I read a blog post written by Dr. Ken Corr, one of the pastors at Brentwood Baptist Church, about the current Coronavirus pandemic that dealt with the anxiety and panic that many of us are probably facing right now.

There is so much anxiety concerning the present state of affairs. Yet in the midst of it all, Jesus is still the Prince of Peace. He still offers peace to those who ask.

I need peace for anxiety. So do many of us. Most of our worry existed before any pandemics and most of us will still have anxious concerns once the crisis is over.

What Dr. Corr wrote is helpful not just for COVID-19 but for any anxiety that keeps us up at night imagining those possible worst case scenarios.

“The current Coronavirus pandemic reminds us how quickly life can change.  Two weeks ago, we were giving little thought to the Coronavirus and now that is about all that we think about.  The news is constantly changing: sporting events are being cancelled; travel is being curtailed; groups are no longer meeting; colleges are extending breaks and offering to complete courses online; businesses are limiting hours; churches are suspending services.   How long will this last?   What will be the economic damage be?  Am I and my family at risk?  Will I lose my job?   The possibilities are frightening and the result is anxiety in the midst of uncertainty.   If we allow our minds to prospect the future possibilities, we begin to catastrophize and imagine the worst case scenarios.  My guess is that some of you have already found yourself doing that.

There is an antidote to the anxiety in the midst of the uncertain future:  stay in the present.  In his lesson on prayer, Jesus taught us to pray like this, ‘Give us this day our daily bread.’  It is a reminder to stay focused on today and not let our minds wander into the anxiety of the future.  For example, if I see that the market is down, I begin to wonder if I will have enough money in my account to retire.  When I see that churches are closing, I begin to fear that the giving will not be enough to make payroll and I will not have a job.  When I see that the death rate is primarily in the over 65 age group, I realize that I am in that group and begin to wonder if I can survive the virus.  You get the idea.  But then I come back to Jesus’ prayer:  ‘Do you have what you need for today?’  ‘Yes, but . . .’ and again my mind wanders into the future and the anxiety returns.  I then have to come back to the prayer:  “Do you have what you need for  today?”  ‘Yes, but . . .’  No, No!  ‘Do you have what you need for today?’  ‘Yes.’  It is not easy to do. It requires mental and spiritual discipline.  But when I let myself be reminded of what God has provided today, my anxiety becomes gratitude.

Jesus also said, ‘Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.’   There is an old expression that my Daddy used to say that has the same meaning, ‘Don’t run from what’s not chasing you.’  The future is not chasing me, so I need to live in this moment and when I do, I feel a lot calmer.

So, when you lie down to sleep tonight, refocus your worries about tomorrow into gratitude for what you have today, and you will sleep much better.”

Anxiety in the Midst of Uncertainty

“O my soul, come, praise the Eternal
    with all that is in me—body, emotions, mind, and will—every part of who I am—
    praise His holy name.
O my soul, come, praise the Eternal;
    sing a song from a grateful heart;
    sing and never forget all the good He has done.
Despite all your many offenses, He forgives and releases you.
    More than any doctor, He heals your diseases.
He reaches deep into the pit to deliver you from death.
    He crowns you with unfailing love and compassion like a king.
When your soul is famished and withering,
    He fills you with good and beautiful things, satisfying you as long as you live.
    He makes you strong like an eagle, restoring your youth.

When people are crushed, wronged, enslaved, raped, murdered,
    the Eternal is just;
    He makes the wrongs right.
He showed Moses His ways;
    He allowed His people Israel to see His wonders and acts of power.
The Eternal is compassionate and merciful.
    When we cross all the lines, He is patient with us.
    When we struggle against Him, He lovingly stays with us—changing, convicting, prodding;
He will not constantly criticize,
    nor will He hold a grudge forever.
Thankfully, God does not punish us for our sins and depravity as we deserve.
    In His mercy, He tempers justice with peace.
Measure how high heaven is above the earth;
    God’s wide, loving, kind heart is greater for those who revere Him.
You see, God takes all our crimes—our seemingly inexhaustible sins—and removes them.
    As far as east is from the west, He removes them from us.
An earthly father expresses love for his children;
    it is no different with our heavenly Father;
The Eternal shows His love for those who revere Him.
For He knows what we are made of;
    He knows our frame is frail, and He remembers we came from dust.

The children of Adam are like grass;
    their days are few;
    they flourish for a time like flowers in a meadow.
As the wind blows over the field and the bloom is gone,
    it doesn’t take much to blow us out of the memory of that place.
But the unfailing love of the Eternal is always and eternal
    for those who reverently run after Him.
    He extends His justice on and on to future generations,
To those who will keep His bond of love
    and remember to walk in the guidance of His commands.

The Eternal has established His throne up in the heavens.
    He rules over every seen and unseen realm and creature.
Adore Him! Give Him praise, you heavenly messengers,
    you powerful creatures who listen to
    and act on His every word.
Give praise to the Eternal, all armies of heaven—
    you servants who stand ready to do His will.
Give praise to the Eternal, all that He has made
    in all corners of His creation.
O my soul, come, praise the Eternal!” (Psalm 103, The Voice).

I have decided that it’s about time to retire the old iPad 3 that has served me well for several years.

It’s time to upgrade.

I’m in the market for an iPad Pro with a 12.9″ screen (which would be a significant improvement over my current screen.

Plus, I’d be able to watch Disney Plus on something a bit larger than my iPhone screen. That’d be nice.

Above all, I’m not taking this quest (or myself) too seriously. There are far more serious matters in the world these days.

But every now and then, I like to tackle something a bit lighter than the usual news fare.

Let the quest officially begin.

It has been a weird week up to this point. It seems that the Middle Tennessee area is dealing with both the aftermath of the deadly tornados and the ongoing threat of the coronavirus.

Last week I missed three days at work due to not having power in the area where my office is located. This week, we discussed the very real possibility of being told to go home for a couple of weeks due to Covid-19.

It’s been a bit stressful trying to catch up from all that I couldn’t get to last week. It’s been surreal hearing about all the cancellations and postponements in the world of sports.

In all the chaos and confusion, it’s easy to forget that God is still in control. No weather or any kind of virus takes Him by surprise. He still works all things together for good.

It’s also good to remember that storms and viruses eventually pass. God’s mercy and faithfulness are forever.

Some of you know what this is. Some of you have owned cars with these little doohickeys on the doors.

You know the struggle that ensued when it started raining and you had your windows down. Heaven forbid you have to reach across the seat to roll down the passenger side window while you were sitting at a red light or stopped in traffic.

I don’t miss those very much at all.

On the plus side, it was a way to get an arm workout and burn calories.

Tonight at Kairos, Chris Brooks said something simple but profound enough to stick with me. Believers in Christ are to embrace being both needy and needed.

To be a believer in Christ is to admit a great need. We confess that we are needy. We believe that God doesn’t help those who help themselves but those who can’t help themselves and who freely admit it.

To follow Jesus is to lay down any claims of self-sufficiency or any notion that I have it all together. It’s a daily declaration of dependence on God for every moment of every day.

But to be a believer is also to realize that we are needed. You don’t have to wait until you figure your life out or have it all together to serve others. You don’t have to have all the answers. As Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, you don’t even have to have your subject and verbs matching to serve.

You can serve out of the overflow of grace that only comes when you bring your neediness to God regularly. Serving out of your own strength may work for a while but will inevitably end badly.

You might be strong in an area where another is weak, or you might be weak in an area that another is strong. That’s why we depend on each other. That’s why community and fellowship among believers is vital.

That’s the key to the Christian life– to confess to being needy and needed.

I am aware that not all of the fine citizens of these United States of America still practice Daylight Savings. For those blessed to live in the great state of Tennessee, we still do.

The result is that I lost an hour of sleep between Saturday and Sunday, and I am still feeling the effects.

I want my hour back.

I’d actually be completely fine if the PTB (Powers That Be) decided to end Daylight Savings. I don’t see that it really serves a purpose. Perhaps back in the days before electricity it was beneficial for farmers to give them more daylight to work on their fields, but in this very electric and electronic day and age, I don’t see the purpose– other than to annoy me by forcing me to change all the clocks.

Maybe they’ll decide to make up for all those lost hours of sleep and have us fall back about 24 or so hours. That’d make for one fantastic nap.

“We have nothing under our own control but our wills. Our feelings are controlled by many things . . . but our will is our own. All that lies in our power is the direction of our will. The important question is not what we feel or what we experience, but whether we will whatever God wills. That was the crowning glory of Christ: that His will was set to do the will of His Father” (Hannah Whitall Smith).

Yes, the quest to rewatch all the classic episodes of Doctor Who marches forward.

I’m now up to the sixth doctor with his lovely as ever companion Perpugilliam Brown, better known to most as Peri.

Yes, the special effects are special in their own way. Most definitely, the monsters are still people in rubber suits.

Absolutely, there is still something magical about these episodes, especially the ones where the Doctor reconnects with his earlier selves and former companions.

I’m definitely sensing that I’m much nearer to the end than to the beginning. There will be just a bit of sadness when I finally reach the very last episode.

What then? On to the NuWho episodes, I suppose.

I had an odd and uncomfortable experience today. I went to one of my favorite restaurants where normally they’re quite hospitable and even know me by name.

But this time no one spoke to me or even acknowledged my presence. It felt like an eternity of waiting, but it was probably closer to 15-20 minutes of me standing awkwardly and hoping for someone to see me.

Eventually, I gave up and left to find another place to eat.

It reminded me of an old movie where the main character has moments where she becomes invisible to those around her. No one can see or hear her.

That’s what it felt like for me. I was invisible.

Some people go through their whole lives feeling invisible. They feel like no one sees or hears them. To their minds, they might as well not exist.

In this day and age, if you’re not “pretty” or “handsome,” you might as well not exist. If you’re not wealthy or titled, you feel voiceless sometimes.

So many go through the day feeling isolated and disconnected from everything and everyone.

But God sees you. He hears you. He knows who you are and where you are. There is never a moment when you’re not in His thoughts or under His care.

It’s fitting that the first people to announce the good news of the birth of the Messiah were the outcast shepherds who were invisible to the normal society of the time.

They were the first ones to hear the angels’ proclamation that unto you is born in the city of David a child who is Christ the Lord. They were the first ones to see the blessed infant. They were the first ones to rush off to tell anyone and everyone they could find about the new baby Jesus who would grow up to be the Savior of the world.

The same Messiah who still seeks out the outcast and marginalized. The same who still uses the nobodies of the world, the forsaken and forgotten. Including me and you.