Tag: covid-19

Coffee With Gary

Worn, But Not Worn Out

, , , , , , , , ,

Greetings, Visitors and New Beginnings Family! If you choose, pour yourself a cup of coffee. Then pull up a chair for the latest edition of “Coffee with Gary” entitled “Worn, but not Worn Out.”

As a result of the hundreds of miles Linda and I walk, we have to buy new shoes every 4-6 months. In a six- month span of recorded and day-to-day walking, we can easily walk over 350 miles. Naturally, walking three miles a day on cement sidewalks four or five times a week is very hard on our shoes.

In effect, we wear our shoes until they wear out, determined by when they start hurting our feet. However, we consider the health benefits we receive from regular exercise far outweighs the cost of frequently buying new shoes.

God met every need for the children of Israel as they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. Consider having to meander in a desert where food and water are scarce, and raw materials to manufacture shoes and clothing are almost non-existent. Because God loved them and wanted the Israelites to know that He was their God, He provided them with water and manna from heaven. Furthermore, He caused their clothing and sandals not to wear out during those 40 years (Deuteronomy 29:5-6; Nehemiah 9:19-21).

I liken the Israelites in the wilderness to the dependency that newborn babies have on their parents. Without their parents directly providing for their every need, they will die. Likewise, the Israelites would have died in the wilderness if God had not directly provided for their every need. In essence, the Israelites wore their shoes without them wearing out!

When the Israelites entered the promised land, they began to provide for themselves as God blessed them with the resources to do so. Today, God still blesses us with the resources we need to provide for our families. Therefore, buying food with the money God provides is something over which we have some control. When my shoes wear out, God blesses me with the money I need to buy new shoes. God even allows me to choose the style and color I want! Then again, there are things out of our control, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

To say that I have COVID fatigue is an understatement. The politics, sicknesses, deaths, hassles, monetary inflation, and the daily drumbeat of COVID on the news all wear on me. Why? Perhaps it’s all these things that are out of my control that frustrate me, continually threatening to wear me out. Even the worry of possibly testing positive for COVID 72 hours before boarding an international flight to my daughter’s wedding wears on me.

Just as the Israelites had no control over their daily lives in the wilderness, so I have no control over the consequences of a worldwide pandemic. Just as God wanted Israel to know that He was their God, so too He wants me to see that He is my God! Therefore, I have to believe that God will directly provide for my spiritual, mental, and physical well-being in the wilderness of COVID-19. Things may wear on me, but I must trust that God will keep me from wearing out. Is God, who controls all things, trying to get the world’s attention through the COVID-19 pandemic? I hope so.

That said, thousands of first responders across the country are worn and worn out. They are quitting their professions at an alarming rate. For these people, COVID has been exceptionally hard with no end in sight. Long, demanding, and at times unappreciative hours have taken their toll on them. It is for them that the Church of Jesus Christ must pray: that God will encourage them, strengthen them, heal them, and give them rest. We must pray that by the Grace of God, they will not become worn out. They are blessings that God has provided to keep many of us alive in these difficult times.  

Your fellow pilgrim in looking for a country of our own (Hebrews 11:13-16),

Gary

Coffee With Gary

The Meditations of an Older Believer

, , , , , ,

Greetings, Visitors and New Beginnings Family! If you choose, pour yourself a cup of coffee, then pull up a chair for the latest edition of “Coffee with Gary” entitled “The Meditations of an Older Believer.”

As we approach the one-year mark of COVID-19 shut downs, I find myself thinking back over what I have lost.  I recently heard that not enough people will be fully vaccinated for us to achieve herd immunity in the United States until late summer or early fall of 2021. Consequently, the current restrictions on social distancing and mask-wearing will probably continue for quite some time yet. This worries me because it sounds like I will lose another Wisconsin summer due to COVID-19.

There is no other place I’d rather spend summer than in Wisconsin. Summers in Wisconsin are generally characterized by lower humidity and comfortable temperatures. Summer is also the season that I spend the most time outdoors. Last year, because of COVID, I missed vacations, summer events, and other family gatherings that typically occur in the summer season. Thus, the prospect of losing another Wisconsin summer began to anger me. Having lived over 60 years, how many more summers do I have left? After all, I have more summers behind me than I have ahead of me, and I can’t afford to lose them!

As my meditations progressed, I thought about the youth who were juniors in high school last year. These young people are effectively being robbed of a rite of passage. Now, my high school experience wasn’t all that hot. However, everyone should have the opportunity to experience high school for themselves, the good and the bad. Suddenly, I felt less anger and more sorrow for those who have genuinely lost something of significance. Then I thought of high school in terms of a season in a kid’s life. This season comes and passes when they inevitably become young adults. This traditionally occurs at graduation. While I probably have several summers left in me, high school is a window that, once closed, can never be opened again.

This led me to ponder the days I have left, and I thought about a passage from the Word of God. In Acts 1:6-8, Jesus’s disciples asked Him if it was time for Jesus to restore the kingdom to Israel. Jesus answered them, saying, “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in his own power.” I reasoned that if it wasn’t for the disciples to know the season or time of Israel’s restoration, it’s not for me to know my seasons or times either. Psalm 90:12 instructs us to “number our days.” In other words, I need to make the best of the days I have left and leave the seasons and times up to God.

A few weeks ago, I had a conversation with our church’s district superintendent. As the conversation progressed from church business to a more casual conversation, he mentioned a short-term mission trip to Thailand we attended together with other district pastors.  As a layperson, I have always considered it an honor and privilege to join the other pastors on this trip. In our conversation, the district superintendent mentioned that if the COVID-19 pandemic had come when we intended to go to Thailand, the trip would have been canceled. Acknowledging that God is in control of the time and season of COVID-19, I realized that my meditations had just progressed from anger to sorrow to thankfulness. Thankful that God allowed me to go on a “once in a lifetime trip, once in my lifetime!”

Your fellow pilgrim, looking for a country of our own (Hebrews 11:13-16),

Gary

Coffee With Gary

“But God!” (A Timely Word of Encouragement)

, , , ,

Greetings, Visitors and New Beginnings Family. If you want, pour yourself a cup of coffee and then pull up a chair for the latest edition of Coffee with Gary entitled “…But God!”

One of the more depressing emotions a person may experience during the COVID-19 pandemic is a sense of isolation and loneliness. Cooped up in our house through five months of social distancing has, without a doubt, adversely affected my family.

My wife and I have somewhat diminished our feeling of isolation by keeping in touch with our children and relatives by phone. However, this is no substitute for in-person relationships. We have also found that a daily exercise regimen helps to lift our spirits.

Spiritually speaking, we miss worshiping God with our brothers and sisters in the Lord at New Beginnings Alliance Church. People we used to see every week, we have not seen since the beginning of the pandemic. Another thing we miss is hearing God’s people testify to His grace, mercy, and goodness in their lives.

For years I have heard our pastor say that watching church on television is no substitute for attending church in person. Today, I understand the point my pastor was trying to make. In five months, I have come to understand the consequences of forsaking the assembling of ourselves together and the negative effect of it in my life (Hebrews 10:25). The second part of Hebrews 10:25 instructs us to exhort one another. Exhorting one another is rather hard to do when we don’t see or hear from each other.

…But God will make a way when there is no other way.

But God made it possible for the Tuesday afternoon prayer group to meet on-site in our sanctuary wearing masks and practicing social distancing.

But God led me to write a weblog in hopes of encouraging others during this period of worldwide adversity due to COVID-19.

But God, who holds the future, led me to retire at a time that I would not have chosen. Glory to God, this has allowed me to focus my energies on navigating New Beginnings Alliance Church through uncharted territory.

But God better positioned me to minister to my wife when I retired a year and a half ago. A year ago, I could have never imagined that we’d be under the threat of a worldwide pandemic. I needed to be home with my wife because of COVID-19, and God knew this.

But God, who knows what I need, when I need it, and who will meet the need, had a fellow believer call me last week when I was feeling down. Now we did not intend for our conversation to go beyond what this believer wanted to ask me. However, we soon found ourselves encouraging one another by sharing testimonies and scriptures on a call that lasted about forty-five minutes.

But if God is for us, who can stand against us? Certainly not COVID-19! (Romans 8:31) Finally, let me encourage you to fill in the blank after the “But God” in your lives. Also, as He directs, let “God butt” into your life when He leads you to exhort other believers in unconventional ways.

Your fellow pilgrim in looking for a country of our own (Hebrews 11:13-16),

Gary

Coffee With Gary

What! Are You Telling Me I Don’t Have a Choice?

, , , , , , , , ,

Greetings, Visitors and New Beginnings Family. If you choose, pour yourself a cup of coffee and then pull up a chair for the latest edition of Coffee with Gary entitled, “What! Are You Telling Me I Don’t Have a Choice?”

Something within me resents the notion of being told what to do by somebody else. In my mind, I know God wants me to submit to those who rule over me (Hebrews 13:17). But at times, my heart tells me otherwise.

In hopes of slowing the increase of COVID-19 infections, Dane County has recently implemented a mandatory mask order for people assembling indoors. When I first learned of this order, my knee-jerk reaction was one of defiance. Similarly, I remember when Wisconsin’s mandatory seatbelt law took effect, and I reacted the same way. Then, as now, I was already in compliance without the Wisconsin and Dane County governments butting in. In my mind, those directives effectively took away “my choice” to do what “I think” is right for me.

Since I was compliant with the mandatory mask order, I asked myself, “Why do I feel so annoyed?” Then I realized that the problem in my heart is as old as Adam and Eve, who, by disobeying God, rejected God’s sovereignty over them (Genesis 3). In my instance, the God-ordained, Dane County government had seized control of my prerogative to be lord over my life, and I didn’t like it.

Now I know of more reasons than I can count why I am unfit to be lord over my life. One of those reasons is my inconsistency in the equitable and just application of judgment. For example, a couple of days ago, I noticed a few customers in the grocery store not wearing their masks and thought little of it. However, I was annoyed when I saw news clips of people celebrating the Fourth of July not wearing masks and not social distancing. In essence, I would have permitted the people in the grocery store to decide for themselves if they wanted to wear a mask, but I would have deprived the Fourth of July revelers of the same choice.

What then must I do to let Jesus reign supreme over my heart? 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 in part commands us to bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. How then does this command work in my life? First, I have to want Jesus to be the Lord over my life and trust Him in all things. With Jesus at the helm, I need not be concerned with judgmental inconsistencies because Jesus is always consistent. Jesus would have judged the unmasked patrons in the grocery store the same as the unmasked Fourth of July revelers. Next, I have to identify the sinful thoughts of my heart, agree that they are contrary to Christ, and subject them to the obedience of Christ.

As long as I live, there will be a continuous struggle over who is Lord over my life. Therefore, it’s not so important that I am defiant against authority but that I immediately identify it for what it is and take it captive to the obedience of Christ.

Finally, if I have genuinely brought my tendency towards rebellion under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, then I will have no problem submitting to God-established authority (Hebrews 13:17, Romans 13:1-7).

Your fellow pilgrim in looking for a country of our own (Hebrews 11:13-16),

Gary