April; We Made It

As the coronavirus swept across the world and is seemingly portrayed as the new world plague, everyone from many different walks of life began to think that that was the end of the world. That we wouldn't make it through.

Here we are. April 1st, 2020.

So maybe it's an exaggeration when I say that people claimed the end of the world. But it sure felt like people were implying that when executive orders (not #66) are made to enforce curfews (and here I thought that leaving Liberty, I'd never have to worry about curfews again) and enforcing a social-distancing measure, as well as shutting down "non-essential" businesses are all taking place.

The key to all of this is perseverance. To just keep on pushing on when all seems lost and that there seems to be no end in sight. To just cling on to the hope that there is a light at the end of this tunnel. That there is another beautiful sunrise in all of the darkness of the night. It will always be hard at some point, and that's when we are tested and challenged as not only people, but as a community, and for some including myself, as the church.

We are tested and pushed to our limits as we struggle day to day, with living conditions unlike any other that many of us have never experienced. With the fear of a disease that we don't know how it affects all kinds of people, and with the disease presenting a pretty consistently growing mortality rate. Infections are running rampant, and we're scrambling trying to catch up in research and development to fight the disease, as well as understand it to try to put a halt to it all.

But it's in these moments of trial and tribulation that we are called to unify together and do the right thing. To not lose our focus and not discard our moralities, but to bond together. To unite as God would intend for us to unite. To just press onward with fervor until we see this through. And when all else fails? To lean into God and find Him where He was waiting for us to find Him. To run to Him when our strength runs low, our endurance spread too thin, and our hope wearing out. To know that He can and will carry us if we just reach out and call out to Him. He is our friend and He will always be there for us.

So as we enter April, we enter still a time of social-distancing. At least for the entirety of the month as President Trump attempts to use this as a means of keeping American fatalities below 100,000. We must do what we can on a day to day basis, and pray and trust that God will do the rest and deliver us from this disease. We must not test God and be reckless in our decisions, and we must trust the leaders God has appointed to bring us into the next step as a country, as a state, and as a country.

All in all, my brothers and sisters in Christ: Let's march on. Keep on charging ahead. Let us not falter as this is all a part of the race that has been marked out before us. Let us be the example that we are supposed to be as Christians. To show God's love in all of this. To show people that Christians aren't just people who go to church on Sundays and then that's it. Just because many of our church buildings are closed doesn't mean the church stops living. We are the church. Let's be that light for everyone else.

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders us and the sins that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance, the race marked out for us." Hebrews 12:1 NIV