Pastor’s Perspective 11-10-2020

The title of the article in a recent addition of Christianity Today’s Pastors Newsletter didn’t exactly excite me about what I might read inside:  “Doomsday.” An epidemiologist and director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota said, “We are now at the crossroads of pandemic fatigue and pandemic anger. Basically the public has said they are done with the virus. Unfortunately, the virus isn’t done with us. I think the next 12 weeks in particular will be the darkest days of the pandemic.” I sure hope not. But I just don’t know.

And that’s a big part of the problem. The uncertainty of it all. When will this virus stop wreaking havoc on our country and our lives? How many more people will be infected? How many more will die? How many will I know? When will someone develop a vaccine? Will it be safe and effective? Will we ever get back to “normal” again? And when exactly might that be?

I see our country at another crossroads. Between election fatigue and election anger. A record number of voters are celebrating their victory. Another record number are dealing with disappointment. Our nation is so divided right now that the way ahead is clouded with uncertainty.

This week I will do my third funeral in three weeks. Saturday’s funeral was for a good friend who was healthy enough to play a round of golf less than a month before he died. I’ve been in ministry long enough to see a lot of folks in the latter days of their lives. I’ve held the hand of some as they entered eternity. Jerry’s decline and death were as rapid as I have seen. Another reminder that our future on this earth is so uncertain.

Uncertainty abounds. It would be easy for us to despair. But God’s Word will not let us. It reminds us that God is forever on His throne. That His faithfulness endures to all generations. That He knows the number of hairs on our head and the number of days we will live before we live the first one. That He loves us so much that He sent His Son to this earth to die for us and that He is coming back to take us home to live with Him forever. In the midst of so much uncertainty, I am choosing to focus on what is certain.

See you Sunday! ~ John