It’s been an interesting week… I don’t have much experience with infectious diseases, but it does feel like the fear does not equal the panic. Though I’m a big believer in “better safe than sorry”, some of what I’ve witnessed seems like people are going insane, and it appears that those that are the least freaked out are the medical professionals, which should tell the rest of us something. A month ago, before all the chaos, I had most of the Covid-19 symptoms, but Dr. Stearns wasn’t the least bit concerned and prescribed me antibiotics and the cough and fever went away, like any normal flu. Selfishly, as a sports fan I’m deeply disappointed that seasons were cancelled or postponed. Some, like golf and auto racing, originally decided to have the event without on-site fans, but then cancelled the events anyway. I’ve seen many business events cancelled, including my company kick-off in Orlando. The largest healthcare conference of the year was cancelled, which effects several I know. Disney is now closed, as well as most other U.S. attractions. Colleges closed, then finally all schools. I heard today they closed South Beach, like there was a shark attack. I don’t disagree that “social distancing” is safer than the opposite, but why are people hoarding food, toilet paper, and disinfectant? I can only equate this to the worst hurricane forecast cone and watching my fellow Floridians lose their minds as it approaches. Frankly, the panicking people scare me more than the hurricane or illness itself. The worst is probably not over…
Today we’re following suit and having a church service without physical attendance, exclusively online. Thank you to those that made that happen… Tony began week 2 of Exodus, comparing it to our world’s current crisis and titling his message “DAYS OF DARKNESS”. In Exodus 1, the original 70 Israelite family members of Joseph have been blessed by God and multiplied to countless thousands. Pharaoh and the Egyptians were threatened and treated them brutally and eventually ordered all Hebrew males born, thrown into the Nile River. This was a very dark time for God’s chosen people and they are crying out, asking for his intervention. How do we respond when darkness and fear are everywhere? When things look the worst, isn’t that when God’s people receive unexpected victories? Here’s the problem with our faith, God works in secret and ceaseless ways, and we’re very impatient. Many times in our lives, when things looked the bleakest, God rescued us, but it’s not at the time we recognized this. We reflect on this years later sometimes and realize God was working the whole time. Another lesson from Chapter 1 is that God uses the weak and powerless to accomplish amazing things. The single Hebrew midwives opposed the killing of Hebrew babies and defied the decree, despite impending death. It states that God rewarded their faith by giving them families of their own, as they never believed, in spite of their status, that they were too small to accomplish greatness in God’s eyes. Lastly, Tony shared that our fear must be appropriately placed.
Obviously, even with a disease’s worst outcome, a Christian is rewarded. Our momentary fears of death our common and understandable, but what lies ahead is better than what lies here. All in all, that sounds great, but do our actions display that attitude? Let’s try and do that this week !