By Martin Morrison
This is one of our top devotions of 2020 published on the 14th of May 2020. Find the full article here
“We need to talk”. When one of your family says that, you know it’s serious. You also know that you are probably in trouble or in the spotlight. Well, it’s time to talk about this pandemic! This COVID-19 that has consumed our lives for the last two months. This Coronavirus that has irretrievably changed our lives and our world.
I know that I am not a prophet or an expert of any kind. I know that right now there is a booming market for gloom! But we do need to talk. It seems abundantly clear that life will not be the same for a very long time. You are waiting for this frustrating lockdown to end, so that you can resume life as before. You long for the normality of your average Saturday with your regular run or walk or game or drink. Your average Sunday at church with the interminable sermon, the lazy braai and afternoon nap. You even miss your average Monday morning blues! Well, the average is no more. It has gone. You need to face the fact. This is not just a pause button that has got stuck and needs fixing. Some of you have heard your doctor say, I have bad news, you have cancer. You will know what this is. This is déjà vu. You know exactly what I am talking about. Everything is now different.
Plagues and sudden deaths used to be a relatively normal occurrence in the lives of people. Before the age of antibiotics and penicillin, life was much more fragile and cheap. Catching the average flu or ‘fever’ as they called it, was genuinely life-threatening in those days. However, modern medicine has protected us from many of these ravages, for which we thank God. He heals through miracles and medicine, but not always. The last massive plague to strike our world exactly 100 years ago was called the Spanish flu, in which over 50 million died. It spread throughout the world, and over 300,000 died in South Africa, which was 6% of our population. 50% of the South African population contracted Spanish Flu. Well, the plague is back. And, as in 1918, there seems to be no vaccine in sight. It must run its course.
What does that mean for you? Well firstly, you need to talk to yourself and tell yourself the truth. It’s not going to go away. Of course, the lockdown will eventually go away. A vaccine may be discovered. But, for us living in South Africa, the socio-economic effects and consequences won’t. It’s for real. It’s not a dream. Face up to it. The past season of life has passed. The next season has started, with or without your consent. The new season may well be better, but it won’t be the same. It will be different…Keep Reading
