Survive the Pandemic

[i]

Psalm 91:1-2 

Good News Translation (GNT)

91 Whoever goes to the Lord for safety,
    whoever remains under the protection of the Almighty,
² can say to him,
    “You are my defender and protector.
    You are my God; in you I trust.”

We are confined to our own homes. We are not to visit our friends or our kids. The only reason to leave the safety of our own home is to buy necessary groceries or for medical attention. I have arranged to consult my oncologist by phone.

The number of known cases of COVID-19 in California is over 1,500 as I write this. The number of deaths in California attributed to it is 27, and in Riverside County it is 5. Each number is rising—Exponentially. The uncle of a friend and neighbor has tested positive. We are voluntarily confining ourselves to isolation in the hopes of starving the virus. Will it work?

Are we worried? No, not really. Will we get it? Only the Good Lord knows. He has given us this mighty Psalm 91. I urge you to read it again. I know you have lost count of how many times you have read it. This time read it and put yourself in as the recipient of these great promises.

Verse 3: He will keep you safe from all deadly diseases.

Verses 4&5: You need not fear the plagues that strike in the dark.

Verse 7: 1,000 may fall at your side and 10,000 fall all around you, you will not be harmed.

Verse 10: No disaster will strike you.

Verse 11: God will put His angels in charge of you.

Verse 12: They will hold you up with their hands.

Verse 14: God will save you who love Him.

Verse 15: When you call on Me, I will answer you.

Verse 16: I will reward you with long life.

These promises are written for you. Go to the Lord for safety. Remain under the protection of the Almighty. You may get tired of staying under that protection—stay there anyway. Don’t do anything brash or stupid—just stay there. Have faith that what God has promised, He will do. His promises are trustworthy. Let others do the worrying. Should He decide that now is my time, I still trust His protection.

We spread out this psalm daily to You, Lord. We claim it because we believe that You mean exactly what You say here! 

  

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[i] https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Psalms-91-1_Inspirational_Image/

Coronavirus

[1]

3 John 2 

King James Version (KJV)

² Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.

It appears that I have been misled in posting the following statement. Thank you to my son-in-law for pointing out that 
I have been duped by another Urban Legend. 

See the following websites.

https://www.snopes.com/news/2020/03/05/uncle-coronavirus/

https://www.factcheck.org/2020/03/viral-social-media-posts-offer-false-coronavirus-tips/
This has some good suggestions but it may well deceive you into complacency when you evaluate you own condition. Sorry for sharing it with you!!

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT - CORONAVIRUS

Precautions 

1. If you have a runny nose and sputum you have the common cold.

2. Coronavirus pneumonia is a dry cough with no runny nose.

3. This new virus is not heat-resistant and will be killed by a temperature of just 26 or 27 degrees (79 to 81 degrees Fahrenheit). It hates the sun.

4. If someone sneezes with it, it takes about 10 feet before it drops to the ground and is no longer airborne.

5. If it drops on a metal surface it will live for at least 12 hours—so if you come into contact with any metal surface—wash your hands as soon as you can with a bacterial soap.

6. On fabric it can survive for 6-12 hours, normal laundry detergent will kill it.

7. Drinking warm water is effective for all viruses. Try not to drink liquids with ice.

8. Wash your hands frequently as the virus can only live on your hands for 5-10 minutes—but a lot can happen during that time—you can rub your eyes, pick your nose unwittingly and so on.

9. You should also gargle as a prevention. A simple solution of salt in warm water will suffice.

10. Can’t emphasize enough—drink plenty of water.

Symptoms

1. It will first infect the throat, so you’ll have a sore throat lasting 3-4 days

2. The virus then blends into a nasal fluid that enters the trachea and then the lungs, causing pneumonia. This takes 5-6 days further.

3. With pneumonia comes high fever and difficult breathing.

4. The nasal congestion is not like the normal kind. You feel like you’re drowning. It’s imperative that you then seek immediate attention.

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[1] https://www.traverseticker.com/news/campus-closings-visitor-bans-event-cancellations-court-delays-coronavirus-impacts-hit-tc/

Think Love, Joy, Hope, and Beauty

[1]

Philippians 4:8 

Good News Translation (GNT)

⁸ In conclusion, my friends, fill your minds with those things that are good and that deserve praise: things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, and honorable.

Shortly after I began teaching at La Sierra University, Hilmer Besel came into my office. He was very worried. His wife Lily was in hospital and I knew things were not going well for her. She was naturally very short and her osteoporosis had stolen another 6 inches from her height. Besides that about everything else in her body seemed to have given up. They had her lying in bed with tubes protruding out of almost every orifice. She couldn’t speak, drink, or eat. Everything hurt and she was miserable. She wrote a little note to her beloved husband and requested that they remove all the tubes and let her die in peace. Hilmer asked me what I would do if my wife had made that request.

Lily was a lovely woman. She was always interested in the welfare of those about her. She was a pleasure to talk to. We all hated to see her go. But who would keep such a lovely person alive in such unbearable torture? Hilmer gathered their three daughters around her and prayed with her and then they pulled all of the tubes out of her body and quit giving the life preserving drugs. The doctors told the family that she would be dead in twenty minutes.

Four days later she walked out of the hospital, delighted to be free from most of those pains. She regarded the next four years as a gift from God. When I would see her she was always interested in my well being and expressed no complaints. She had not been miraculously cured and her ailments finally took her about four years later. I remember visiting her again just before she died. She knew her time was short and she expressed her concern for Hilmer. Would I look after him especially when he needed something? I promised her I would.

Hilmer had founded the mathematics and computer science departments at La Sierra University. He ate lunches at the university cafeteria, so he would come by my office almost every day. He spent his time studying scripture, working on an elementary proof of Fermat’s Last Theorem, or finishing his copper roof. He would report on progress and often seek my help in one or another of his current projects. Like his wife, he never dwelt on the failings of his fellow humans. He lived a lonely life, but never complained. At his lunch meals, students and faculty would often spend time with him learning from his wisdom. He outlived Lily by almost twenty years.

Thank You Lord for people who love to redirect our thoughts to joys, beauties, and topics beyond our meager existence.

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[1] Hilmer Besel at a Departmental Christmas Party in 2012

A Shield Around Us

[i]

Psalm 3:3 

Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

³ But You, Lord, are a shield around me,
my glory, and the One who lifts up my head.

It had been a long day in Lusaka, Zambia. I was driving the Ford Taunus south on the Great North Road towards Monze, with my wife and my mom and dad aboard. There was no one else on the road as we started into a long gentle curve. Then coming towards us we saw another car. It was obviously drifting onto our side of the road. I slowed down and moved over onto the dirt shoulder, and still he came over towards us. I yelled at him, “Get over on your own side of the road.” A lot of good that did! He couldn’t hear me.  Everything seemed to be happening in slow motion, but there was nothing I could do. He struck the side of the car and pushed us down the embankment and into the ditch on our side of the road. The car rolled over onto it’s top. The sideways push stuffed grass inside the tires.

The four of us got out of the car and stood wondering what to do. The sleepy driver of the other car drove on, or tried to. However, he had damaged his car sufficiently to stall the engine. He got out and shuffled over to us. We were clustered in a bunch staring at the car with its four still-turning wheels pointing skywards. He stood there looking at this wreck and said, “My car won’t run. There’s nothing wrong with yours. Why don’t you drive down and get some help for me?” His breath reeked of alcohol.

We flagged down a car that was going south, and the driver took my mom and my wife with him into the next town. He, too, smelt of alcohol, and Mom rode in semi-terror that he would also have a wreck. They sent a tow truck back to fetch Dad and me. We felt extremely thankful to the Lord that He was truly a shield around us. This was before cars had seatbelts, yet no one complained of injury. My eyes were scratchy, and we wondered if some glass fragments from the smashed windshield had gotten in them. The hospital kept me overnight for observation. Fortunately, my eyes were fine. Although the car was a complete write off, we were all safe.

Thank You Lord, that you indeed build a shield around us, even when we don’t deserve it.

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[i] http://www.car-accidents.com/2007-auto-crash-story/11-18-07-upside-down-crash.html

Loyal Friends

[i]

Job 6:14 

Good News Translation (GNT)

¹⁴ In trouble like this I need loyal friends—whether I've forsaken God or not.

In 1954 Dad was sent to Solusi, a ten-grade school in Zimbabwe, to make it into a four-year college. Naturally the Trans African Division of Seventh-day Adventists didn’t have all the money it was going to require. Raising funds was part of his assignment. Besides, Solusi had only a minimal amount of water available in its dams on seasonal streams. It was certainly not enough to support a college with many more students. Consequently, Dad built a new dam and enlarged an already existing one. He brought the government geologists on campus to search for good spots to drill for water. They marked out three sites, and he drilled at all of them. He even got a local water diviner to explore for water. This man pointed out another spot, and Dad drilled a well there, paying for it out of his own pocket. Interestingly, he got more water from that well than from all three geologist-located wells combined—but it still was not enough for a burgeoning college. Finally, the government built a very large dam on a larger, near-by river, and they brought water from there.

Many other major problems, such as housing and collapsing latrines, took much of his time to overcome. In 1956 Dad returned to the U.S. on a working furlough. He visited several retired church leaders and persuaded them to donate their libraries to Solusi. He visited John Fetzer, a radio-TV mogul, whom most people know as the owner of the Detroit Tigers from 1961-1983. He and John had been good friends and business partners before Dad went to Africa in the mid-1930s. When they parted, Dad became a devoted missionary, and John spent his skill and time becoming financially successful. John became very interested in Dad’s project to lift the educational level of Africans to that of world leaders. He and his wife, Ria, visited Solusi to see what Dad was doing and thereafter contributed toward the efforts to make it a working college.

Solusi University has grown and prospered over the years. During the terrible financial crisis Zimbabwe went through, it was the only university to remain open in the country. The number of students at that time was over 5,000. Currently 2,892 are enrolled there.[ii]

We are grateful, Lord, that You provide us with friends who can help us in times of need.

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[i] https://www.facebook.com/Solusi-University-441288199368674/

[ii] http://www.solusi.ac.zw/

Sharing Good News

[i]

Mark 16:15 

Tree of Life Version (TLV)

¹⁵ He told them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the Good News to every creature.

Saint Francis of Assisi is often depicted as taking this great commission in Mark literally when he preached the gospel to the birds and other creatures. Most of Christendom has considered the commission as meaning take the gospel to every human of every race, gender, language, status, and locality. Most Christians, however, have not necessarily considered the commission as applying to them personally.

The Adventist church has a huge worldwide educational system. One of its goals is to bring the gospel to its students. Every once in a while, we as teachers in the system were encouraged to bring the gospel to our students—to make the gospel an integral part of the class content. I puzzled some and laughed a little about bringing religion into factoring a polynomial or integrating a trigonometric function. That was way beyond my creativity, and I was not willing to contrive artificial applications that would not bless anyone. At one point I did publish a paper suggesting how infinity is one aspect of God.[ii]

In my first teaching position, Ikizu Secondary School in Tanzania, teachers were expected to conduct a 10-minute worship during each day’s first class period. That period was actually 10 minutes longer than the other class periods. Since I always had a first period class, I became accustomed to reading a text and commenting on what this text said to me.

Later on, when I taught at the university level in the system, I found it fulfilling to take the first 5 minutes of any class to read a text and explain the significance I found in it. Some students criticized me for doing so; however, many students told me that they gained much when I did this. I also gained a personal blessing.

Lord, thank You for asking me to proclaim Your gospel in my world.

[i] https://www.eternitynews.com.au/world/catholics-commemorate-the-feast-of-st-francis-of-assisi/

[ii] http://www.institutechristianteaching.org/vol_01/vol_01.html see “The Finite, the Infinite, and God” pages 29-46 (1989)

On the Verge of Giving Up?

[i]

Hebrews 10:35 

New International Version (NIV)

³⁵ So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.

We once visited Calico, a ghost town in the hills north of Barstow California. It is a tourist trap that was run by Knotts Berry Farm for many years after 1950. Now it is run by the county. One of the sites in the old town is a mine. The miner dug back into the mountain for several hundred yards. He found nothing and eventually gave up.  I have often thought of this poor miner. He slaved away for years with pick and shovel, carrying all his diggings out through the tunnel. It was backbreaking work in a hostile desert environment. He must have finally said to himself, there is no future here. I’m slaving away and I’ve found absolutely nothing I’ll carry out one more cart full of rock and then I’m giving up forever. This mountain contains only worthless rock. And he did.

Around 1881 someone else dug in from a different angle and found the richest vein of silver ever discovered in America  just one yard from the end of this tunnel.The town of Calico grew up around this highly productive mine. Of course, that vein eventually ran out and today Calico is designated the Official State Silver Rush Ghost Town.

There have been times I have felt like this frustrated miner in my Christian experience. In my late teens and early twenties, I gave up on religion completely. Then a stranger took me under his tutelage as a reluctant student and I discovered the real Jesus who saves me not by my efforts but by His grace. Since then when God appears to have totally receded from my experience; when things appear to be going really bad, I will look back on this experience, and many others since then. I realize again that He is in control of my life and my destination. The perceived troubles shrink into their proper perspective and He sees me through them.

You have indeed, Lord Jesus, richly rewarded me; and will continue to do so. 

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[i] https://www.americansouthwest.net/california/calico/calico2_l.html