Our government this week warned we may be living with physical distancing and face masks for another two years. The recent surge of Covid infections in countries who thought they had “flattened the curve” has precipitated a major rethink. We are on a precipice.

Recently my wife and I celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary. We’re a bit in shock. How does this happen? We feel like it’s been around 20 years. 50 means we’re really old no?

But the clock won’t be stopped. The only comfort is that we’re all aging, and at the same rate!

At a milestone we tend to take stock of our lives. Have we grown? Have we loved? Have we made a difference in the world? Or have we, as author C.S. Lewis put it, “merely continued”?

The encouraging thing is that even if we feel we’ve not lived significantly it’s not too late to change. A great place to start is to volunteer in a worthy program like food banks, senior care, prison work, or church outreach. Covid-19 is a mitigating factor, no doubt, but there is still a world of opportunity to “love your neighbour as you love yourself”.

I’ve been cohosting an Internet prayer meeting over the past few months (biblediscoverytv.com) and have been pleased at the altruistic tone of  the prayer requests. Yes there have been personal needs presented but many have asked prayer for others. There was/is an old prayer song sung in church when I was a kid-“Others, Lord, yes others. Let this my motto be. Help me to live for others that I might live for thee”. This simple lyric captures a basic biblical truth: we’re to love God, others, and self if we are both righteous and just. Faith is not about navel gazing. Rather it has a worldview that sees far beyond self. When we look up we also look out. We’re pilgrims together. And the Lord makes our paths straight.

Hey friends! Instead of my comments re: Covid-19 and the rigours of the pandemic, how about a powerful video of praise to the Lord from some of our youth volunteers in Africa?  Check us out at www.wowmission.com

No doubt our world is under adversity on an unprecedented scale. We’re all feeling it. Covid-19 has created stresses we never thought possible, not only in terms of threats to health, but also in terms of fragmenting, if not fracturing, our entitlements. Our freedom to move and interact is fraught with risk. We’re under siege.

In the meantime we hold on, and many of us pray. As we do so our core values are being examined and refined. Our spirits are being revisited and refreshed. Our secular materialism is giving way to “seeking first the kingdom of heaven”.

We will come through this. Chastened, refined, and renewed.

As we continue to reevaluate our lives, our values under deep assessment, it’s tempting to yield to “end of the world” thoughts. Not only is the world shut down but so is life as we’ve known it. Many of us feel lost without the former parameters of social, physical, emotional, and spiritual markers that gave our lives context and meaning. Then we look outward via the internet and see Yemen about to implode, South Sudan and East Africa besieged by billions of crop destroying locusts, multilateral aid agencies warning that huge famine is closing in, and reports that the world economy may never achieve its former strength, and we wonder… are we nearing the “End”?

I think we would do ourselves a favour in this bleak hour to remember that even though calamity on a worldwide scale is new to us it’s not new to history. Just last century our world reeled from not one but two World Wars, countless regional conflicts, and yes, a pandemic-the Spanish Flu. We took the blows, suffered for a while, then got back onto our feet.

We will do so again.

In other words there is hope. And faith. Soldier on!

You’re reading this in self isolation and I’m writing in similar circumstances. We’re all in lockdown. Who knew?

Well, not to be trite, but the Lord knew. Indeed, he knows. Covid-19 is no surprise to him. And we know that his omniscience informs his sovereignty- he is Lord of every situation.

I think there will be a renewal of spirit all over the world as we re-examine our values and priorities. As many freedoms are currently lost to us – like freedom of movement for example- we may rediscover the freedom of spirit that emerges with reading, prayer, and lengthy talks (via social media) with loved friends and relatives. This enforced sabbatical may “recreate” us.