I shared in this blog some time back about the high school friend I had who grew up and is now attending a mega-church. When his mother died several years back, he couldn’t get anyone from the mega-church to come and do her funeral. It was going to be a small affair, just a graveside, which was all she wanted. Those that he contacted at the mega-church were involved in this or that, everyone was busy, no one could come. I tend to think it was because there would be no one there to see them perform, no cameras and the fact it was a bitter and raw November day in northeast Ohio. So, who do you call in that circumstance? Well, there is this guy you went to high school with who pastors a little nothing church in a little nothing town in a little nothing corner of Ohio. He will do it. And that is how I came to do that funeral on a cold November day.

         Now, this same high school friend is also a Facebook friend. (Actually, it just feels like an obligation.) He is always posting short videos of their amazing worship services. They are really big on light shows. (On our church video last week, we were going to have a light show, but Ed forgot the batteries for the flashlight.) Sometimes my high school friend will send out a post proudly proclaiming who the speaker is going to be that night, with the same sentence; “WE ARE GOING TO BE BLESSED TONIGHT!” Whenever he posts on Facebook, he is super excited. Claims to live life on the Spiritual mountaintop.

         Until COVID-19 hit.

Even before we had gone into the social distancing thing, he came out with one bad report after another. Now he steadily posts videos hacked from CNN that show full body bags. Three or four times a day he will post a body count from here in America or some other country. I don’t know how many times I have seen the posting on how to wash your hands, how to measure the 6 feet of distance and the command to not even go outside of your home. I am betting he hasn’t kissed his wife in over a month. However, to each their own.

But then he crossed the line. One of his Facebook friends replied to a video of refrigerated semis lined up being used as temporary morgues in New York City. “Hey, guy, where is all this faith you were always talking about?” To which my high school friend replied, “Dude, this is serious stuff here!” OK, two things I see in that reply that really bug me. First, a 65 year old man should never use the word ‘Dude.’ Really. But the thing that really floors me is his use of the word ‘serious.’ In other words, I am really into the whole God and Jesus and Holy Spirit stuff, but when the going gets really tough, when it gets SERIOUS, I become a quivering mass of Jello. This goes beyond the Spiritual. This is SERIOUS! Dude!

Maybe my mind works different than most. I don’t know. But one thought tends to lay the foundation for the next thought. The first thought that hit me was, “What are you doing? You just showed the world (at least his Facebook friends) that your Spirituality is only on display when there is pounding music, light shows and WOW preaching! DUDE!” Which gave birth to the next thought. How many people do I know who are in essentially the same mind frame? They read their devotionals. They listen to their music. They go to church and come away feeling nice but wondering why so and so wore those shoes with those pants. Then, when a crisis comes along, all that goes away and fear becomes the predominant feeling.

Please understand me here. I am taking this seriously. My son and his wife live and work in one of the Ohio hot spot areas. Kimberly is able to work from home, which is good. My son, however, travels into work and works with forty or fifty others. If he or she got sick, what would I do? If one was in the hospital, I couldn’t go see them. I couldn’t go and stay in their house. There are all kinds of people with whom I could stay under normal conditions, but these are not normal conditions. And then there is Marsha. I worry about her, in spite of what has happened. She has a severely depleted immune system and she catches everything and she lives in a hot spot. I have friends in health care who are in harm’s way, yet who get up every day and go back into harm’s way. It is their job and they are compelled to do their job by their overwhelming sense of duty. This is certainly a serious time. The economy is falling apart, the health care system in big cities is under an incredible load and we have politicians who are trying hard to make all this political gain.

 But while this is a very serious thing, the question that was asked is valid. “Hey, guy, where is all this faith you were always talking about?” All of a sudden that devotional you have read every day just doesn’t cut it. That amazing and uplifting song that you heard on the radio seems to fall flat. Now you can’t even go to church. There is nothing left but fear. And lots of it.

 While I am well aware of how serious this all is, though, I refuse to fear. That doesn’t mean I am stupid or that I am going to do stupid things. What it means is that there is absolutely nothing I can do about it, so I am content to leave it in God’s hands. “OH, BUT THERE IS A LOT YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT!!!” No, not really. I have to go out to do my laundry. I have been to the doctor’s office during this lock down. I have been to the pharmacy. I have been to the grocery store. I have talked to my neighbors. I put gas in my car. I have been in the office every day calling and e-mailing and texting and trying to figure out the technicals associated with putting out the sermon videos. “OH, THAT IS IRRESPONSIBLE!!! YOU COULD DO THAT AT HOME!!!” I could, but I am a pastor and I have to be available to the people. Everyday at least one person has come in and sat down to talk. Usually there has been more than one. We need to be concerned, but we do not need to fear!

 Please, folks, put the devotional book away and pick up your Bible. Instead of doing Facebook, go to https://factsandtrends.net/2018/06/25/the-unknown-backstories-to-3-well-loved-hymns/  and find your favorite hymn and see how that author overcame his or her crisis situation by turning to the Lord. And for heaven sake, turn off the TV and radio and quit going on line to see how many body bags FEMA needs. God will let you beat yourself up. Fear is the hammer that does the beating.

         Psalm 62:5-7 For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God.