Month: March 2020

Benefits of COVID-19

covid-19

The catastrophic COVID-19 virus that has attacked you, me, and almost 8 billion others in one way or another may be one of the best things that has ever happened to us. Whether we are literally sick from it or sick of what it is doing to disrupt our lives, it may be shocking us back into reality–a place we desperately need to be. Here are some benefits of our plight worth considering.

Most importantly, this world crisis is resetting our minds to understanding we mere human beings are not in control of anything. Health, economies, governments, and military strength cannot guarantee our safety and welfare. We have just witnessed the mightiest powers of man crumble in a matter of weeks. Surely no one can continue to believe any nation or society is invulnerable. We have been forced to shift from fantasy to reality in our world view. That is ultimately beneficial.

Our situation is leveling the social disparity among all people. Coronavirus is no respecter of persons. All classes, races, nationalities, ages, genders, and religions are equally susceptible to this invisible microbe. We now have to look at all people as impartially linked and having the same needs. That is ultimately beneficial.

The dire need of social connection is heightened at a time when the ability to connect is drastically restricted. This forces us to be creative in finding ways to communicate, fellowship, and share our lives. We are now using technology to do more for us than entertain us and maximize our productivity. We are relying on it to bring us closer together. That is ultimately beneficial.

The crisis is slowing us down. The world has become so busy and chaotic that it is sucking the life out of  us. Our speeding pace has now met a huge speed bump. We can catch our breath. We can meditate on what is really important instead of the superficial. We have more time to engage the things that matter. That is ultimately beneficial.

It may have taken this pandemic to bring families to a closer, healthier relationship. Both immediate and extended families are finding time and need to tighten the bonds that hold them together. Communications are opening up and feelings are being shared perhaps like never before. Dependence on each other is strengthening the family. That is ultimately beneficial.

As this disease is limiting us in so many ways, we are learning we can live with less. We are finding many things we thought we needed are not really necessary. The entertainment we had to have can be substituted, and the work we needed to accomplish isn’t really that important. We’re learning that much of our external work can be accomplished from home. The material things we valued so protectively have shown to often be distractions. That is ultimately beneficial.

Finally, going back to the second paragraph, we are recognizing that absolutely nothing in life is really under our control. The entire universe including our world and we as individuals are part of the master plan of God. His Word teaches us that He desires the best for us, but that only comes through total commitment to Him and obedience to His perfect ways. He loves us so much that He corrects us when we disqualify ourselves from His blessings. Since the world has paid little lasting attention to previous warnings, this unprecedented wake up call has forced us into a posture of major adjustment. That is ultimately beneficial.

I believe this crisis is a modest preview of the final judgement, but it is also providing us an example of the values He wants us to assume. It is a huge interruption in our lifestyle that beckons us to pay attention. Our response must be an awakening to reality, a return to God and His church, and a re-commitment to His precepts. If we will view COVID-19 for what it seems to be, a message from God to the world, we will react accordingly and reclaim the abundant life He promises. That will be ultimately beneficial.

Do you think there is more to this pandemic than just a coincidental renegade virus?

 

0

Purpose in the Pandemic

coronavirus

At some point in everyone’s life, something will be the most phenomenal happening that he or she will ever experience. For most of us, perhaps all of us, this is it. The world’s response to the Coronavirus pandemic may be our generation’s great depression. Amid all the noise and confusion, is there sense to be made of it all? Is there purpose in it?

I believe there is purpose to everything. We are often surprised–shocked–by catastrophes. But nothing happens randomly. The same God who created the universe still orchestrates everything. The Bible says, “He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.” (Colossians 1:17) He is perfect in all His ways and desires the best for us. With that perfection, He grants us an abundant life of love, happiness, and joy in addition to our basic needs. But sometimes that perfection also brings on corrective consequences when we fall woefully outside of His requirements for our best.

The world in general and America in particular have turned away from God over the last several decades. We have digressed in biblical standards of morality, in attention to the Bible, in worship, in prayer, in church involvement, and in overall obedience to the Lord.  This is cyclical throughout history as nations and societies rise and fall. In these cycles, God gives progressive warnings when His people are distancing themselves from Him. These warnings come with ample opportunities to confess our wrongs and turn back to Him. The warnings are often in disastrous natural and man-made events. I believe 911 was such a warning to America. This pandemic is a warning to the world showing His sovereignty over our lives. For America, it includes a demonstration of how little power our “idols” have: economic wealth (stock market crash), entertainment (sports and theater shutdowns), leisure (travel and dining restrictions), and freedom (separations and quarantines).

With each providential correction, God has pleaded with His people through His Word, His prophets, His preachers, and His Spirit’s influence on individuals and populations. The Bible says, “…if I send pestilence (contagious disease) among my people, and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:13-14)

This crisis is reportedly already bringing a spiritual awakening in the world. Italy is experiencing revival. Iran’s Christians are breaking through the Islam barrier. Look for this to take root in many other nations. What about America?

We have to deal with the reality of this pandemic. We must listen to the CDC and DHS experts and discipline our lives as instructed to protect our health. But far more important than social distancing, washing hands, and buying toilet paper is concentration on the purpose of what we are experiencing and adjusting our lives accordingly. Get into the Word more, pray more, connect with church more, and love others more. Spiritual renewal happens one person at a time. Pray that America’s spiritual response to this pandemic will be one that pleases God.

 

0

Who Is Joe Biden?

joebiden

It looks like Joe Biden will be the Democratic nominee for president. We should know a lot about him, since he has held political office longer than two-thirds of America’s people have lived. We may think we know Joe, but let’s take a close look at who this man was and is.

Vice President Biden was born on November 20, 1942. He grew up in Scranton, Pennsylvania, the son of Joseph Biden, Sr., a used car salesman, and Catherine Eugenia “Jean” Biden. In 1955, his family moved to Mayfield, Delaware, a blue-collar community where almost everyone worked for DuPont chemical company. As a teenager, he work to help pay his tuition to the prestigious Archmere Academy.  He became a standout football player described by his coach as one of the best pass receivers of his 16 year coaching career.

He studied history and political science while playing football for the University of Delaware Blue Hens. He admits he was more interested in girls and partying than academics and barely qualified for law school. The inauguration of President Kennedy inspired him enter Syracuse University Law School in 1965. The next year, he married Niellia Hunter with whom he says he fell in love at first sight. A mediocre law student, he flunked one of his first classes for not citing a reference on an assignment. He managed to graduate and pass the bar exam, then moved to Wilmington, Delaware to practice law.

He immediately became an active member of the Democratic Party and was elected in 1970 to the New Castle County Council. From there, his political life would continue unbroken to this day. In 1972, at just 29 years of age, he ran a long-shot race for the U.S. Senate to unseat a popular Republican incumbent, J. Caleb Boggs. His narrow victory made him the fifth youngest senator in the nation’s history. That year, just a week before Christmas, his wife and daughter, Naomi, were killed in a terrible car accident while Christmas shopping. His two sons, Beau and Hunter, were severely injured. Devastated to the point of considering suicide, Joe desired to withdraw from the Senate seat, but his family and friends convinced him to honor his commitment to the voters. Considering his family situation, he decided to commute to Washington from Wilmington by train. This commute continued for his 36 straight years in the senate.

Biden married his second wife, Jill Jacobs, in 1977, and they had a daughter, Ashley, born in 1981. Jill Biden has a PhD in education. In 2015, Joe Biden suffered another personal loss when his son, Beau, died at age 46 after battling brain cancer.

In 1987, Joe decided to run for president, but dropped out of the primary after reports that he plagiarized part of a speech. He had been suffering headaches during the campaign, and doctors diagnosed two life-threatening brain aneurysms requiring surgery. After seven months of recovery, he resumed his senate obligations.

Twenty years later, the senator once again ran for the presidency. However, his 35 years in the senate failed to create enough support to overcome the field dominated by Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. He dropped out after receiving less than 1% of the Iowa caucuses votes. A few months later, the victorious Obama selected Biden for his running mate. His job was to help the low-experienced Obama convince the blue collar workers he could recover the sluggish economy. The duo prevailed in victory.

Vice President Biden’s main wheel house was behind-the-scenes advisor to the president in foreign affairs and financial policy. He is credited in hammering out negotiations with Russia and tax increases with the Congress. He was also a leading figure in the national gun control debate.

His climb to the top of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary race has been fraught with many issues. His alleged Ukraine scandal to enrich his son, Hunter, plus Hunter’s other misdeeds are constant drags on his campaign. His age at inauguration, if elected, would be 78, eight years older than the next oldest newly elected president in our history…Donald Trump. Biden would be 82 at the end of his first term, older than 98% of all Americans. A lot of speculation is stirring about his health, particularly his mental acuity at that age. Many go so far as questioning his mental state, even suggesting he has the onset of dementia or alzheimer’s. These assessments are mostly based on his exponential increase in verbal gaffes.

Although Joe has been gaffe-prone most of his life, he seems to be stockpiling the incidents of late. Here are just a few examples from his present campaign rhetoric:

  • Calling his opponent, Julian Castro, “Cisneros”
  • “You can’t, in fact, preach to the choir if you can’t sing.”
  • “I’m going to make sure that we rejoin the Paris Peace Accord on day one.” (The Paris Peace Accord was the treaty to end the Vietnam War)
  • Saying he went to college at Delaware State (a historically black college) instead of University of Delaware
  • Claimed that over 40 students were shot at Kent State in 1970 (actually only four)
  • Confusing Iraq and Syria
  • “We have to start rewarding work, not just wealth. I would eliminate the capital gains tax.”
  • “Why in God’s name should someone who’s clipping coupons in the stock market pay a lower tax rate than someone who is a school teacher and a firefighter.”
  • Claimed his policy would put more than 720 million American women to work
  • “My health plan is not quality and will increase premiums.”
  • “Who is Boris Johnson?”
  • Told a moving story about pinning a Silver Star on an elderly Navy captain in Afghanistan. When the statement was challenged as being totally false, he said the central point of the story was correct.
  • “We choose truth over facts.”
  • “Poor kids are just as bright as white kids.”
  • Referring to the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, he said he remembered when the Parkland kids came to see him in Washington when he was vice president. (The Parkland shootings were in 2018, over a year after Trump took office.)
  • “What’s not to like about Vermont?” (He was in New Hampshire.)
  • “It’s a three-letter word: jobs.”
  • Recently declared, “I’m running for U.S. Senate!”

Many political pundits say the Democrats are going to Biden because he is the moderate choice. I suppose he is moderate compared to Bernie, but, make no mistake, he has spent his career pursuing liberal policies. He is far left of center. Joe Biden has had many personal and political challenges in his life and has shown amazing resilience. The question is, do we want a life-long, very old liberal politician who has never known anything but beltway politics since law school. He is ensconced in the swamp and may have serious mental issues. America has a crucial decision to make.

 

 

 

1

Powered by WordPress.com.

Up ↑