From Panic, To Peace

Yesterday, I made a jaunt to our local markets to pick up a few items we were running painfully shy of – flour and paper products being top on the list. As I made my way through the head-count controlled entrance, immediately I began to notice bare shelves. Down this aisle, product was spread out to fill in the blanks, but you could tell. The product was being stripped in a panicked sort of way. That other aisle made no bones, it was totally empty on one side.

Suddenly, I realized, I better get what I can for what I think we will need. $240.00 later, I check out and head for our only other local market. I did not spend as much there, but it’s smaller size better hid the fact of missing items.

People were panicking, stocking up for the rainy day we were living, and coming back again and again. They did not want to miss out on anything!

Now, our larder is still full from the several trips I had already made, but your start to consider what will happen when suddenly your own shelves are bare. Along side the market places.

Our World Is Changing

We see the mass exodus from the buildings that once contained thousands of employees. The internet and the software required to rule the world has improved over the past 17 years of me living outside of the IT world of employment. Many employees can now work from home.

Parks, malls and non-essential services are closed. People are warned to shelter in home so they can stay safe. People are struggling with isolation, and a burgeoning “new normal”.

Yesterday, I had three deliveries. FedEx, DHL and a special package through the USPS. If UPS had showed up, and I would not have been surprised, then we would have covered our bases.

We are doing more from our home base than we’ve ever done! Still, it’s unsettling to realize what is missing from our market place. How long will it take the panic to die down, and the stores re-stock to their former glamour?

Back in the ‘70s, Larry Norman penned a song, “I Wish We’d All Been Ready.” Remember it? In the opening verse is a phrase that comes to mind.

A piece of bread could buy a bag of gold
I wish we’d all been ready

Or, reverse the wording. A bag of gold could buy a piece of bread… His song was dealing with life after the Rapture. Looking at the panic around us, I almost get a sense what that future may be like.

This Ain’t The First!

This is not the first time we’ve lived through these times. It’s only our present time. For some, we remember the Swine Flu, 88 Reasons, Y2K, the 6 Day War, and other such times of fear. I remember the long lines of the oil embargo days back in the ‘70s. We could only buy 5 gallons at a time, and only on certain days, and prices jumped into the triple digits for the first time ever!

The Bible shows nations struggling during war times, besieged in their cities, and no food available. Even after destruction when there was nothing in their own larders, the hunger and desolation that exists.

This ain’t the first. It will not be the last.

Somewhere in the middle of this crisis, I hope we learn a lesson. “Be prepared.” Boy Scout Motto, this is. Still, we all realize how impossible it is to prepared for every dire warning, disaster, or virus. We can store our goods against the future needs, but there will come a time when nothing will be sufficient for the need we never saw coming.

Here’s My Thought This Morning

Jesus spoke often of a future time when the world would be turned upside down. (Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21) But this is not the end. These things must happen, he said. Well, they’ve been happening for centuries! Why do we think we are the ones to be the last before it all wraps up?

There was a man who used to come to my brown bag bible study I taught back in the early ‘90s. Every Thursday, in the large conference room down the hall from all the programmers. He would bemoan the terrible state of the nation, politics and the world. Every week. Same thing. Eventually, I would say something along the lines that … it’s supposed to get worse before it gets better. He would cock his head, “Uhmmm” or “Humfff..” and say, “You got a point there!”

We can look at these current times with a fearful, or even jaundiced eye. We’ve been here before, or we’ve never been here before. It’s getting worse each time, or “I’ve seen worse.”

This leftist to rightest view are normally for comparisons. In between these two is where I want to be. We sing these songs over and again… you know, the Pete and Repeat style of song. Only we talk about bottles on the wall, or rabbits with no tails.

Rabbit ain’t got no tail at’all. Just a powered puff. Same song. Next verse. Could get better or it could get worse.

Balance and Perspective

This morning, I want to keep life balanced. I’m not broke, and I have my foundation working strongly in my personal life. Let’s keep our perspective.

What we are experiencing is not as bad as it seems, nor is it as worse as it could be!

There are enough nay sayers to keep all of us from paying attention to anything sane. Talking heads, conspiracy theories, assigning blame… Listen, it’s been like this for millennium! This is our natural state of crying out, “The sky is falling!”

Still, the day will come when that last shoe will drop. It will be wise to be prepared. But until that day, I take hope in the words Jesus left His followers.

“These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you.
But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost,
whom the Father will send in my name,
he shall teach you all things,
and bring all things to your remembrance,
whatsoever I have said unto you.
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you:
not as the world giveth, give I unto you.
Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”  
John 14:25-27 (KJV)

Keep your perspective with the Peace that Passeth all understanding! (Philippians 4:7) Then, change your focus and thinking to the following words of Paul.

Finally

I love the way Paul writes to state his intention. Finally. It’s not the final word on finality. It’s rooted in the idea of “next!”

“Finally [next], brethren, whatsoever things are true, … are honest, … just, … pure, … lovely, … of good report;
if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise,
think on these things.
Those things, which ye have both learned, and received,
and heard, and seen in me,
do:
and the God of peace shall be with you.”  
Philippians 4:8-9 (KJV)

Blessings to you all as you muddle your way through this current time of struggle. Times will improve. We will bounce back. The virus does get defeated. Where’s the rabbit in all of this? In the middle where my Peace and Redeemer lives! Strength to face the unknown, knowing he will never leave me, nor forsake me! (Hebrews 13:5)

I write often about Thinking and Doing… Click here to read (#Thimk)