Crisis or Challenge?

I'm not really sure when I first heard the word.  When I did it seemed far away and remote, not very likely to cross the big ocean and come into my little interior, middle of nowhere, world.  Little by little it started getting closer and closer to "home." 

Byron and I were in the interior for a two day trip.  I had already informed our family that we would be out of touch for about 24 hours.  We left for a little place called Várzea Grande where we showed the Jesus Film on a Wednesday night.  Our "crowd" was small, but so was the community!  We actually had around a 90% turnout and all were very attentive.  

We planned to spend the night car camping off a little used road and head on to our regular Bible study students in Lage dos Negros on Thursday.  The family that hosted the film insisted that we stay with them.  They gave us a good supper and a nice breakfast the next morning.

March 12, 2020 Lage dos Negros

The next day when we got into Lage we had cell phone coverage and data.  I began to get all kinds of messages in and one stood out and left me feeling a little weak - Bob Jones University was sending all its students home immediately.  Schools were closing - IT had arrived in force near one of my "homes," the place where my loved ones live.

We still had visits to make, but my mind was elsewhere full of what ifs and how comes.  "It," "that word," Coronavirus had made its way to the USA.  That was March 11.  

By the next Thursday it was obvious that the virus was already in Brazil and making its way out of the big metropolitian centers of the industrialized South and was moving into the more remote states of the North and Northeast.  No travel restrictions were in place, but it did seem eminent.  We decided to skip visiting with an elderly couple along the way and stick to our three scheduled Bible studies.  We advised each one that it might be the last visit in a while.

We have toilet paper.

By the time we got home, airports were closing, schools that hadn't closed yet were sending students home.   The young man from our little town who had started missionary training in another state was already "stuck."  His school closed on the same day as the nearest airport, local transportation and interstate buses.  A local family took him in.  People were scrambling as our own town announced local travel restrictions and the closing of all but the essential.  Some small interior communities with no known cases have posted guards to keep "foreigners" (non-residents) out.

From one day to the next our work of a year had come to a sudden halt.  And the fear of the unknown is much larger than the fear of a fever.  The fear of the safety of loved ones is much more severe than the fear for personal concerns.  

Yet here we are.  I have to admit that the first few days were a little overwhelming.  I quickly became a walking Covid information source spouting off all that I heard to Byron.  He had to politely tell me it might be good to stop.  I, who had set limits on my Net time in January, had my phone in my hand all day long and all through the night.  

I was praying, I was reading my Bible, but I was also scared and wondering.  It was a worldwide crisis after all!  I felt like I might miss some tidbit of information that would make all the difference to the whole world.

Last night I didn't turn on my phone in the middle of the night.  This morning I didn't turn on the news as soon as I got up.  I did get up early and make biscuits and gravy.  I turned on my favorite praise station while I was working.  After breakfast I got in touch with friends sending out encouraging messages.  I posted a video I'd made for my grandbabes.  I washed the dishes.  I left the news alone and hence IT left me alone, too.  And I did some serious praying.

An Umbrella Prayer

I didn't stop thinking about it, but I gotta git above it.  Jeremiah 33:3 tells us to "call to God and He will answer and show us great things."  Prayer is my greatest weapon in this war against an "invisible enemy."  I can pray for my loved ones in far away places and I can encourage local friends to pray via social media.

A little later in Jeremiah 33:6 God promised future "health and healing" to chastised Israel with an "abundance of peace and truth." His restoration of the land was based on past promises and the people's repentance.  Interesting verses for us today!  

I am not suggesting that God is punishing the world.  I do know that the world could use some shaking up and this crisis is certainly doing that.  I am suggesting that Christians world-wide need to repent of their own sins and pray to know how to be well used in the middle of the mess.

Prayer leads to repentance.  Repentance should lead to obedience.  Obedience to God is action.  

Days of prayer for me lead to asking God for forgiveness for complacency.  Now I look to Him for how I might be of good service in the days to come.

Do you know what's at the end of Jeremiah 33?  The promise that God gave to King David!  Good days are coming.  Jerusalem will be restored.  God will not forget His people.  

It's not going to go away fast.  I do not know tomorrow, but I do have HOPE in Christ.  Byron says it's like a puzzle and we must how to fit in to the big challenge ahead.

Things I can do:

Use the ministry of Sombrinhas de Oração to reach out to more people.  This week and next we are offering our Portuguese materials for free and encouraging followers of our Facebook and Instagram to send in their Anti-Covid umbrella prayers.

Use Whatsapp to send encouraging messages to our interior friends.

Feed my man well and work on projects here at home.

Send more videos to my grandbabies.

Support local small businesses still open with home deliveries.

Help the poor who come to beg.

Pray, pray, pray!

My cat is upset this week.  Too much activity in her quiet house.  

I think she wants us to go away and stop bothering her.