My finances have not been affected directly by COVID-19 (the coronavirus) because I am retired. But some folk are experiencing tough times.
“I heard that we are all in the same boat, but it’s not like that,” someone said. “We are in the same storm, but not in the same boat. … For some, quarantine is optimal. A moment of reflection, of re-connection, easy in flip flops [taking life easy], … for others, this is a desperate financial and family crisis.”
We’re not in the same boat, the writer said, because the coronavirus stay at home policy causes many that live alone to face more loneliness while others have family with them.
“Some want to return to work because they don’t qualify for unemployment and are running out of money,” the writer said. “Others want to kill those who break the quarantine.
“Some are at home, spending 2-3 hours/day helping their child with online schooling while others are spending 2-3 hours/day to educate their children on top of a 10-12 hour workday.”
Some have died from coronavirus; some don’t seem to think it’s a big deal, the writer said. Some have faith in God and miracles. Others say the worst is yet to come.
The writer concluded, “So, friends, we are not in the same boat. … We are all on different ships during this storm, experiencing a very different journey. Realize that and be kind.”
An animation shows Buggs Bunny wearing a medical mask and Daffy Duck without a mask. Buggs puts a poster on a tree. The poster reads “Shut it down.” Daffy Duck slaps a poster over it. Daffy’s poster reads “Open it up.”
That’s how many feel about reopening businesses labeled “nonessential.”
America is suffering a “great divide” over the coronavirus, a virus discovered only months ago. Scientists work feverishly on a vaccine to protect against what some call The Corona.
Some say keeping healthy people “locked down” prevents development of an immune response needed to establish nationwide immunity to coronavirus.
That idea is based on what happens when a disease attacks a herd of animals. To develop a “natural herd immunity,” one lets a virus attack the herd. Some animals die, but others develop immunity to the disease.
Drs. Carl T. Bergstrom and Natalie Dean say, “The coronavirus moved so rapidly across the globe partly because no one had prior immunity to it. Failure to check its spread will result in a catastrophic loss of lives. Yet some … are advising that the most practical course of action is to manage infections while allowing so-called herd immunity to build.”
Those doctors advise against letting “herd immunity” build because many people may die while the herd builds immunity. They indicate that social distancing and staying at home are good, at this time.
Developing immunity against coronavirus requires actually being infected with it. “Prior infection has to confer immunity against future infection,” Bergstrom and Dean say.
On the other hand, Dr. Lee Templeton, a Christian dentist, says many die each year during flu season.
“All medically knowledgeable people realize this is an almost annual occurrence,” Templeton says. “Fear has replaced faith and commonsense. … The news media foments fear using death numbers. … If flu deaths were always on the news, it is likely that panic would result from that too. The Christian worldview has taken a hit in the last 50-75 years. That view holds that faith in God casts out fear.”
How can we exhibit Christian faith during the coronavirus epidemic?
The Rev. Dr. Christian Hofreiter of Austria writes, “In the Old Testament we find very strict quarantine regulations for those suffering of infectious diseases (see Leviticus 13). So, when Christians follow government and medical advice to, say, drastically reduce all social contacts, this is not an expression of unbelief (as though God did not have the power to protect or heal us). Rather, it is a demand of wisdom and, especially, of neighbourly love. The equation is simple and sobering: The flatter the rate of viral infection progresses, the smaller the number of vulnerable people who will die. Wherever we can contribute to that outcome, we should!”
Hofreiter continues, “One of the best things we can do is remember just how great, how good, how strong and mighty, how faithful our God truly is. … Personally, I find it most helpful in such situations to meditate on verses of Scripture that I know by heart, that I think through, pray through, feel through, chew through, carry in my heart, and digest inwardly. For example, the 23rd Psalm. Do you know it by heart yet?”
“The Lord is my shepherd … I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me” (from Psalm 23, KJV).
Monday, May 11, 2020
Lay Down Your Worries
A friend from Florida recently rang my cell phone while I was out and about.
“Are you wearing a mask?” she asked.
“No,” I said.
“Down here, if you go out without a mask and a policeman sees you, you get a fine, and if you go out again without a mask, and he sees you, you get two days in jail.”
People are wearing masks in attempts to avoid a coronavirus that’s spread by “human-to-human transmission via respiratory droplets.”
“The 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic is a pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2),” according to wikipedia.org. “The disease was first identified in Wuhan, Hubei, China in December 2019.”
I drove in the rain to the Dill Creek Bi-Lo at 8:00 a.m. on Thursday, April 23, 2020. (Seniors get a special hour to shop from 8-9:00 a.m., M-F, at Bi-Lo because of the coronavirus scare.)
I tried to stay a social distance (six feet) away from shoppers.
Finding no iceberg lettuce, I bought cookies, figuring I’d wait until the coronavirus died down before going on a diet.
Some people are gaining weight during the coronavirus outbreak.
“Overeating is a mechanism for coping with whatever negative emotions people are experiencing in their lives, just like excessive sleep, heavy exercise, and alcohol are coping mechanisms,” someone said.
The coronavirus outbreak has stirred up fear and worry in many folk. I come from a long line of worriers and need to “have a little talk with Jesus” quite often. If I don’t pray, I worry.
“God created us as emotional people,” Tim Allchin says. “Our emotions are given by God to put us ‘into motion.’ Fear is a God-given emotion. Anxiety is what we feel when our bodies respond to the emotion of fear. Worry is the thought process that mulls over and gives power to the object of our fear.”
Everyone worries.
“Jesus taught us to examine our fear, worry, and anxiety as clues into who we worship or what we worship in any given moment,” Allchin says.
My anxiety reveals what I value, Allchin says, and it reflects my view of God.
Jesus said, “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?” (Matt. 6:25).
Tim Keller writes, “Worry is not believing God will get it right, and bitterness is believing God got it wrong.”
Keller reminds us that “it takes pride to be anxious.” My anxiety may indicate that I think I know more than God knows and will trust my own judgment before I trust God.
My anxiety is related to my “trust level” in God, Allchin says, adding, “God calls me to overcome anxiety by keeping my focus on trusting Him with my trials.”
I worry most when my focus is on myself. Some introspection is helpful, but too much leads to worry and depression. We may agree with this statement: “There’s always someone worse off than I am.” But when we worry, we often quit reaching out to others.
“My anxiety is redirected best by compassionately serving others,” Allchin says. “One of the consistent themes throughout the gospels is the call to care for those in need and share the good news of what Jesus has done for us.”
Some Faith Temple Church folk are “self quarantined” because they have health conditions that could make them more likely to suffer complications if they become affected by a coronavirus. Pastor Burrows contacts them, but other friends can reach out to them via cards, phoning, e-mailing, or Facebooking.
Barbara Robertson (my fiancee) and I drove recently to my daughter Janelle’s house. Janelle and Terry, her husband, live in Taylors, SC. Terry works from home, and Janelle teaches first grade at Blythe Elementary. From her home, Janelle maintains some “virtual contact” with her students and their parents because Greenville County Schools are closed for this school year because of the coronavirus. From the road, I called on my cell phone.
“Janelle, we’re outside in the car,” I said. “We’re not here to come in. We just want to say hello from the car.”
Janelle soon popped just her head out the house’s front door.
“How are y’all?” she said. “I’m not dressed too well.
We exchanged greetings and then motored on out of her subdivision. Seeing Janelle’s face seemed to take a few worries off my mind. I’ll need to give the rest of my worries to the Lord.
“Are you wearing a mask?” she asked.
“No,” I said.
“Down here, if you go out without a mask and a policeman sees you, you get a fine, and if you go out again without a mask, and he sees you, you get two days in jail.”
People are wearing masks in attempts to avoid a coronavirus that’s spread by “human-to-human transmission via respiratory droplets.”
“The 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic is a pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2),” according to wikipedia.org. “The disease was first identified in Wuhan, Hubei, China in December 2019.”
I drove in the rain to the Dill Creek Bi-Lo at 8:00 a.m. on Thursday, April 23, 2020. (Seniors get a special hour to shop from 8-9:00 a.m., M-F, at Bi-Lo because of the coronavirus scare.)
I tried to stay a social distance (six feet) away from shoppers.
Finding no iceberg lettuce, I bought cookies, figuring I’d wait until the coronavirus died down before going on a diet.
Some people are gaining weight during the coronavirus outbreak.
“Overeating is a mechanism for coping with whatever negative emotions people are experiencing in their lives, just like excessive sleep, heavy exercise, and alcohol are coping mechanisms,” someone said.
The coronavirus outbreak has stirred up fear and worry in many folk. I come from a long line of worriers and need to “have a little talk with Jesus” quite often. If I don’t pray, I worry.
“God created us as emotional people,” Tim Allchin says. “Our emotions are given by God to put us ‘into motion.’ Fear is a God-given emotion. Anxiety is what we feel when our bodies respond to the emotion of fear. Worry is the thought process that mulls over and gives power to the object of our fear.”
Everyone worries.
“Jesus taught us to examine our fear, worry, and anxiety as clues into who we worship or what we worship in any given moment,” Allchin says.
My anxiety reveals what I value, Allchin says, and it reflects my view of God.
Jesus said, “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?” (Matt. 6:25).
Tim Keller writes, “Worry is not believing God will get it right, and bitterness is believing God got it wrong.”
Keller reminds us that “it takes pride to be anxious.” My anxiety may indicate that I think I know more than God knows and will trust my own judgment before I trust God.
My anxiety is related to my “trust level” in God, Allchin says, adding, “God calls me to overcome anxiety by keeping my focus on trusting Him with my trials.”
I worry most when my focus is on myself. Some introspection is helpful, but too much leads to worry and depression. We may agree with this statement: “There’s always someone worse off than I am.” But when we worry, we often quit reaching out to others.
“My anxiety is redirected best by compassionately serving others,” Allchin says. “One of the consistent themes throughout the gospels is the call to care for those in need and share the good news of what Jesus has done for us.”
Some Faith Temple Church folk are “self quarantined” because they have health conditions that could make them more likely to suffer complications if they become affected by a coronavirus. Pastor Burrows contacts them, but other friends can reach out to them via cards, phoning, e-mailing, or Facebooking.
Barbara Robertson (my fiancee) and I drove recently to my daughter Janelle’s house. Janelle and Terry, her husband, live in Taylors, SC. Terry works from home, and Janelle teaches first grade at Blythe Elementary. From her home, Janelle maintains some “virtual contact” with her students and their parents because Greenville County Schools are closed for this school year because of the coronavirus. From the road, I called on my cell phone.
“Janelle, we’re outside in the car,” I said. “We’re not here to come in. We just want to say hello from the car.”
Janelle soon popped just her head out the house’s front door.
“How are y’all?” she said. “I’m not dressed too well.
We exchanged greetings and then motored on out of her subdivision. Seeing Janelle’s face seemed to take a few worries off my mind. I’ll need to give the rest of my worries to the Lord.
Coronavirus and Faith
Some houses of worship are staging drive-in meetings where folk sit in cars and listen over radios or to loud-speakers as pastors preach. Some members honk their horns instead of saying amen.
The coronavirus outbreak has changed America and the world.
“Crises breed change,” said Allan Lichtman, a historian at American University.
History proves that statement.
Mark Z. Barabak, writing for The Los Angeles Times, says, “An ‘old age’ pension was part of the 1912 Progressive Party platform . . . Yet it wasn’t until August 1935, after the economic ravages of the country’s near-collapse [the Great Depression] left millions of Americans destitute, that President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law.”
Now, many retirees depend on Social Security.
Barabak says World War II showed America that we needed a better foreign policy. He says that the 9/11 attacks showed weaknesses in America’s security programs and that the Great Recession (2008) showed, the dangers of “unbridled financial speculation.”
How will the coronavirus pandemic change us? Will we get back our lifestyles?
Politico magazine states, “For many Americans right now, the scale of the coronavirus crisis calls to mind 9/11 or the 2008 financial crisis — events that reshaped society in lasting ways, from how we travel and buy homes, to the level of security and surveillance we’re accustomed to, and even to the language we use.
“A global, novel virus that keeps us contained in our homes — maybe for months — is already reorienting our relationship to government, to the outside world, even to each other.”
“We know now that touching things, being with other people and breathing the air in an enclosed space can be risky,” says Deborah Tannen, professor of linguistics at Georgetown Univ. “The comfort of being in the presence of others might be replaced by a greater comfort with absence, especially with those we don’t know intimately.”
How will Christian fellowship be affected?
“Religion in the time of quarantine will challenge conceptions of what it means to minister and to fellowship,” says Amy Sullivan. “But it will also expand the opportunities for those who have no local congregation to sample sermons from afar.”
In other words, people will have opportunity to listen to sermons by speakers on the internet.
What is happening to the rich and the poor during the coronavirus plague?
“The inequality gap will widen,” says Theda Skocpol, a professor of government and sociology at Harvard. “Discussions of inequality in America often focus on the growing gap between the bottom 99 percent and the top 1 percent. But the other gap that has grown is between the top fifth and all the rest — and that gap will be exacerbated by this crisis.”
Sadly, the old saying about the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer may apply during this coronavirus time.
How will folk be affected mentally during this time of “social distancing” — staying six feet away from each other?
Ed Yong, writing for The Atlantic, says, “After infections begin ebbing, a secondary pandemic of mental-health problems will follow. At a moment of profound dread and uncertainty, people are being cut off from soothing human contact. Hugs, handshakes, and other social rituals are now tinged with danger. People with anxiety or obsessive-compulsive disorder are struggling. Elderly people, who are already excluded from much of public life, are being asked to distance themselves even further, deepening their loneliness.”
As our society changes, Jesus Christ is still our answer — always.
“Jesus Christ [is] the same yesterday, and today, and for ever,” (Hebrews 13:8 KJV).
Whether truth is communicated in person or “streamed” by Facebook, it’s still the truth. Our hope is in our Lord Jesus Christ.
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7 ESV).
The coronavirus outbreak has changed America and the world.
“Crises breed change,” said Allan Lichtman, a historian at American University.
History proves that statement.
Mark Z. Barabak, writing for The Los Angeles Times, says, “An ‘old age’ pension was part of the 1912 Progressive Party platform . . . Yet it wasn’t until August 1935, after the economic ravages of the country’s near-collapse [the Great Depression] left millions of Americans destitute, that President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law.”
Now, many retirees depend on Social Security.
Barabak says World War II showed America that we needed a better foreign policy. He says that the 9/11 attacks showed weaknesses in America’s security programs and that the Great Recession (2008) showed, the dangers of “unbridled financial speculation.”
How will the coronavirus pandemic change us? Will we get back our lifestyles?
Politico magazine states, “For many Americans right now, the scale of the coronavirus crisis calls to mind 9/11 or the 2008 financial crisis — events that reshaped society in lasting ways, from how we travel and buy homes, to the level of security and surveillance we’re accustomed to, and even to the language we use.
“A global, novel virus that keeps us contained in our homes — maybe for months — is already reorienting our relationship to government, to the outside world, even to each other.”
“We know now that touching things, being with other people and breathing the air in an enclosed space can be risky,” says Deborah Tannen, professor of linguistics at Georgetown Univ. “The comfort of being in the presence of others might be replaced by a greater comfort with absence, especially with those we don’t know intimately.”
How will Christian fellowship be affected?
“Religion in the time of quarantine will challenge conceptions of what it means to minister and to fellowship,” says Amy Sullivan. “But it will also expand the opportunities for those who have no local congregation to sample sermons from afar.”
In other words, people will have opportunity to listen to sermons by speakers on the internet.
What is happening to the rich and the poor during the coronavirus plague?
“The inequality gap will widen,” says Theda Skocpol, a professor of government and sociology at Harvard. “Discussions of inequality in America often focus on the growing gap between the bottom 99 percent and the top 1 percent. But the other gap that has grown is between the top fifth and all the rest — and that gap will be exacerbated by this crisis.”
Sadly, the old saying about the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer may apply during this coronavirus time.
How will folk be affected mentally during this time of “social distancing” — staying six feet away from each other?
Ed Yong, writing for The Atlantic, says, “After infections begin ebbing, a secondary pandemic of mental-health problems will follow. At a moment of profound dread and uncertainty, people are being cut off from soothing human contact. Hugs, handshakes, and other social rituals are now tinged with danger. People with anxiety or obsessive-compulsive disorder are struggling. Elderly people, who are already excluded from much of public life, are being asked to distance themselves even further, deepening their loneliness.”
As our society changes, Jesus Christ is still our answer — always.
“Jesus Christ [is] the same yesterday, and today, and for ever,” (Hebrews 13:8 KJV).
Whether truth is communicated in person or “streamed” by Facebook, it’s still the truth. Our hope is in our Lord Jesus Christ.
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7 ESV).
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