2020 | Week of March 23 | Radio Transcript #1352
How are you weathering the COVID-19 crisis, with government orders changing very frequently and right now not getting more lenient but rather more restrictive? Dave Lingle, our Church Ambassador, took some time recently to jot down some practical ideas for helping all of us deal with this situation that is unlike anything most of us have ever experienced. We thought it appropriate to share some of Dave’s ideas.
Do as many of the things you would normally do as possible. For the sake of your own emotional and spiritual health, determine a schedule for you and your family during these days at home and stick to it. Doing normal things like making beds, having regularly scheduled meals, taking time for schoolwork and time for devotions and so on will help everyone.
Don’t “panic buy” supplies, and don’t make any decisions based on emotional responses to this crisis.
Check on your neighbors; you can do this with a phone call or a text message. One of our younger and newly married team members along with her husband baked this past weekend and put a plate of cookies outside the doors of their apartment neighbors, along with a note with their phone number, letting folks know they are available to run errands if needed and also included an encouraging Bible verse. What a great idea! Let’s not let social distancing become social isolation.
Contribute to a local food bank. With work cutbacks, closings and layoffs, more people than ever will need assistance. Help as you are able.
Check on your elderly and shut-in folks. You can call and pray with them on the phone. Make sure they have necessities. Many have family members who are caring for their needs, but some may not. In any event, they will appreciate knowing they have not been forgotten.
Maintain your Bible reading and devotional commitment. Now is not the time to sit around watching TV all day. Read some good books. Listen to some good music. Lesson to some good podcasts. Dave personally recommendsThe World and Everything In It from World News and Al Mohler’s The Briefing. And be sure to visit wifamilycouncil.org to add our WFC podcasts to your list.
Tackle some projects around the house. Maybe you have been thinking about painting a room, or making some repairs, or doing some upgrades or catching up on that infamous “honey-do” list . Now is a great time to tackle some of those things, assuming you have the supplies you need on hand.
FaceTime or Skype with friends and family. If your grandchildren live nearby, you will miss holding them and hanging with them, but that doesn’t mean you can’t interact with them via technology. As irritating and frankly as dangerous as technology can be, we should be grateful that we have it right now as a means to stay connected with our loved ones.
It’s true no one knows if you are live-streaming your church’s services or not, but we strongly urge you to do that anyway. It will help you stay connected with your local body of believers. If your church does not have this technology, then the next best thing is to participate in what someone else is doing. Hopefully one positive by-product of this unprecedented situation is that people will very much miss being physically in church with fellow believers and will make church attendance a priority once we are on the other side of this crisis.
Maintain your financial support of your local church and other ministries you invest in. If we want our pastors and ministries to survive, we must continue to support them.
And finally, and certainly not least in importance, ask the Lord for wisdom for each day and the challenges it brings. And also pray, of course. We need to pray for healthcare workers who are on the front lines, for protection of their health and protection of the health of their families. Pray for your pastors and the leaders of your church. Pray God will use this crisis to draw people to Himself. Pray for your local, state and national elected officials who are making major decisions right now.
I’m going to add one more to Dave’s list…don’t forget to vote. Absentee ballots for the spring election are still available by mail. Visit myvote.wi.gov to request one online or call your municipal clerk and have one mailed to you. Don’t let this crisis keep you from being a good citizen and casting a knowledgeable and responsible vote in this election.
We don’t know when this will end, but we do know the God Who has it all under control. Let’s trust Him and faithfully do what we can to honor Him and to help others in these challenging days.
For Wisconsin Family Council, this is Julaine Appling, reminding you the prophet Hosea said, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.”
