3 minute read
Shaken While Waiting
from June 2020
Gò0dNews forMen Shaken While Waiting
12 // June 2020
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by Nelson Haynes
Nelson Haynes lives in Ringgold, Georgia, with his wife and 2 Labrador Retrievers. Both of their daughters are grown. Check out his writer’s blog at www.nelsonhaynes500words.com for more meditations. He has a Masters in Christian Education from Dallas Theological Seminary and besides writing, his hobbies include riding his mountain bike; reading; movies; gardening ; painting and going on dates with his bride. About The Author W eird. That’s the word people keep posting on Facebook and Instagram as they describe how they feel during the Coronavirus pandemic.
Can anything good come out of a bewildering experience? Listen to Geoff Gentry and Bryan Ye-Chung.
“It’s the weird things that wake us up to the world around us.
“It’s the weird things that open up new ways of seeing.
“It’s the weird things that reimagine the experience of healing.
“It’s the weird things that disrupt our lives to bring us into God’s presence.
“Weirdness is a tool of the Divine. As people of faith, our lives get weird before they become clear.
Their prophetic words were published in 2019 in “All That Is Made.”
Has God brought the world to its knees? That’s a legitimate question, with no intent of judgment by this writer. Regardless of your answer, the world has stopped, halting the educational, economic, entertainment, and religious worlds besides the medical environment.
So what do we do during this eerie time? Wait it out? There are many things that happen to us that are far from chance.
As Christians, we believe God is sovereign. Within that word is another word: reign. God is still on the throne despite how it feels down here on planet earth. He’s in control.
What God allows to happen in our world which gets a person’s attention, causing him or her to sincerely seek Him for maybe the first time, is something we’ll never comprehend this side of Heaven.
However, a lot of folks still want their normal back, and when this is over and we look back at the crisis of the Coronavirus, will we see blessings or curses?
There is the sad curse of death that the virus caused. But there are blessings that are born out of adversity. Couples talking to each other like they never have before because they have more time on their hands. Neighbors saying “Hi!” for the very first time as they pass each other walking around the same neighborhood they’ve lived in for years.
You and I won’t grow when we are comfortably numb. As John Eldridge said on Facebook Palm Sunday, April 5, 2020, “When life is good and you’ve got your cupcakes, you know, what do you need God for?” Stagnant people stink.
But Paul declares in 2 Corinthians 2:15, “Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God. But this fragrance is perceived differently by those who are being saved and by those who are perishing.”
Paul’s referring to two types of people. The latter group is the people who find the Gospel message nauseating. The former are the folks who believe the Gospel is a pledge of a glorious future.
A lot of folks feel lost now and want a future. God offers that. Some reject it. Some accept it. There is nothing weird about “Someone” throwing a life preserver to those who are perishing. Take hold of Christ. There couldn’t be a better time!
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