Once again 2020 continues to amaze and mystify. What is God up to? I do not know.
As I write this article I do so praying for family and friends in the path of Hurricane Laura in Texas and Louisiana and for family and friends in the path of wildfires in Colorado and California. I pray as well for people in a number of cities across our country experiencing protests, riots, lootings, shootings and other unrest. 2020 continues to challenge us all on a great many levels and in a great many ways. I write this also as I recover from days spent cutting, hauling, splitting and stacking wood. Cutting, hauling, splitting and stacking wood is something I can cope with and understand. Freshly cut wood (neighbor fell a few trees) is heavy. It’s true. Hauling heavy wood over a muddy hillside is a challenge. What does all this have to do with an insight article? Good question. Let me explain. Cutting, hauling, splitting, and stacking wood is an act of faith. It’s true. It’s an act of faith that says that not only this winter will come, but next winter will also as have all past winters. The recently cut, hauled, split, and stacked wood won’t be available to burn efficiently and effectively heat our home till, at least, next winter (2021-22). There is a rhythm of life in interior Alaska and that rhythm involves seasons and the challenges each present. Summer presents the challenge of mosquitoes while winter the challenge of extreme cold. Each also involves acts of faith, big and small, every day. In the midst of all this is the reality of the (extremely!) strange times in which we live. Some fear engaging friend, neighbor, and stranger for fear of COVID-19. This plague has presented many challenges to each and all of us. Pray for our nurses, doctors, teachers, students, truck drivers, grocery store workers. They are on the front lines of the COVID battle. We are also in the midst of elections for a great many elected positions. While I will not advise you on how to vote, I will implore you to vote. Many have sacrificed in battles near and far that you can be free to participate in our representative Democracy. Pray for our elected leaders, voters and candidates. I ask your prayers for our first responders (law enforcement, fire fighters, paramedics, and dispatchers). First responders have very challenging and difficult careers. Each must make incredibly difficult decisions in mere seconds. Each serves the community and sacrifices time from family and friends to answer calls of strangers in highly stressful circumstances. Imagine for just a moment what life would be like as a first responder. The stress and situation are enormous. Pray, show respect and appreciate the difference first responders make each and every day. In the book of Exodus, Moses is called by God to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt. In the Gospels, Peter is called to start the church. What is God calling you to do? I believe God is calling each and all of us to care and pray for one another. This Insight Article is sponsored by Tanana Valley Christian Conference Printed in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner's Faith Section on August 28, 2020. Have you heard that 2020 is more challenging, more difficult, and/or more painful than any year we’ve ever experienced? 2020 has certainly been filled with challenges, stresses and stressors. I have lost track of all the many things that have happened or are happening. The events seem to blur into a big heap of trouble. As a nation, we’ve experienced nature’s wrath in storms, earthquakes, flooding, wildfires and more. Our military continues warfighting in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, South Korea and beyond! As a nation we continue to experience the pandemic and orders/mandates/guidelines/tests/quarantines, postponements and fears/anxieties. Many have lost jobs and others lost pay. Tourism has vanished. Our nation is in the midst of struggles over race, justice, law enforcement, and leadership and riots, looting, shootings and fires. And there are elections coming up for everything from school board to President of the United States.
Wow, what a year it has been, and continues to be and it’s only August. So is this the most stressful and difficult year ever? Yes absolutely! It’s never been this bad before. Never! Unless you were to look at life in the 1918 Spanish Flu and World War I or the Dust Bowl and Great Depression that followed a few years later. World War II began a few years after that and the entire world, including Alaska, was at war. Our nation has been through extreme civil unrest beginning with the Revolutionary War and continuing with the Civil War and in the 1950s and 1960s over Civil Rights and the war in Vietnam. Why do I bring all this up? I bring this historical (and at times hysterical) perspective only to say that we have made it through very difficult times before. Take some time to talk with people with experience. And listen. There are, at least, two ways to listen: Listen to respond to what is being said (that’s how many interact on social media) or listen to hear. Listening to hear takes time and focus, but the lessons are fascinating and rewarding. Finally, I think of a couple of people: Joseph (from the book of Genesis) and Peter (the fisherman formerly known as Simon). Briefly put, and there’s a wonderful musical that is far more entertaining than I am, Joseph was the favorite son of Jacob. Sibling rivalry got the better of his brothers and so they sought first to kill him and then chose to instead sell him. Several events, years and circumstances later, Joseph encounters his brothers from a position of significant power and influence. Does Joseph seek vengeance upon his brothers? No, he forgives and provides. Peter is called by Jesus (and renamed) to follow him. Jesus preaches, teaches, miraculously heals and provides, and does a great many more things. Peter acts rashly, boldly and at times stupidly (I easily identify with Peter). Later Jesus is captured by religious authorities. Peter, who had boldly proclaimed his loyalty to the end, denies ever knowing Jesus the first time a girl asks him. Jesus is crucified, dead and buried. The story, it would appear ends with his death. But no, Jesus rises from the dead and seeks out his disciples. When Jesus sees Peter, does he condemn Peter? No, he forgives him and empowers him to start his church. The Bible is filled with powerful experiences of redemption and forgiveness. So yes, 2020 is a deeply challenging and difficult year, but it is by no means the most difficult. God is at work, though we don’t always understand how. We’re going to get through this and we’ll be stronger for it. This Insight Article is sponsored by Tanana Valley Christian Conference Printed in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner's Faith Section on August 14, 2020. |
Fr. SteveMarried 27 years, 2 kids, 1 cat and 1 dog. Ordained & Chaplain for 20 years. Ministry philosophy - we're all in this together and Jesus leads the way. Hobbies: working in the woodshed, teaching, and competitive shooting Archives
March 2024
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