Today the sun is shining brightly, the temperature is rising, it’s going to be a hot one. These last few weeks we’ve enjoyed some spectacular sunsets, some magnificent thunder and lightning shows and a lot of rain. Today the ground is slowly drying after the deluge of rainfall that has been there, every night, for more than a week.
Looking out of my office door, in the middle of this ‘long’ rainy season, nothing much seems to have changed here in Kosele, in Kenya. But, obviously, that isn’t true. Everything has changed here, just as it has all over the world. All because of a virus that you can only see under a microscope; a virus that looks like something just created for a cool sci-fi movie. Or is that picture we’re all seeing in the media just an artist’s impression, ‘pimped up’ to make us all more fearful?
In the evening Judi and I like to sit on the veranda of our ECD classroom and watch the sun go down. We live right on the equator so we get really big skies and amazing sunsets. Every night it’s like some master artist has painted a new sky. Sometimes shafts of light break through the clouds and shine a beam of energy down to the ground. You can understand why people, all over the earth, have worshipped the sun, the moon and the stars. Our evening light show never disappoints, it’s always awesome – especially when there is a storm in the distance, right on the horizon, and the lightning cracks across the sky in horizontal flashes and the sound of thunder rolls around the air. Sometimes we sit under the centre of the storm. That’s both awe inspiring and scary. When vertical lightning strikes the ground, with the sound like a bomb going off, you don’t hang about. You seek safety and shelter – and then carry on watching as the storm rages and the rain drives rivers along the ground. Sitting in the centre of a tropical storm is exhilarating, potentially terrifying but never quite reaching that intensity because you know what to expect. The flashes, bangs and downpour have you on the edge but you’re pretty sure it won’t harm you.
The storm that is approaching Kenya now, is terrifying. Right now, the microscopic eye of the storm, Coronavirus, is in its infancy. We have 110 confirmed cases, 3 deaths and 2 recoveries. The health minister has warned people to expect an exponential rise in the numbers and everybody knows that the health system won’t even begin to cope. Closure of schools and markets, reduced travel and 7pm curfews already mean there are far fewer opportunities to earn your daily bread. Everyone in our community is afraid of the hunger that is already coming into their homes. Some of them are in denial about the virus. They think that it’s a story that’s being made up in Nairobi. They are fearful because none of us know what will really happen in Kenya as the Coronavirus storm grows bigger and bigger.
As much as we believe that we are looking at a disaster we are comforted by our faith. As the world seems to head off towards ‘hell in a handcart’ we are sustained by our belief in a God who pulls good out of adversity and who gives us courage in the face of danger. Today our young people and some church members were out in our community taking food assistance to about twenty families that we have, for some time, been supporting through regular food assistance. Our leadership team met yesterday to work out how we will respond to the crisis facing our community. Together we are trying to plan what help and assistance we can give, from whatever it is that we have.
Every morning I meet with our older children for a short devotional time – a Bible study, chat and prayer. We were reminded how Jesus expects us to help our needy neighbours. Verse 44 of Matthew 25 says: “When, Lord, did we ever see you hungry, or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and would not help you? The King will reply, ‘I tell you, whenever you refused to help one of these least important ones, you refused to help me.’”
Matthew 25 challenges us to look out for each other in a way that goes beyond the boundaries of our immediate circle. Hiding behind the headlines of global economic disaster and medical crisis and in spite of the lock downs, social distancing and hand sanitizing, I am sure there are countless stories of people ‘going the extra mile’ and caring for each other in the face of adversity. I hope that these stories will be a lasting legacy of the Covid Pandemic. That they will be a blueprint for the new world that gets up from the ashes of the Coronavirus firestorm that has razed so much of what is familiar to the ground.
Despite living in a country where there are less than 150 (ICU) beds equipped for the medical storm ahead, I still feel privileged to be here. Tonight I’ll sit on the veranda of the ECD classroom with Judi and watch the sun go down. I’ll praise God for the wonder of His creation. Maybe there will be a storm to watch. Even if I sit right in the middle of it I will not fear. I’ve never felt the need to be close to God more than I do now. For all the worries I might have, worries about feeding the children in our home and keeping them safe, worries about what is happening to all the children and young people that should be here, learning and eating with us every day, worries about loving our neighbours in a real way, worries about what happens after it’s all over, I choose to keep my trust in God.
Showing my age somewhat, there is a line in an Eagles song (Long Road Out of Eden) that says:
“Somebody whispering the 23rd Psalm, dusty rifle in his hand.”
That might be happening in America right now. I was horrified and dismayed to read that gun and ammunition sales have soared in America since the Pandemic arrived there. We can only pray that it doesn’t come to that. But the 23rd Psalm is an inspired and inspiring scripture.
“Even if I go through the deepest darkness,
I will not be afraid, Lord, for you are with me.
Your shepherd’s rod and staff protect me.”
Some of you reading this might take issue with God, with the whole idea of God. In the past I know I would have. But right now I am struggling to understand what is happening across the world. The only thing that makes sense to me is the belief that when it is all over we won’t go back to being the same; that the Coronavirus Pandemic will change and transform not just our material world but change and transform each of us.
I’ve heard many preachers say “I’m sure that when you leave church today you won’t be the same as when you came in, that you will have got something.” Too often I’ve thought that those words were just a sad old cliché. I guess I still do. I find it incredible that, all over the world, this virus has had the power to shut down the churches, the mosques, the temples and all places of worship … including the football stadiums too. I’m sure I’m not the only person in the world who is wondering what God is up to. At the moment I honestly don’t know. I’m fairly sure that, whatever it is, God is calling us to something radically new. It’s a tragedy that the thing we have “got,” the thing that has brought this change is a weird, alien looking virus. But I pray that, wherever it came from, we won’t forget the lessons it is teaching to those of us still willing to learn.
The storm that is approaching Kenya now, is terrifying. Right now, the microscopic eye of the storm, Coronavirus, is in its infancy. We have 110 confirmed cases, 3 deaths and 2 recoveries. The health minister has warned people to expect an exponential rise in the numbers and everybody knows that the health system won’t even begin to cope. Closure of schools and markets, reduced travel and 7pm curfews already mean there are far fewer opportunities to earn your daily bread. Everyone in our community is afraid of the hunger that is already coming into their homes. Some of them are in denial about the virus. They think that it’s a story that’s being made up in Nairobi. They are fearful because none of us know what will really happen in Kenya as the Coronavirus storm grows bigger and bigger.
As much as we believe that we are looking at a disaster we are comforted by our faith. As the world seems to head off towards ‘hell in a handcart’ we are sustained by our belief in a God who pulls good out of adversity and who gives us courage in the face of danger. Today our young people and some church members were out in our community taking food assistance to about twenty families that we have, for some time, been supporting through regular food assistance. Our leadership team met yesterday to work out how we will respond to the crisis facing our community. Together we are trying to plan what help and assistance we can give, from whatever it is that we have.
Every morning I meet with our older children for a short devotional time – a Bible study, chat and prayer. We were reminded how Jesus expects us to help our needy neighbours. Verse 44 of Matthew 25 says: “When, Lord, did we ever see you hungry, or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and would not help you? The King will reply, ‘I tell you, whenever you refused to help one of these least important ones, you refused to help me.’”
Matthew 25 challenges us to look out for each other in a way that goes beyond the boundaries of our immediate circle. Hiding behind the headlines of global economic disaster and medical crisis and in spite of the lock downs, social distancing and hand sanitizing, I am sure there are countless stories of people ‘going the extra mile’ and caring for each other in the face of adversity. I hope that these stories will be a lasting legacy of the Covid Pandemic. That they will be a blueprint for the new world that gets up from the ashes of the Coronavirus firestorm that has razed so much of what is familiar to the ground.
Despite living in a country where there are less than 150 (ICU) beds equipped for the medical storm ahead, I still feel privileged to be here. Tonight I’ll sit on the veranda of the ECD classroom with Judi and watch the sun go down. I’ll praise God for the wonder of His creation. Maybe there will be a storm to watch. Even if I sit right in the middle of it I will not fear. I’ve never felt the need to be close to God more than I do now. For all the worries I might have, worries about feeding the children in our home and keeping them safe, worries about what is happening to all the children and young people that should be here, learning and eating with us every day, worries about loving our neighbours in a real way, worries about what happens after it’s all over, I choose to keep my trust in God.
Showing my age somewhat, there is a line in an Eagles song (Long Road Out of Eden) that says:
“Somebody whispering the 23rd Psalm, dusty rifle in his hand.”
That might be happening in America right now. I was horrified and dismayed to read that gun and ammunition sales have soared in America since the Pandemic arrived there. We can only pray that it doesn’t come to that. But the 23rd Psalm is an inspired and inspiring scripture.
“Even if I go through the deepest darkness,
I will not be afraid, Lord, for you are with me.
Your shepherd’s rod and staff protect me.”
Some of you reading this might take issue with God, with the whole idea of God. In the past I know I would have. But right now I am struggling to understand what is happening across the world. The only thing that makes sense to me is the belief that when it is all over we won’t go back to being the same; that the Coronavirus Pandemic will change and transform not just our material world but change and transform each of us.
I’ve heard many preachers say “I’m sure that when you leave church today you won’t be the same as when you came in, that you will have got something.” Too often I’ve thought that those words were just a sad old cliché. I guess I still do. I find it incredible that, all over the world, this virus has had the power to shut down the churches, the mosques, the temples and all places of worship … including the football stadiums too. I’m sure I’m not the only person in the world who is wondering what God is up to. At the moment I honestly don’t know. I’m fairly sure that, whatever it is, God is calling us to something radically new. It’s a tragedy that the thing we have “got,” the thing that has brought this change is a weird, alien looking virus. But I pray that, wherever it came from, we won’t forget the lessons it is teaching to those of us still willing to learn.
Link to Eagles song Long Road Out of Eden
VERY appropriate lyrics for now!
