Moving Through These Uncertain Times

It grieves me when people I love are in pain. It’s worse as we move through these uncertain times. It’s bad enough to get that phone call in the middle of the night or to dial 911 or to rush to the hospital, not knowing what’s wrong. Now we can’t even sit in the waiting room or go to the chapel or grab a cup of coffee from a cafeteria. We’re told to go home to wait as the hospital employees turn us away at the door.

I have a dear friend whose husband is in ICU, and she calls every day for information because she cannot be there to talk to the doctors and nurses and make sure that her husband is receiving the care he needs. This story is one more example of how our world is changing daily in this pandemic.

Will our lives ever go back to the way they used to be? Will young children or babies born during 2020 ever know what it is like to play outside on a slip-n-slide? Will they ever experience going to a birthday party at McDonald’s indoor playground or roller skating at a roller rink? Will they see a day when they can go outside without wearing a facemask?

These are thoughts that might be crossing the minds of people who are starting families and have young kids. Will we become the generation that tells stories like, “When I was your age, my friends and I went camping during the summer and played games where we held hands for Red Rover; and we rode horses down the side of a mountain; and then we slept in sleeping bags under the stars.”

Sometimes, I feel like this is a bad movie, and I keep thinking, “It’ll get better. Facemasks and fear can’t be all there is to this story.”

Thank goodness for the Internet and all the beautiful theories that are flying around. If it’s on the internet, then you know it must be true—right? Lately, when I search the word Coronavirus, the web pulls up all kinds of theories. I will not take time here to dispute them or offer opinions. What I think does not matter in the least. What I know does. This world is broken.

A broken world was not God’s design. When God created this world, it was perfect. We’re the ones who messed it up. We run around trying to fill the void in our lives with relationships, success, money, drugs and alcohol, adrenaline, and whatever gives us momentary pleasure. But it never lasts. God knew this would happen, and yet he still loves us. That is a truth that boggles my mind and fills me with joy!

Yes, we are all God’s creation, but we are NOT all God’s children. Every time I hear a believer say that I cringe. It shows a lack of understanding.  Because of this belief, many people think that they don’t need God—except when there’s a crisis; then they are on their knees trying to bargain with God. God gave us a choice to accept or reject him. He respects our decision too much to intervene—even in a crisis—if we are not His children.

So how do we become His children?

Broken because of sin, we must consider what God did for us. He loved us so much that He sent His Son Jesus to die and pay for our sins, making a terrible and wondrous sacrifice on behalf of His creation. Three days after Jesus died, God raised His Son from the dead. That act showed that the Father accepted the Son’s sacrifice as He died in the place of all sinners. There is no way that we can be worthy of such a gift, and God knows this. So He made it simple. He requires only that we ask His forgiveness, repent of (turn away from) our sins, and believe that Jesus rose from the grave and lives. Repent and Believe. Did you see that? Repent and Believe—it is that simple.

“For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— ⁸ but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:7-8 (ESV)

As a believer in Christ, I urge you to consider Jesus. He longs to have a personal relationship with you. He is the one who will see you through the challenges of life—brokenness, sickness, pandemic, tragedy, sorrow, joy—everything we ever experience, He will be there with you through it all. Reach out to Jesus. He loved you so much that He died in your place. He has already paid for your sins; you simply need to ask for that payment to apply to you. 

He is waiting to hear from you, my friends. The choice is up to you.

In the meantime, God bless and keep you all.