We each do what we can.

One thing I have done is take out cartoons from my huge stock (from 50 years of drawing for Christian publications!) and tweaking some of them, then posting on Facebook.  I’ll photograph one, then make a few minor changes on it and photograph that, then post both cartoons with the caption: “There are 4 differences in these drawings. Can you find them?”  People are playing along with this and telling me it’s great fun.  A nice little diversion.

These days, we can use all of that we can get.

I asked Facebook friends to help me come up with the TOP TEN LESSONS FROM THIS PANDEMIC.

I did the first two, and they suggested the rest…

1. Our interconnectedness.  Someone in central China gets a disease and a month later, the world has it.
2. Our vulnerabilities.  While the world was planning a trip to Mars, a strain of the flu shut the world down.
3. We are not prepared for these rare “Black Swan” events, and had better do a better job of staying prepared.
4. Such a crisis brings out the best in the best people and the worst in everyone else.
5. God is rebuking our materialism. Even the church had become so things-centered.
6. The greatest blessings in this life are often the simplest:  family gatherings, going to work, the freedom to assemble for worship, etc.  That’s what we miss most.
7. Humans need the touch of others, and die from the lack of it.
8. The ever-creative Holy Spirit is constantly at work teaching new lessons and innovative strategies to those who pay attention.
9. Millions of church-going people are now rethinking their previous prejudice/resistance to technology as we see how great a difference it can make when used wisely.
10. It is not good that man should be alone.  Genesis 2:18

My friend Mike Miller, pastor of Jacksonville Texas’ Central Baptist Church, says the first Sunday we’re allowed to meet for worship, everyone should be prepared for his sermon to last twice as long. “I’ll be so happy,” he said, “half the time will be spent in crying.”

We know the feeling, don’t we?

This morning I posted this little paragraph on Facebook:  “You have enough supplies for a few more days but decide to run out quickly and stock up. Don’t.  STAY HOME.  You’re feeling stir crazy and just want to get out for a few minutes to see some people. Don’t.  STAY HOME.  You want to send some money to your adult children, but instead of mailing it you decide to get in the car and drive over and hand it to them personally.  Don’t.  STAY HOME.  We know there are people who cannot stay home and we give them our sincere thanks:  Law enforcement.  Firefighters. Medical and health care people.  Grocery and over-the-road truckers.  Thank you.  The rest of us, STAY HOME.

Laugh of the day:

Someone said a church they visited recently does not have to concern itself with social distancing. “That bunch is so dead they’ve not shaken a hand or hugged one another in years.”  Okay, it’s not funny.  But disturbingly accurate.

My birthday is tomorrow.  If I thought the 40th was big–and I did!–how about twice that!  My eightieth birthday arrives in 18 hours, March 28.  My line about that is this: In the old days only old people were allowed to be 80. But they’ve changed the rules and now allow selected young people to attain this hallowed number.  (Wondering whether I should thank Mitch McConnell and Nancy Pelosi? They’re still squabbling over the money to give to unemployed Americans, so guess I’ll not bother them.)

On the subject of aging, I love the line from Greer Garson, the wonderful British actress of another generation.  When she died (in Dallas), a throw pillow in her home had this:  Age is just a number, Darling, and mine is unlisted.  Mine isn’t. What’s the point?