, be reminded that Jesus came to seek and to save the lost, that’s us!.( Luke 19:10). He won’t stop until He finds us, no matter how rotten we may be. Be found by Jesus right now by seeking Him with your whole heart, in spite of the unreliable fickleness of this world.

Hang in there people! God is glad to be with us! I’m praying for us all!

Parents, The Rough Places Will Be Made Smooth!** Words From COVID19 quarantine

By Photo: Myrabella / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12686604

Parents, the rough places will be made smooth. As a young boy, I was both fearful and excited about going ice skating. In my town, there was an ice skating rink called the “Ice Chalet.” My mother, who was determined to give us as many experiences as possible, had signed my sister and me up for skating lessons. She had also signed us up for sailing, diving, swim, skiing, television camera, tennis, and several other kinds of lessons, which we enjoyed but probably didn’t fully appreciate at the time. We arrived at the Ice Chalet and walked inside to a lobby decorated like an Alpine Lodge. The smell was very distinct, unlike any I had ever smelled before, kind of like a frozen water/sweaty skates/mildewed wet carpet and hot chocolate/grilled cheese/french fries from the concession stand kind of smell. We rented our skates, handed them our own shoes, which seemed a little weird to me, though I could see them over the tall counter, in the cubby where my skates had come from, on the vast wall of skates and shoes from tini-tiny to giant skates. The first pair didn’t fit because I had two pairs of socks on. So, with some help from my mother, I laced and tied my skates and attempted to walk toward the door to the ice rink. My ankles flopped and buckled. My little spindly legs looked like spaghetti noodles wiggling from a fork, as they tried to support my weight on the two knife blades secured to these boots with screws. I was excited to get the brown (boy) skates, rather than the white (girl) skates, unlike the other boy in the class that arrived too late for brown in his size. My sister and I made our way, wobbly legged to the ice to try our skills at perambulating on the frozen water. We had enjoyed swimming in the indoor pool, but this was a totally different experience on top of the H2O. I took my first step up to the ice and immediately had to grab the rail. Both feet went straight out and I held to the wall to keep from doing the splits. After going around the rink once clinging to the rail, I was finally able to keep my feet under me. Then, came the time for lessons. We were summoned to the middle of the rink by the instructor. I thought, there is no way, I’m letting go of this rail, but the point of lessons is to learn to skate, not hang on the wall, right? So, wibbly, wobbly, splatting a couple of times, I made my way to the middle of the rink. We learned to push and glide. My legs were not strong enough to do that, so I kind of just took little baby steps using the toe stop. By the end of the lessons, I had begun to notice other skaters, who had been there, but in my fear and fight to stay upright I never really noticed except to hope they didn’t skate over me with those knives on their feet. There were some kids who had really cool skates with sharper blades and no toe stops, who could skate frontwards and backwards really fast and spray ice when they stopped. There were some others who could spin and twirl and dance while they skated. At one point, after the lesson, the music that was piped in over loud speakers stopped and a voice said, “please, reverse directions!” In one way this was terrible, because my body had just started to figure out how to go this way, and yet in another way it was a great relief, because my muscles on the other side could give my fatigued legs, ankles and hips a break. Then, later the voice came back and said, “please, clear the ice.” I was petrified because I was far from the ice exit, but with lots of little steps and some pulling on the rail with my arms I finally made it off the ice. I was glad to have a cup of warm hot chocolate and my mother was glad to wipe my runny nose on a kleenex rather than me wiping it on my sleeves and little mittens. Looking at the rink through the glass doors, I noticed a large vehicle that was driving on the ice. This magical machine drove over the ice and the ice became shiny and flat and all the kicked up ice shavings from “hockey stops,” “ice spins,” “toe stops,” and divots from crashes and carvings from the foot mounted axe blades instantly disappeared and the ice was restored to its glasslike, glisteny, smoothness. Watching this “Zamboni” became one of the highlights of my trips to the Ice Chalet, partly because my skating skills never really improved enough to play hockey or do cool dances like those who had skated since exiting the womb (affectionately known as rink rats) or had some natural skill and ability, and partly because it was so cool to see such a satisfying instant transformation of messed up, scarred, divot filled ice to clean, smooth, beautiful ice with a pass or two of the Zamboni.

When Jesus was about to begin His ministry, John the Baptist was preaching and preparing the hearts of everyone who would listen for the arrival of the Messiah. The famous gospel-writing physician, Luke, reminds everyone of the words of the prophet Isaiah from 700 years before about the coming of John who would be announcing the Christ. He talked about the rough places becoming smooth and mountains and valleys being made level. John was kinda like a human Zamboni that allowed people to have a clear, straight, unscarred, undivoted, path to a relationship with Jesus. He would call them to repentance, to do a “hockey stop” and reverse directions, to turn back toward God. Luke says, “Then John went from place to place on both sides of the Jordan River, preaching that people should be baptized to show that they had repented of their sins and turned to God to be forgiven. Isaiah had spoken of John when he said,“He is a voice shouting in the wilderness,‘Prepare the way for the LORD’s coming! Clear the road for him! The valleys will be filled, and the mountains and hills made level. The curves will be straightened, and the rough places made smooth. And then all people will see the salvation sent from God.’” Luke 3:3-6 NLV. At just the right time Jesus came. He was greater than John the (Zamboni) Baptist, because He smooths over our broken relationship with God. He takes away our wounds and emotional hurts, removes mountains of sin, and redeems our twisted ways. He not only changes our human lives, He makes us brand new spiritually and gives us new life! The chasm between us and God was filled with Jesus who made a Way for us to have a renewed, healthy, real relationship with God. The scars from living in this harsh world can be healed. When we are experiencing a rough spot and headed the wrong way, we gotta, “reverse directions,” that’s repentance, we turn around and go toward God instead of away from Him. If we don’t exit the ice for a little while and let God renew us, we will only make more scars and divots and have more crashes. We need to let Jesus clear the way for us, heal our scars, replace our divots, and renew our rough places. Our salvation comes from Christ, He makes all things actually really new, rather than just smoothing them over with a veneer.

Hang in there people! God is glad to be with us! I’m praying for us all!

Parents, What Are You Going To Be When You Grow Up?* Words From COVID19 quarantine

 Parents, What are you going to be when you grow up? My great-grand-mother was quite a character. She was witty and sharp and could even be caustic when she spoke the “truth in love,” She knew the scriptures, was a card shark, loved to tell a slightly off color joke, and was a strong opinionated woman who had survived the Great Depression, World Wars and much hardship. Maude, or “Mau Mau” as I knew her, had lived her life with her husband Will, who was a professional tailor in his shop in Arkansas, until she moved to live with my grandmother, known as “Mother Mac” in my hometown. She would sometimes babysit my sister, my cousins and me. She didn’t put up with a lot, but loved us as her generation knew how to show love. She spoke the truth of scriptures she had memorized at just the right time. She could tease us harshly and just laugh out loud, but no one else dared mess with anyone in her family… she would defend them, even if she knew they were wrong. One day in the apartment building with the swimming pool on top, she was keeping the 4 Knoxville great-grands and we were discussing what we were going to be when we grew up… all the standard responses: policeman, nurse (popular in my family), doctor (there were a couple of those in the family too). I responded with, “I want to be a ‘rootin’ tootin’ cowboy.’” I had seen one on the Sesame Street skit a couple of times, dressed like a dude with six shooters, chaps, boots, and spurs. (My family now tells me I at least got the tootin’ part right… I tell them, “that’s not funny, but pull my finger.”) I then changed my mind, as kids do, and said I wanted to be a fireman. Mau Mau looked straight at me and said, “No, you are going to be a pastor!” I thought, how boring! I became angry and told her, “No, I am going to be a fireman.” Little did I know that God had given her some insights that would come to fruition many years later. She didn’t live long enough to know that I had become a pastor, but she was so sure of it, she saw it and “prophesied” it, called me out and up to it when I was just a child. I did my best to run from it, deny it, and rebel both then and as a young man, but God hunted me down, changed my heart, sent me to seminary, called me to churches to serve. He has blessed me with many brothers and sisters in Christ whom I love very much. I may be boring, but my life as a pastor has not been boring. I have had the great privilege of seeing God at work in the lives of many people, rescuing many from the fires of hell... my aunt reminds me that maybe I am a fireman of sorts…

We are all firemen/women! When God rescues us and we connect our lives with God, we take on the family business. The business of being on the rescue team for others. We may be asked to run into the darkness of a burning building of someone’s life to bring them out, breathe life into them, help gently heal their wounds, and welcome them to God’s family. We may also be asked to speak the Truth into the lives of God’s people and call them up and call them out into God’s ministry whether vocationally or as a lay person. Peter, the one who had warmed himself by the fire and denied Christ while He was on trial, but whom Jesus had later restored and told him “care for My sheep,” reminds us: “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 1 Peter 2:9-10 (CSB) I’m thankful for Mau Mau, that she was a part of the rescue team for this little boy. As she shared scripture and shared encouragement, showed love with her words in the best way she could. She foretold of a ministry that I don’t deserve, but am privileged to share. Whatever your calling, you are a minister, a priest(ess) called to love and rescue others.

Hang in there people. God is glad to be with us. I’m praying for us all.

Parents, It's Right In Front of You!* Words from COVID 19 quarantine

 Parents, It's right in front of you. On our honeymoon, my new bride and I stepped off the airplane in Maui to paradise and an almost charismatic, “snorkeling boat tour to Molokini,” hawking barker who was gifted at getting the attention of unsuspecting jet lagged mainlanders. It sounded exciting to go to the mostly submerged cone of a volcano and snorkel in the crystal clear waters. My new “wife for life” graciously agreed to take one of our precious days in Hawaii to get up and get on this boat. The nearly charming (probably a former snake oil) professional, sweetened the deal saying a buffet would be served too! How could this get any better I wondered. So, the next day we got up anticipating our romantic snorkeling half day trip. We imagined blue skies and calm seas and a beautiful boat with pretty people just like the picture on the front of the brochure had promised. We arrived at the dock, with gray skies, rough seas, an old rusting large boat and nice, but somewhat unglamorous fellow shipmates, who had also been drawn in by the airport snorkel hawker. We even saw an old fraternity brother of mine… (happy honeymoon baby!) He was kind and gracious and was friendly, but gave us our space. As we began our short “3 hour tour… the weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed,” Undeterred I was still eager to “snorkel the famous Molokini crater.” My sweet young bride, however, began to get seasick. The waves, the nauseating smell of half-burned diesel, a half-cleaned head (read - “boat bathroom”), others tossing their cookies, and the promised barbeque with grease dripping off it...and she was done… the ship steward recommended she go below, so the tossing of the ship was lessened, but the smells were even worse below. It was miserable, there was no escaping the nausea and there was no turning back until the tour was over. She graciously told me she would try getting in the water. The snorkeling was horrible, the seas had churned up the water and visibility was terrible, eventually the captain recommended that the snorkelers board the bobbing cork of a boat and we return to Maui… a cheer went up from all. When we got to land, we were too sick to demand a refund, and the best they would do was give us a discount on our next trip with them!!! What? So, we went back to the condo and rested with our pressure point wristbands and motion sickness bags. The next few days we relaxed and biked, toured, enjoyed the pool, beach and rode mopeds around on the beautiful island. After overcoming our initial snorkeling experience we decided to try snorkeling the area just in front of our condo. Wow! It was so beautiful, all kinds of beautiful coral and fish and shellfish, everything that had been promised on the other tour. We even saw a sea snake which, I reluctantly later told my wife, was very poisonous. The area was so beautiful and so much fun I didn’t want to stop exploring this underwater paradise. The whole time this gorgeous Black Rock was right there not too far from where we stayed, no boat necessary.

Sometimes the snorkel hawkers can make us question the quality of our experience and they get us to chase unrealistic deceptive images of what seldom comes to fruition. God has plans for us that far exceed our expectations. Long ago, God’s people had been through some rough times and it was about to get worse. Their own leaders and prophets had charismatically and convincingly led them astray and promised “peace, peace” and safety from the incoming waves of disaster, but their real peace and safety depended on them staying close to the God of their salvation, the God of their peace, the God of promise. They would be deported far from home to Babylon, times would be rough, but they had listened to snorkel hawkers and gone away from God, so God’s discipline was necessary to draw them back to Him. God promised that He had great plans for them…the prophet Jeremiah says, “For I know the plans I have for you," this is the LORD's declaration," plans for your well-being, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. You will call to me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart. I will be found by you, "this is the LORD's declaration," and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and places where I banished you,” this is the LORD's declaration. "I will restore you to the place from which I deported you." Jeremiah 29:11-14 (CSB) During these challenging times, we can’t listen to deceptive snorkel hawkers, we gotta stay close to God, who loves us and has great plans for us. He is close, right in front of us, in fact.

Hang in there people. God is glad to be with us. I’m praying for us all.

Parents, You've Got Peace Like A River!** Words From COVID 19 quarantine

Parents, you’ve got peace like a river. As a boy, I was drawn to any kind of water: swimming pools, creeks, mud puddles, oceans, ponds, lakes, waterfalls and rivers. We even had a small waterfall in the entryway of our house, which looked out to the lake from a large bank of windows. When I wasn’t swimming, skiing, canoeing, cliff or bridge jumping, boating, houseboating, or fishing in the water, I was usually asleep… maybe a bit of exaggeration, but I spent a lot of time in and around the abundant waters of East Tennessee and the Southeast. Even in winter, I was content to be at swim practice in an indoor pool, walking near the river, or snow skiing on frozen water. My favorite teen jobs were lifeguarding at local pools, and teaching kids to waterski. There were times when I spent the day with dozens of teens on our houseboat for a church youth group ski day and times when I was fishing quietly in solitude in an isolated lake cove. There is just something about how two Hydrogen atoms connect to an Oxygen atom by the bazillions that not only sustained my life, but made it joyful, peaceful and at times exhilarating. Once, as an adult, I had taken a group of students on a rafting trip on the Ocoee River. It was thrilling. There was one particular part of the trip that the guide said we could check the security of our life jackets and jump in if we wanted. The water was cool and calming, like a lazy river ride at a waterpark, only real and better. As I floated motionless for a couple of minutes, it was probably one of the most peaceful times I can remember in my life. As I floated on my back, my ears went under water, sounds were muted. I stared up into the blue sky until I closed my eyes. I could have stayed there all day bobbing, floating in that bliss, suspended between the rocky, bumpy bottom of the beautiful river and the cares, challenges, pains, and the seemingly endless responsibilities of life that awaited me at the end of the raft ride. The guide instructed us to get back into the raft quickly, because the upcoming rapids would be challenging and he assured us the class 4’s would be much more challenging if we were outside the raft.

I don’t know if you have ever sung the old AfricanAmerican-Spiritual, “I’ve Got Peace Like A River,” It repeats, “I’ve got peace like a river” then asserts… “I’ve got peace like a river in my soul!” The simple hymn of assurance, also asserts… “I’ve got joy like a fountain,” and “I’ve got love like an ocean.” (The first 3 of the fruit of the Spirit as outlined by the Apostle Paul) At one point in the Old Testament, when God’s children had once again behaved themselves into His judgment, He still assured them of His faithful love and enduring peace for them. The old testament prophet tells God’s people, “For this is what the LORD says: ‘I will make peace flow to her like a river…’”Isaiah 66:12 During these times when we have not necessarily acted like God’s children and disease, weather, and political challenges may feel like judgment, God has not abandoned us. He still loves us no matter what. If He gives us a moment of peace flowing like a river, we need to embrace it, be grateful for His mercy, grace and love and turn our hearts toward Him as He suspends us between the rocky, bumpy bottom and the great challenges that still await us.

Hang in there people. God is glad to be with us. I’m praying for us all.

Parents, My Peace I Give To You!*Words from COVID 19 quarantine

 

Parents, My peace I give to you. When I was growing up near a college campus during the hippy years, many times people wearing hippy cool tie-dyed clothes would hold up two fingers and say “peace man!” Peace signs were drawn on street signs and notebook covers. People carried signs saying, “Peace Now!” Many were in psychedelic colors and designs influenced by the culture of the time. Some peace symbols were superimposed on yellow happy faces. What I knew of peace at that time was playing quietly with a Hot Wheels car, sitting on the hardwood floor with a full tummy, clothes on my body, and not a care in the world. Sunshine streamed in the window with a warm beam that danced when the shadows of the leaves of the large oaks that surrounded my childhood home blew in the early Summer breeze. I was embraced by the warmth of the Sun and the hardwood floor that accepted, then radiated the solar heat like being swaddled in a blanket right out of the dryer. There was a feeling of undisturbed security and safety from whatever dangers were “out there.” Some nights though, I struggled to sleep peacefully and frequently "sleep walked". Once, I went all the way to the car, locked all the doors, ready for a ride to somewhere. My parents, who happened to still be awake, had followed me outside to see where I would go. When my ride was apparently over, I climbed out of the car and went back to my bed. Many mornings I would wake up on a cold couch in the basement rather than the bed I had been tucked into the night before. But on warm, sunshiny, East Tennessee days, I felt it… peace. This peace was temporary though, it was challenged by the circumstances I saw on a black and white TV, the goings on in the world in the 1960’s and 70’s with assassinations, political and racial unrest, Viet Nam, Watergate and the oil crisis… Some days, I was drawn to the television when a North Carolina, Southern speaking preacher named Billy Graham would be broadcast from an evangelistic crusade somewhere. (I even watched a broadcast from my hometown of Knoxville in 1970, in our beloved Neyland Stadium, though apparently Richard Nixon tried to hijack the event for political gain after agreeing to say nothing political)… I sometimes sat and watched the broadcast by myself. There was always a peace that came in Graham’s urging to follow Jesus Christ. He talked about God’s love for us and God’s desire for us to connect our lives with Him. “Just As I Am” would be sung, led by George Beverly Shea and cameras captured thousands of people responding to the Gospel of Peace, the Good News of Jesus Christ. I often responded right then and there in my own house, praying as I watched the television. A sense of love and peace would overwhelm me like the sunshine that streamed into my window, but it embraced me and warmed me deeper than the Sun ever could. That peace, that shalom, remains when I remember that I belong to Jesus, that I am His and He is the Prince of Peace regardless of the unpeaceful things going on around me. Years later, as a pastor in Nashville in 2000, I had the privilege of taking my family and congregation to the Billy Graham crusade to hear Him in person. Once again, thousands responded to God’s Gospel of Peace including my daughter. We were all reminded of that peace on 9/11 the next year.

As we experience the tumult in our world with racial, social, and political unrest, a pandemic crisis and all that goes with it, Jesus reminds us of His perfect peace. He tells those who love Him, "Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Don't let your heart be troubled or fearful.” John 14:27 (CSBBible) As Jesus was about to be arrested, beaten, crucified, buried, resurrected and ascend to heaven, He knew the turmoil that His friends left here on earth would experience. He also knew that God the Father, the God of Peace, would give them joy and peace in spite of all that was happening around them through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. When we are tempted to feel uneasy about the craziness of this world, we gotta remember Who we belong to and the Peace Who is In us. The famous hymn urges us to come to Christ…

“Just as I am, though tossed about

With many a conflict, many a doubt

Fighting and fears within without

O Lamb of God, I come, I come”

Hang in there people! God is with us! I’m praying for us all!

Not my art, but I like it... credit to the artist.

Parents, We're All In This Together! Words From COVID-19 quarantine

 

Parents, “we’re all in this together!” Imagine me singing this to my family with my best Troy Bolton voice and dance moves, but with a bent over hacking cough, and groan, mid phrase. Yep! The family brought each other the gift of COVID-19 for Christmas 2020! I guess the percentages finally caught up with us. We all remained masked and socially distant from others when in public and the people we were around were diligent in trying to keep others safe too, but these measures obviously aren’t impervious to this tiny airborne virus. Somehow 6 of 8 us tested positive for the presence of this nasty present. We’re praying that the other two never get this thing, but we are assuming they have it. We are not a week into this thing, but it came as advertised… aches, fever, cough, chest tightness, headache, back pain, lethargy, and some of us lost taste! It feels like we’re running in a pool full of molasses. Makes us want to stay in bed or rest most of the time. My heart aches for those who have lost jobs, income, family, friends, health, funerals, weddings, graduations, all because of this heinous pathogen. My prayers continue for those suffering from all the effects of Coronavirus; physical, emotional, financial, etc, and especially for the healthcare workers who are exhausted from saving the lives of those who are so very sick. This is one of those world-wide re-centering events that has the attention of people all around the globe… it transcends any arbitrary boundaries we put up. In its short existence, this awful scourge has impacted so many things we hold in such high regard, like entertainment, sports, education, travel, food, celebrity, politics, hobbies, physical fitness, even church services. It forces us to evaluate what is most important. Though these other things I may have valued are either gone or far from normal, I realize that God has never abandoned me, His loving presence has never lessened. As a matter of fact He seems closer than ever. His “no matter what”, unending love seems to be more recognizably present than any other time in my life. Though I don’t always understand His silence, His mercy, love and provision continue. Even though He is allowing me to experience this illness, He still stays close and reassures me like a doting parent with a sick child. Even in death, His provision is there… He has planned for our eternity to be spent with Him and those He loves where there is no Coronavirus or sickness or dying, not even tears as we connect with Him in Jesus.

The prophet Isaiah got a reminder from God about His great love for His people regardless of the scary things that could be happening around them. He tells us even if the world seems to be falling apart, God never abandons those he loves. He says, “For the mountains may move and the hills disappear, but even then my faithful love for you will remain. My covenant of blessing will never be broken,” says the LORD, who has mercy on you.” Isaiah 54:10 (NLT2) I hope you have not had to endure this COVID thing and I pray for complete restoration for those of you who have. My greatest prayer is that while many of life’s distractions are lessened, that we will recognize God’s never ending, never abandoning love for us and realize that His relationship is more important than anything else, anywhere, anytime. My hope is that Christmas 2020 brings the blessing of strengthened faith in Christ, regardless of whatever else we bring each other.

Hang in there people! God is with us! I’m praying for us all.