I ramble, and say what I feel.

As you read this, you might become upset with me. You might not agree with me. And that is all right. All I ask is that you don't become combative. Remember, this is my ramblings.

As I sit here to blog this morning, my thought are going several different directions. Which way will the blog go? It is is like the spring weather, we never know where it is going to go until it has been here and is gone. About a month ago, it was in the 70's, pushing the 80's, and then it snowed 8 inches, was gone in 24 hours and warmed back up. After being warm enough to convince folks to plant their gardens, it went cold again, even getting down to freezing a few nights, so that flowers and delicate plants (that means tomatoes) needed to be covered. Just so you know, we didn't cover them. We let them face the weather on their own. If they survived, hurrah! If they didn't, we would have gone back out to Henkeville to see if they had more plants. That too was a big change. When Covid hit and everything shut down, they were sure they were going to lose their shirts because no one was buying plants. Today, they are practically sold out. If you would have said a month ago they would be sold out, they probably would have said you were crazy. But then again, if you would have told me that I would have to put the heat on in mid May, I would have told you that you were crazy as well. But both things have happened. So you just never know how things are going to go. It calls for trust in the Lord.

This coronavirus really has things in a tizzy. Businesses were shut down for two months. Well, some were, and some weren't. That is what was crazy. You could go to a chain store and be all right but couldn't go to a small store. You would get sick at the small store but not the chain store. You couldn't go to church but you could get an abortion. One politician said that abortion clinics were essential to sustain life. Really? It is essential to kill babies to sustain life? How warped our society has become. it was 2 months till we could worship again in person. At the beginning of May, the governor of Iowa said it was OK to start worshiping together again as long as we maintained a safe distance from each other. No hand shaking, no passing the plate, no sitting next to each other. Not all states did things. Some states still have not allowed church to open. I believe this is a constitutional wrong. I am not a constitutional expert but it seems that the government has set aside the right to worship because of this virus, which has a 97-98% survival rate. Because deaths rates are high in some areas (and that number can be debated because people quit dying of natural causes, everything was Covid related deaths), that means that you don't have any rights until someone decides you have rights again. I shake my head and think to myself that I can see how Hitler was able to convince the German people to allow him to have the power he did. People are basically sheep. The Lord says that. We are sheep and will often follow the voice of a stranger rather than the Good Shepherd. And then when we get in trouble, we cry out to the Good Shepherd to help. Then we blame Him for us getting in trouble and getting in harms way. Why didn't He stop us? we ask as we wander off after another sinful blade of grass and listen to the voice of another hired hand, a false shepherd, who doesn't really care about us but only is using us to get his/her way and do the things he/she desires to do.

But I digress.

We have been filled with fear. We are told that if we go out, we are going to die. If we don't die, then we are going to cause someone else to die. Stay inside and no one will die. Go out of your house and someone will die because of you. You are being selfish thinking you have the right to leave your house. Stay home, stay safe. Go out and be unsafe. Fear. FEAR! Be very afraid. This is the the most terrible thing to take place since, well, since Adam and Eve at the fruit in the Garden. And look what happened then? They exerted their freedom and caused death to come upon all people. Isn't that what God says? From the sin of one man...so don't you dare exert your freedom. You will cause people to die. And you don't want to be the cause of someone's death.

Let me give you a bit of insight. People are going to die. People are going to get sick. People are going to get cancer. People are going to get in car accidents. People are going to drink too much and cause problems in this world. People are going to buy and sell drugs. People are going to be unkind to other people. People are going to treat other poorly. People are going to do things just for themselves. Death rates are not going to go down just because you stay in. Look at the death rates (if you can believe them) and that was with staying home. That didn't stop it. But be afraid that you are going to become a murder if you go outside of your house.

All right, maybe the ads don't say that. But because of the ads and the news media, that is the fear that is place in our hearts. We are filled with fear. We live in fear. We might get sick and die.

For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. St. Paul quotes Psalm 44 when he writes this in Romans 8:36. This is the reality. We face death each day. I am not saying we rush into situations which will cause us to die, for example, walking down the middle of the passing lane on the I-29. That would be foolish. But what he is saying is that we are facing death each day. Our sins, the wages of them, is death. Each day we struggle with this. Our bodies will fail. Our lives will be threatened. If not be Covid-19, then by the next thing. We are told every fall to get our flu shot because of thousands upon thousands of people who die form influenza every year. Yet we continue on with our lives. (BTW- more people have died form the flu this year than from Covid-19. I know, a shock, but that is what is going on and we aren't told that.) We go out of our houses and face the chance of getting the flu. We shake hands. We give hugs. We sit next to each other. We eat in the same restaurant. We stand next to each other in line. And we are not afraid. We are not filled with fear. It is just life.

But somehow we have been convinced that this Covid is worse than anything this world has seen since the Spanish Flu. So we are afraid. We live in fear in our houses. People cower when you walk past them at the store. They glare at you if you don't wear a mask. They pull back if you get too close. They turn and walk the other direction if they think you might actually get within the 6 feet of them. If you stay 6 foot 1 inch, that is all right. You are safe. But 5 foot, 11 inches is deadly. Really? Why? Because we are told that is the case. You will die if you get any closer. Fear. Filled with fear, we cower and wonder when will this be gone? Will they get us vaccine soon enough before it creeps into my house and kills me in my sleep. Living in fear, we struggle through out days.

Back to Paul in Romans 8. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:37-39) I am not afraid of this virus. Do I take chances on getting it? No. But then again, neither do I live in fear of it. Why? Because I know that I have a God who is greater than this virus, so much so, that He is with me, and that means He is with me whether I get it or not. He is with me if I do. He is with me if I don't. And I trust that He will see me through whatever I face.

And I know, that one day, I am going to die. I do not buy into the culture of fear. It tells me that if I don't hide, if I don't stay home, if I don't wear a mask, if I don't stay 6 feet away from others, then I will die. My friends, I can follow all that and still die. I can follow all that and still get the virus. After all, the majority of people in NYC that contracted the virus, were staying at home, self-isolating (over 60%). I am a child of God and He is with me in all I face. He has carried me through 7 heart caths, many visits to the ER with chest pains, several surgeries, 2 rounds of pneumonia, a lifetime of asthma, cardiac artery spasms and He will carry me through whatever is coming down the pike.

He says to me, "I will be with you always." And He is. And so, I live in hope and trust. And I wash my hands and I don't do foolish things. I am His and no virus or media will stop that.