BY BRENT JASPER

At the time I am writing this, it has been five months since COVID-19 was declared a pandemic. It seemed like everything would be back to normal a few months later. Surely our great country could overcome this and not be affected as severely as other parts of the world. The reality is that there is not going to be a sudden moment when things go back to normal. We will still be seeing residual effects of COVID-19 a year from now that are altering the ways that we navigate our daily lives.

COVID-19 has tested all of us in ways that we never would have expected a virus could do. A lot of our freedoms have been taken away, and that is something difficult to come to terms within a country where we fight to ‘let freedom ring.’ Every one of us struggles with control to some degree, which is one of the reasons it is so difficult to accept our current situation. Whether it is a mask requirement, your church canceling services, missing out on a special event like a graduation or a wedding, or losing your sanity because you have never spent this much time with your kids (this one is mine), we are all having to give up control and losing freedom to make simple personal choices.

Why do we struggle with control so much? Personally, when I am wrestling with control, I typically see my own selfishness revealed in that struggle. Amid a time when we find ourselves in less control over our daily lives, try focusing on the things you can control. The easiest thing for us to control is ourselves, but often we want to control all the external things around us. My former pastor would frequently say, "Draw a circle around yourself and change everything inside that circle."

Regardless of whether we can control this thing or not, it has been brutal on mental stamina and expectations, or hope for what is around the corner. It is easy to place our hope in something that is temporary or can be taken away, and then when that temporary thing or person is gone, so is our hope. I know I found myself disappointed in recent months over a missed vacation and other missed events and opportunities. I certainly have experienced disappointment and sadness in the events that have occurred at Jasper Ventures.

But as much as I love Jasper Ventures and all the people who are a part of it, the next gas plant is not where I want to place my hope. I am so thankful that I have a greater hope in Jesus, or else I would be consumed by a lot of disappointment right now. I have also learned through life experience that difficult require much perseverance to navigate in an admirable and healthy way. Romans 5:2-5 (NIV) says, "And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory (rejoice) in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God's love as been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us."

Based upon these Bible verses, suffering and perseverance are on the pathway to where we find hope. Not only that, but we can even find joy in the suffering. I have said multiple times that Jasper Ventures is going to be a stronger company on the other side of this. Romans 5 is why I believe this. As we go through these difficult times, we are building grit and character. Those are things that will go along with you for the rest of your days. My prayer for each of you is that as you go through times of suffering, whether it is personally or professionally, that you would all be able to find this kind of hope