One Year Later

As I sit in an airport delayed by snow showers in Flagstaff, I started pondering this past year.  I was in an airport almost a year to the day in Washington, D.C.  when we got the Flatten the Curve request. 

 A year later, I am wearing a mask, sitting six feet from my neighbor, one dose of vaccine completed, and well-versed in using apps to order takeout and groceries. I am the queen of great memes.  I was asked how I supported my staff’s mental health during the quarantine, I jokingly replied to several of them that I sent really good memes.  They answered back that it really did help to laugh in our group texts. Psychologists tell us how laughter reduces stress. I think the Lord hardwired it into us to help us see the big picture.  When we can laugh at ourselves and circumstances out of our control, we get perspective back. 

How have our lives changed? I have buried friends from COVID and watched many more recover.  I know how to contact trace my students in my sleep. My phone still dings with our Governor’s, CDC, and Homeland Security updates. I have learned to avoid the news at all costs. Adding in our toxic culture wars and quite a few natural disasters for many of us, the uncertainty has grown exponentially.  Many of you have experienced life-changing health issues and the loss of loved ones. 

We all have the details down.  We can share our experiences and our opinions with ease.  

But what about the important stuff? How did this pandemic change your walk with God?  What treasures have you stored in your heart from 2020?

2 Corinthians 4:16-18  So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self[d] is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal

These powerful verses push us past the seen and the transient into the eternal and the unseen….kinda of like 2020?  It sure did for me.  When everything I can see is confusing and unexplainable, I have two choices:  looking to God or my own reason.  Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.  

2020-1 has been indescribable, to say the least. I believe Satan is the author of chaos and confusion. When I acknowledge that, the people under his spell become victims rather than villains. I need to pull back and look at the unseen.  It almost always explains the seen.  And believe me, Jayme likes answers!

So what’s going on?

Our area in Louisiana experienced an Easter tornado, three hurricanes/tropical storms, and a weeklong ice storm during this same period of time as COVID-19. Your part of the world likely had its own events. Floods, droughts, record snowfalls, and wildfires made the history books this year.

Our parents, grandparents, and great grandparents survived the Spanish flu, World Wars, the Depression, Vietnam, civil unrest, Polio epidemics, and many more historical events.  

One thought comes to mind. Christians were made for times like these. NO, Jayme was born for times like these. We were born for adversity.  

If I really believe what I believe, I am in the exact spot I need to be to serve someone and do kingdom work.  I should run towards adversity and not shy away from it.

One thing COVID did in my eyes was “unmask” society’s fear of death.  Christians know death is inevitable and we prepare for it daily.  We fully understand our days are numbered and we cannot add one more moment to them. We can’t ever change the number of our days, only the quality.

The world runs from death and avoids it. We think we can avoid it if we are smart enough, cool enough, thin enough, responsible enough…. Along came COVID and it didn’t play by our accepted rules. We shut down, isolated, blamed, masked up, and tried every man-made way we could to fight back.  Society was scared. Well, we know who the author of fear is…

 Believers of all people have the answer.  We have power that comes directly from the Creator of the Universe.  The early church knew that. They sold everything they owned and placed their trust in WHOM they believed. 

Christians have always been at the forefront of meeting people’s needs in adversity. From the first monks who took in weary travelers to hospitals to missions to refugees to orphans to soup kitchens.  It’s where we belong.  We were made to serve. Jesus came to serve.

I have to remind myself that I won’t win the fight for hearts on social media.  I will only bring light when I carry it in person to someone who needs me.  

Some folks will be called to the political arena and I commend them. We should never cede any part of civilization to the enemy.  My political opinions will not bring anyone to Christ. It’s good and right for me to have convictions but they only define me. Not my Jesus. HE is defined by love.

 The kingdom is what we have been placed in time to serve.  That means serving each and every one of the folks Jesus places in your path today.  HE will send them and it is enough for the day.  HE places people and causes on our hearts. Usually, they stretch us beyond our comfort zones. I usually find my Jesus out of my comfort zone.  

Go find someone to serve today. Mask up, social distance, and love your brother.  He’s waiting for you! 

Maranatha!  Jayme