Welcome to the fifth Pastoral Ponderings of Pastor Lance Irey. In my second edition I said “I am so excited to be sharing the Hope, Love and Forgiveness of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” While that is still very much true, I am also currently somewhat frustrated. Up, down – Open, Closed – Wear a mask – masks are bad for…AAAAAAaaaaaaaaa. And the news is multiplying people’s fears.
There is a rash of mis-information, contradictory reports, and for most people I talk with, there seems to be a lack of physical evidence in their (my) circle of family and friends. Don’t get me wrong I am convinced there is a serious virus running rampant throughout the world and we need to be taking every precaution, but is there a cost? I know and have heard of far more people affected financially and emotional than by the Corona virus itself, and these costs will be paid over many years to come. I know it is unfair to compare but there are realities which have not even begun to come to light yet.
We can’t know the cost to each person and family affected, but here are some basic numbers1:
331,076,384 people live in the USA with 50% (165,538,192) in the work force.
At one point 14.7% of the workforce where unemployed, roughly 22 million people. (I’ve heard much higher numbers are more realistic).
There are currently 3,545,077 suspected cases of Corona nationwide, with 139,143 reported deaths. This translates to approximately a 1% infection rate, of which .04% of the population has died.
Now don’t get me wrong. Every life is important, and we will never how many lives are being affected as we expand the efforts to save other lives from the virus.
There is no easy way to talk about this, and there are no easy answers, so where do you draw the line? Some is a matter of personal perspective and connection. So did we go too far? Not far enough? I don’t think we will ever know the real costs either way.
One thing I do know is people’s hope for the future was at an all-time low before any of the whole BLM scenario and Corona pandemic hit. Each issue is a critical one on its own, but quarantine us for a few months and strike a match on a social powder keg, and well, you all know perfectly well where we are at. So again, whether things are Up, Down – Open or Closed – Inside or Outside - I do know God’s got this! He’s got the whole world in his hands, sounds like an old song.
So let’s all stand together, but 6’ apart, wear a mask when interacting with others, and wash your hands often. More importantly, pray that the God of creation will fix this.
Check us out at either our physical site, 5080 Kingsley, Montclair, Ca, (we are currently worshiping outdoors in the parking lot since Governor Newsome closed things down again.) We have also temporarily shifted our worship time to Sundays @ 9am when it is a bit cooler; or visit us at www.tlcmontclair.org any time and stay connected.
Connecting People to Jesus
- they break it down by country and also state.
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