Our churches face a new challenge. Do we obey the government and observe quarantine, or do we exercise our religious liberty to assemble and worship? Of course, we should comply to save lives. But Dr. Russell Moore addresses these issues wisely. “As the entire world faces the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, states and municipalities are working to contain the virus, as best as possible, by discouraging and otherwise doing everything to stop gatherings of people. President Trump’s Coronavirus Task Force guidance recommended no more than ten people getting together for at least the next eight weeks. In the days to come, it is possible that the government will act even more drastically. As most churches are now not gathering on Sundays for the time being, some are asking if these sorts of health mandates are a violation of religious liberty. The short answer is “no.” Before I explain why, let me note that the question is a reasonable one. After all, we maintain that no government is lord of the church–only our Head is Jesus Christ. And there would be many circumstances in which a government illegitimately could use powers to keep churches from gathering. That said, nothing that is happening right now related to this crisis is, in my view, a violation of religious liberty or the separation of the church from the state. Our commitment to religious liberty is grounded in what Jesus taught us—that the spheres of the church and the state are different, and the one should not have authority over the other. The state has the “power of the sword,” for instance, to punish criminals and to maintain civic order (Rom. 13:1-7), while the church does not (1 Cor. 5:9-12). The church has the authority to proclaim the gospel and to define the boundaries of the fellowship within that gospel, the state does not. The current situation facing us is not a case of the state overstepping its bounds, but rather seeking to carry out its legitimate God-given authority. Nowhere, at this point, have we seen churches targeted because of their beliefs or mission. At issue is a clear public objective—stopping the transmission of a dangerous virus by gatherings. This applies to the local plate jugglers association just as much to churches. Because the state must respect the consciences and souls of the people, consciences and souls over which it has no ultimate authority, any action involved religious bodies should have, in the words of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, a “compelling state interest” and must pursue the “least restrictive means” of achieving it. In my view, both of these tests have been met, in every case I have seen. This is an area—the protection of public health—where the state has not just a legal authority but an authority granted by God himself. The state could not, for instance, decline to prosecute a murder because the shooting happened during a church service. And the church could not claim that religious liberty is violated because the state would not allow them to shelter from accountability the shooter. Someone could not claim a religious liberty to embezzle just because the embezzling is happening during the church offertory. The same principle is at work here. Governments are seeking to limit gatherings of people. That is a legitimate public interest, and the government is seeking to do so in the least intrusive way possible. So far. Everything here refers to actions taken so far. The situation will almost inevitably lead to even stronger and less voluntary government actions. Could these encroach on religious liberty? That is certainly possible, but not necessarily. To prevent that, we will need more secular leaders to think carefully about why religion is important and more religious leaders to be thinking through the complexities of public health. If we remain on the same ‘team’ when it comes to overcoming this crisis, we can avoid overreach on one side or paranoia on the other. And that’s what we will need. Any order should include the maximum recognition of the need for clergy and other religious workers to carry out necessary ministry, in the same category as health care workers. Such ministry is necessary. A nursing home patient who is in peril needs a doctor to care for her physically, but also should be allowed to have a pastor pray for her, her priest administer last rites, or whatever the equivalent would be in her religion. We can make such exceptions without creating jeopardy to lives, just as we have in every other time in human history from the Black Plague to the 1918 influenza crisis. Most churches that I know are completely in sync with the rest of society on this. They are voluntarily restricting their gatherings until the crisis is passed because they care about their members, and about non-members in their communities. In the vast majority of places, churches and governments are working in common purpose, and that’s good. After this crisis is over, we will have learned much about the fragility of life, about our need for one another. The church will be called to bear the burdens of our neighbors as never before. There will be no shortage of debates over all sorts of religious liberty questions, as there were before. But, in the meantime, concern for public health is not a violation of religious liberty. Let’s not only obey the laws of our states and cities, let’s seek to do even more than asked in order to shoulder our responsibilities. Let’s wash our hands, stay as far apart as necessary, pray for our medical personnel and our leaders, and let’s pray, like never before. In so doing, we render what is due both to God and to Caesar. And that’s a good start. www.russellmoore.com .

Leading Through Rapid, Unexpected Change No surprise here, but you are leading through unprecedented global change. Just stop for a minute. Re-read that first line. Unprecedented global change.  If it feels challenging, it’s only because it  is  challenging. The question becomes how do you do it?  In this post, I’ll share some principles that can help you lead through rapid, unexpected change.  MOTIVATION ALONE DOESN’T WORK ON EXTERNALLY-IMPOSED CHANGE  You can’t  motivate  your way out of a crisis like this. You have to  lead  your way through it. Making the leadership challenge more intense is the fact that the change we’re experiencing is externally-imposed change, not internally-driven change. Quick example. It’s one thing to decide you want to lose 20 lbs and making the lifestyle changes to do it, or launch a new location, or build a building (all of which are internally-driven change). Sure, that’s difficult. But it’s another thing entirely to have someone change your kitchen, restock your pantry and order you to drop 20 pounds in six weeks, order you to open a location or to raise money for a new facility. That’s all externally-imposed change—it wasn’t your decision. When change is externally-imposed, you lose freedom, choice and control. That’s what makes it so difficult. When you lead internally-motivated change, you set the timeline motivation and agenda. With externally-driven change, you control none of that, including control over the outcome. COVID-19, and the radical changes it has wrought on the world and daily life, are externally-driven changes. You didn’t ask for any of this. But you have to lead through it anyway. Which leaves a lot of people and leaders panicking. Many of us, after all, are control freaks. Let’s just name that out loud. I’m not writing about this because there’s an easy answer, but simply being aware of the dynamics in play can help you understand what you’re dealing with and why you and others feel the way you feel. The best way to lead internally-driven is to focus on motivation…the why behind the what. ( Think about how great you’ll feel after! Imagine what we can accomplish together! ) When change is externally-driven, motivation still matters,  but a significant part of your job in leading externally-driven change isn’t motivation, it’s  interpretation . People are confused. They don’t know what’s happening. They need a source they can trust. A leader who knows what’s best and acts. In other words, people are looking for someone who can help reliably interpret events and lead them into a better future. I’ve seen a lot of leaders miss that in the last week because they’re still focused on motivation. I’ve heard a lot of: C ome on, you’ve got this. God has this. This is no big deal. We’re bigger than this. Nothing bad’s going to happen. In the process, those leaders lose credibility because they’ve failed to interpret the situation accurately. While it’s extremely difficult to get reliable and accurate information, and while some government decisions may be under or overreactions to the problem, the crisis we’re facing is both real and deep. On a very factual level, the stock market has tanked, borders are closing, airports and cities are madhouses or ghost towns, businesses are struggling, people are struggling, freedom and mobility is dwindling to war-time levels, and of course, people are sick and dying. You can’t  motivate  your way out of a crisis like this. You have to  lead  your way through it. GREAT LEADERSHIP EMBRACES BOTH THE REAL AND THE IDEAL Most of the noise online misses the point. Arguing whether this is right or wrong or could have played out differently is beside the point. It’s all happening right now, and you can’t avoid it. And many leaders are gravitating toward either the brutal real or some unrealistic ideal, the latter of which includes denial (this is so overblown people! Well…no, it’s not.) Great leadership embraces both the real and the ideal. The wisest leaders will embrace what  Jim Collins calls the Stockdale paradox . Jim Stockdale was an American general captured and imprisoned during the Vietnam war. He was held and tortured for seven years. Stockdale said the first people to die in captivity were the optimists, who kept thinking things would get better quickly and they’d be released. “They died of a broken heart,” Stockdale said. Intead, Stockdale argued, the key to survival was to combine realism and hope.  In Stockdale’s words: “This is a very important lesson. You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end–-which you can never afford to lose–-with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.” That essentially is your job in crisis leadership. Based on the best information you can get ( see Point 3, here ), be ruthlessly honest about the situation facing you, and never lose faith that things will get better in the end. Crisis leadership falls apart when leaders embrace the extremes: pessimists only see the real, and naive optimists only see the ideal. BE THE FIRST TO CHANGE, NOT THE LAST When public safety is at risk, which by every account it seems to be, the best leaders act sooner rather than later. Ideally, you want to be ahead of the government on this one to protect the people you lead, not the last. The “Well, the Governor/President? Prime Minister said we could gather under 250 so we’re allowing 250 at a time,” isn’t likely the wisest route, particularly when things are literally changing hourly. You want to be on the right side of history on this one, protecting rather than risking, helping rather than hanging on. Apple has been an interesting company to watch. It pulled out of SXSW about a week before it was canceled. It made its workers move to remote work early on in the process. And it announced the closure of most of its stores long before the government mandated it (which at the time of publication, the government hasn’t yet in North America. But that’s likely coming very soon.). While it’s hard to know why they’ve been early leaders, it’s likely either because they have information most of us don’t or really great intuition. Being  ahead  of the curve is where you want to be when public safety is involved. The reasons for being the last one still hosting events/making everyone come into the office/keeping things open often aren’t that great. Dig a little deeper, and underneath you may find stubbornness, denial, fear (of decline or lack of money) or selfishness. In other words, a sea of motivations that put your own interests ahead of the public interests. I love how Life.Church , North Point, Mecklenburg Community Church and many others canceled their in-person weekend experiences ahead of government directives, as we did. In addition, overnight last night, our church stopped all in-person meetings large or small (including watch parties) and moved to virtual groups and gatherings. Unprecedented times call for unprecedented measures. In Canada, the CEOs of the thirty largest businesses called on all businesses to act in the public interest and put community health first by embracing social distancing and remote work before the government requires it. You can read their open letter  here . Think that’s extreme? Louis Vuitton, the French luxury good manufacturer, is  switching its cosmetics and perfume division  into producing free hand sanitizer for use in France, where it’s in desperately short supply. And in England,  Boris Johnson is asking car makers and certain manufacturers  to switch to ventilator production, which appears to be the main problem in this pandemic—not nearly enough machines to help the people who are falling ill. These are almost war-time level measures. And even the US in in a state of national emergency. So what about those who think this is all overblown or a massive overreaction? If you’re worried about overreaction, delayed reaction may be a bigger problem. From Josh Barro, the  business columnist for New York Magazine : Justin Lessler, the Johns Hopkins University epidemiologist, noted a way in which this epidemic tricks people into panicking when it’s too late. “If people are only going to start taking the actions they should when they start to see a lot of people dying around them, it’s already too late,” he says. When you combine the substantial period from infection to death with exponential growth in infections, the number of deaths you see around you is likely far lower than the number of deaths you are about to see. The people who stand to die within the next 30 days may not even be very sick yet. And when they get very sick, the hospitals may be overwhelmed and ill-prepared to respond. This is the corner Italy backed itself into. We might be headed there, too. ‘What have you got to lose by going first?’ is a haunting question, but less haunting than, ‘What have you got to lose by going last?’ What you lose if you’re wrong about that is far greater than what you gain if you’re right. It’s as simple as that. You absorb the pain now, or you potentially absorb far more pain later. You choose. SIFT THROUGH YOUR MOTIVES So, what change do you need to adopt? Let an honest look at your motives guide you. A crisis reveals who you really are, and often you may not like what you see. I’m regularly disappointed by my first instincts. But you don’t have to act on your first instincts, which is where real leadership comes in. So, to deal with that, sift your motives. You’ll find things like: Selfishness and sacrifice Denial and acceptance Hoarding and preparedness Fear and faith Some careful reflection and wise counsel should help you choose the latter, not the former. PROCESS YOUR EMOTIONS AS YOU HELP OTHERS PROCESS THEIRS People are in shock, denial and mourning. So are you. Change is challenging at the best of times. This kind of massive disruptions triggers so many emotions in people and in you—including disbelief—that making time to process it all is essential. As a leader, that’s hard though because you likely spend most of your time helping other people, finding reliable information, making decisions and then rethinking everything. In addition, you’re probably putting in 12-18 hour days. Which raises the question: How exactly are you processing all this? Just because a crisis is not a time to take a sabbatical or spend a week in a cabin contemplating how you really feel doesn’t mean you can’t process your emotions daily. In fact, doing so will make you a better leader and help you make better decisions. A tired leader is an ineffective leader. CLICK TO TWEET Here are some things you can do to make sure you’re processing decisions: Get some sleep . A tired leader is an ineffective leader. Your body and brain need rest. Pray and meditate.  Start every day with some time to reflect, pray and even meditate on scripture and surrender the problems you have to God. Get some exercise.  Even a 20 minute run or a brisk walk will help. Eat better.  Yep, this is sounding a lot like what you already know. But just do it. Call a friend you can talk to.  In a crisis, you need people who don’t need anything from you. Call a friend. Spend at least some time with your family.  They need your leadership and friendship too, as much as your church or company does. Creating some distance from crisis management will help you make far better decisions. When in doubt, revert to #1 and 2. They are force multipliers. If you don’t control your emotions, your emotions will control you.   www.careynieuwhof.com .  Used by permission.

From the very first moment those little eyes open and we hear them cry for the first time, we love our children. Yes, there are moments that we may get exasperated and frustrated, but we can’t help it—everything about us is conditioned to care for them and love them and protect them. It is, quite frankly, part of our DNA. We are mothers. Unfortunately, we also have to live with the constant reminder that they are pulling away from us. The second they take that first step they are becoming independent. Now, most of us are pretty happy when that happens. We like the little freedoms that are promised to our child-centered lives that maybe one day, we will be able to go to the bathroom by ourselves. What we don’t like, however, and what we will do anything and everything to prevent is for harm to come to those little doughy wonders. Mamas are mamas everywhere—we become bears when it comes to protecting our cubs. We have dreams for them, dreams of happiness and prosperity and safety. We pray for their futures constantly, and we trust that if we can just protect them long enough, showing them the way they should go, then all will be well. They will be successful, happy, and joyous humans on this planet. There is a large part of every mother that believes down deep in her soul that if she can just get them there—to adulthood—then God will do the rest and usher them into their beautiful destinies. So, what do we do when that doesn’t seem to be happening? What do we mothers do when our children grow up and make bad decisions or enter hard times or suffer in ways we can’t control? What do we do when it seems that God’s promises for them aren’t panning out? That’s when God is calling us to let go. We have to loosen our iron maiden grips on their lives and allow them to fall, to fail, to suffer, and to hurt. And very few things are harder for mothers to do than that. Like many other moms, I’ve had to endure this very thing with my boys, which is the reason I wrote my new book,  We are Mother Abraham . It features two parallel stories—a modern day mother dealing with letting her daughter go and Sarah as she dealt with letting Isaac go. While dealing with many, many issues we face in this journey, I found that there were four main truths that came out for each of us to hang onto during these very difficult times: #1. It’s going to be hard. I understand that this doesn’t seem to be so wonderful on the surface, but knowing that it was hard for a reason brought me great comfort in the middle of letting my boys go. The truth is that it  is  hard for a reason. We were literally created to do the opposite of what God calls us to do in these times. We were created, as mothers, to do absolutely everything for these children. The human baby is the most helpless baby of all other babies in the animal kingdom. God created human mothers to do every single thing that infant needs to both give it life and then sustain that life once it’s born. We are hard wired to keep them safe. There is no amount of understating the difficulty in actually denying one’s created nature in order to allow something opposite to occur. That is especially true when we are asked to allow pain and hardship come to our children. My nature tells me to help. My God tells me to get out of the way. I read a story about a man who came across a butterfly cocoon. The butterfly was just trying to break free of the cocoon, and the man felt compassion on the small creature. He took his thumb and just peeled away a small portion so that the butterfly quickly emerged. The man immediately noticed that the butterfly looked abnormal. Instead of having big, beautiful wings that look it to flight, the insect had small, misshapen wings, and it stumbled around on the ground, seemingly unable to fly. You see, when that man followed his compassionate heart and helped the butterfly avoid its struggle, he stopped the necessary process the insect needed to grow. The butterfly was created so that when it struggled in its cocoon for freedom, vital, life-giving blood is forced through its undeveloped wings so that it can grow and become strong. Without that struggle, the butterfly will emerge crippled and unable to fly, a ready and vulnerable meal to any bird that flies by. God tells us over and over that we  need  those struggles, just like the butterfly, so that we can become all that He has for us to be. Letting that happen is hard, but it’s hard for a reason. #2. Thank heavens there is a training ground! Our children are moving toward independence very shortly after they are born. They are literally  drawn  toward this independence. Their entire nature moves inexorably toward a place where they can move and be on their own. However, they certainly don’t wake up one day as a twenty-one-year-old who has never done one single thing on their own and say, “That’s it, Mom! I’m now independent of you!” They do it gradually, small milestone by small milestone. The thing is, these are milestones for us, too. God is so loving in that He knows exactly how He created us, and He knows exactly how hard it will be for us to watch them move into their own destinies, some of which will require pain. Instead of making us tear that terrible Band Aid off, He allows us to do it a step at a time, each step increasing in difficulty. It’s harder to watch them go to Kindergarten than to take their first step. It’s harder to let to them go for a sleep over or go to camp than it was to send them to school for the first time. It’s harder still to watch them get cut from the soccer team or get rejected by some girls at school. Then comes the driving and the jobs and the friends, and harder and harder it gets. These times are our training ground, and I’m thankful for them. #3. You’re not alone. Look around, sisters. We’re all right there with you. Mothers everywhere are dealing with this pain at one level or another, so you aren’t alone. But look even further. Mothers through time have had to do this, and we can read about them in the bible. Hannah had to let her promised boy, Samuel, go as soon as he was weaned because she had promised him to God, Sarah had to let Abraham take Isaac to Mount Moriah with the intention of actually killing him, and Mary quite literally watched her precious son, Jesus, suffer the worst death imaginable while she was powerless to stop it. The thing that all of these women have in common, both with each other and with us, is that this “letting go” was letting go to God, to His purposes and promises in their children’s lives. God hadn’t forgotten them or turned His back on them. He was fulfilling that which He promised, but these mothers had to let go so that His perfect purposes could be accomplished. It’s exactly the same for our children. God has a destiny for each of them. He has a plan for them, and He has a plan to use them. When we hang onto them with the intentions of protecting them from the pain they are enduring, we are inhibiting the growth that comes only through that pain. We are standing in the way of the beautiful testimonies being born, world-changing work that will come, and fulfillment that only God can bring to our children’s lives. No, we’re not alone in these times, but neither are our children. #4. And finally, remember that you are highly favored. When I was struggling with these truths as I watched my boys fall and fail and hurt, God reminded me time and time again that mothers are highly favored. You may wonder at the logic of that, especially when your heart is breaking as it looks like you’re losing them. But God reminded me that He entrusted these people with us. He didn’t do that accidentally. My boys are my boys on purpose. God chose me to birth them, to nurture them, to love them, and to keep them safe. He created me with a nature that does that almost automatically. He did the same for you. But then He does something quite astounding. Not only does He trust us with caring for them, but He trusts that when the time comes, we will be strong enough to deny our created natures and give them back to Him. God has made us His trusted stewards, but He gave us an almost super-human strength of will that He only gives to mothers, a will that enables us to actually let go of the things we were created to hang onto with all of our might—His children. We are highly favored, and we are supremely loved. God’s heart is for His mothers. He is knit to us through this sacrifice, and we honor Him each and every time we allow Him to be God in the lives of our children. Letting go of our children is definitely hard, both in the doing and in the training, and there’s comfort in knowing that we’re not alone. We have God and we have each other. But most importantly, in the middle of the entire heartbreaking, daunting task, we must look up and remember that we are truly favored and loved by the Creator of the universe. He is highly honored in us as we honor Him through this task. It is, indeed, a high calling, but it is a beautiful one. Because yes, we are mothers. drdebwaterbury.com . To Purchase  We are Mother Abraham  and download the Bible study that goes along with it, visit www.DebWaterbury.com

Kids are the best comforters! I was five when I was diagnosed with scarlet fever and pneumonia and imprisoned (I mean quarantined) at home for four months! My kindergarten buddies (and Jesus) helped me to survive. Think of a friend or neighbor who is homebound, lonely or discouraged today. Teach your child to do what my little friends did for me. Here’s my story: “Julie, what’s wrong?” “Where’d you go?” “I miss you!” In those tear-filled moments when I was so weak I could hardly speak, my buddies knew how to comfort me. They cried when I cried. No expectations. No questions. Just acceptance and consolation. I learned so much from their empathy and tenderness. My fifth year of life was a nightmare. TV was my sole source of companionship. My two-year-old sister Kathy was worthless in the friend department. All she knew how to do was cry and break all my toys. (She grew up to be loving and amazing, however!) My baby sitter, Mrs. Richardson, was nice enough. But all she did was make lunch and put us in time-out when we sassed her or trashed the living room. I had high hopes for kindergarten. Momma crossed off the sultry summer days on our refrigerator calendar anticipating my first day of school. As the grasshopper chirps subsided and chiggers ceased to chomp, the brisk fall air signaled my chance at freedom. Kindergarten!!!! I obtained the required list of school supplies: a box of pencils, a 24-pack of Crayolas, a lined tablet and a Barbie lunchbox with matching thermos. I was no longer a silly baby like my sister; I was almost grown-up, ready to tackle the bright shiny world of play-dough and paste. September blew by quickly. I was getting my kindergarten sea legs. Little boys were evil, full of burps and boogers. Some of the girls were catty and mean. But I adored my teacher, and I loved recess and snacks. I devoured cookies and milk-a well-deserved prize after naptime. Mrs. Vineyard was beautiful, funny and cheery (before lunch). October rolled around and I was a preschool pro. I knew my ABC’s, I could count to a thousand without blinking an eye, and I dunked my Oreos in milk while my teacher picked up blocks or snored in her seat after story time. After all, twenty five-year-old kids could squeeze the life out of any self-respecting grownup. Then disaster struck. Just as we started tracing Halloween pumpkins and the fall air turned chilly, I got sick. My temperature soared and my head hurt. Mom rushed me to the doc. Dr. Pharo was my debonair pediatrician. No, he was not Egyptian royalty, but he was pretty cool. The good doctor had dark, wavy hair, a toothy grin and a starched white coat that stood up by itself. Although his office was chock-full of blocks, choo-choo trains and Highlights magazines, every kid knew the brutal truth: behind those brightly colored doors was a shot. Dr. Pharo swaggered into the examining room as I shivered on the tissue-covered table in my underwear. “How’s my little trooper today?” he queried. Before I could answer, he gagged me with a tongue depressor and poked me vigorously in the tummy. “A few too many Vanilla Wafers, huh?” the doc smirked. I was full of Reese’s pieces and it was none of his business! “Let’s look in those little ears…” He poked and prodded. “Wow, you could grow flowers in that earwax.” I was incensed. Mom tried to stick soapy Q-tips in my ear holes occasionally, but to no avail. After the ear check, Dr. Pharo pressed his icy stethoscope to my chest. When I inhaled and coughed, his dapper demeanor immediately grew sober. The thermometer read 103 degrees. You could fry an egg on my forehead. When he lifted up my little cotton gown, my tummy was covered with red blotches. Mom assumed I had contracted a routine case of German Measles, but my measles were not German and my pox were not chicken. Dr. Pharo concluded that I had contracted a roaring case of Scarlet Fever and pneumonia. Our house was quarantined and I was confined to bed. Dr. Pharo gave Mom a long list of prescriptions and recommended I receive a series of gammagobulin shots over the next three months. A yearly vaccine was one thing, but a series of shots? No way. My fate was sealed and my torture was imminent. I knew the drill. The Batman band-aids and green lollipops didn’t make everything better. A shot was a shot. I had a drawer full of lollipops and tootsie rolls and I would trade them all in for one less inoculation. As the fall turned into winter, my condition worsened. I was really, really, really sick. My mom stayed home from work to swath my forehead with cold washcloths and to rock me as I sobbed. At night, she clutched me to her chest while I gasped for air, but then she dropped off to sleep. I lay awake listening to jazz on the radio, trying to make my heaving chest match the slow, undulating rhythm of the music. When I visited the doctor in the weeks to follow, he would shake his head and give me another shot in the bottom. At that point, I was too ill to care. My friends couldn’t visit me because our house was off limits, and I dreaded the lonely nights of wheezing and coughing. My annoying little sister stayed at Grandma’s to avoid “the plague,” and Mrs. Richardson, my nanny, also kept her distance as much as possible. Weeks turned into months. I coughed through Christmas, I whined through January, and by February I had given up hope of returning to Mrs. Vineyard’s class. Had God forgotten me? I couldn’t even go outside and smell the fresh air. I was a prisoner in my own house. Chutes and Ladders without a playmate is just Chutes. Shoot! I’ll bet my kindergarten buddies didn’t even remember that I existed. The doc said I was improving and might be able to return to kindergarten in March. But four more weeks at home seemed like an eternity. I had been sentenced to solitary confinement by this evil disease. I begged for a puppy, but mom said that furry creatures might make me wheeze. On a particularly frosty, gloomy winter morning, I sat in my little bedroom rocker gazing at pictures of Hansel and Gretel that I had seen five hundred times. Although I couldn’t read, I knew the story by heart and determined I’d plan a bold escape from my bedroom dungeon and leave a graham cracker-crumb trail on the sidewalk in case I needed to find my way home. At least running away would let me breathe the outside air for just a little while. Just before I made my break, I heard a knock at the front door. It didn’t sound like a grown-up knock, but a little kid’s rap-tap-tap. My heart pounded with excitement! Who was at the door? Was my little sis coming home? Did Donnie Scott from next door learn that I was soon to be germ-free? I didn’t care. I just wanted to see a friendly face from the outside world. I peered out of the frosty window and couldn’t believe my eyes. Tommy, the toughest kid in my class, smiled and presented me with a box-an enormous beautiful cardboard box covered with construction paper hearts and doilies. He handed me the present, blushed, waved and ran toward the pick-up truck sputtering in the driveway. What treasure would I find? I lifted the lid and gasped at its contents-a veritable treasure trove of handmade cards, candy and an unopened box of Hershey’s kisses. The large letter on the top was from Mrs. Vineyard. “Dear Julie,” she wrote, “we are so sorry you have been sick. Our bunny class is not the same without you. Please come back to us soon!” My heart leapt with joy. I had been missed! Card after card had messages like “Be well” or “Come back” scrawled in red crayon. The girl’s cards were painstakingly neat. The boy’s notes were rattier, but they still managed to say something kind like “Stop sniffing-start living” or “Get well, Stupid.” I never felt so valued. It didn’t matter that my teacher had probably threatened them within an inch of their lives if they didn’t complete the assignment. I could care less if the mean boys teased me when I returned. God, in His own way, had taken time to show His love for me through a few scrawny, hyperactive five-year-olds. There is a “someone” in your life who is suffering. You can be “Jesus” to them today! “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.” 2 Corinthians 1:3-5 Here are a few activities to teach your children kindness and compassion: 1. Make a homemade card with your child for an elderly neighbor. Write a prayer for them as well. 2. “Carol” your neighbors by singing Jesus songs on their porch. 3. Fill a box with practical items like soap, paper goods (if you have them!) and add some homemade cookies. (Be sure hands are washed and the items are disinfected). 4. Contact a sick family member or neighbor via FaceTime, Skype, or other online ways to connect. 5. Help your kids to take photos and text them to encourage someone. 6. Make a prayer list with your kids to use when you say bedtime prayers together. 7. Help your child write thank-you cards to special people in their lives. 8. Take time to talk to family (especially grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins). frequently. Don’t just text. Call them. They need to hear your child’s voice. 9. Collect canned goods and take them to a food bank. 10. Tell your child to say “thank you” to doctors, nurses, firemen and policemen who serve us during this difficult time. (at an acceptable distance, of course!) 11. Read stories Jesus taught about helping others, like the Good Samaritan. ‘Master, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink? And when did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to you?’ Then the King will say, ‘I’m telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.’ Matthew 25:40 MSG

God never guarantees that the Christian life will be smooth or easy. In fact, he promises the opposite: “All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” ( 2 Timothy 3:12, NKJV ). We’re not to be surprised when we face great difficulties (see  1 Peter 4:12 ). All the psalms of lament, the book of Lamentations, and many other Scripture passages reveal the importance of realism and sorrow in the Christian life. No treatment of joy and happiness should deny or minimize such texts. Indeed, a truly biblical worldview and an authentic doctrine of joy and happiness fully recognize and embrace the realities of suffering in this present age. The happiness described in Scripture is all the richer because it doesn’t involve denial or pretense and can be experienced amid severe difficulty. Christ-followers don’t preach the flimsy kind of happiness that’s built on wishful thinking. Instead, our basis for happiness remains true—and sometimes becomes clearer—in suffering. Rejoicing Is Rooted in Our God, Not Our Circumstances Rejoicing always in the Lord (see  Philippians 4:4 ) may seem unrealistic at times. But we must remember that this rejoicing is centered not in a passing circumstance but in a constant reality—God Himself, and His Son, Jesus, who died for us and rose again. On the one hand, we might suppose that Scripture doesn’t command us to rejoice in our nation’s condition, our culture’s trajectory, our spouse’s attitude, our child’s struggle, our church’s conflicts, our job loss, or our poor health. On the other hand, we’re told to “always [give] thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” ( Ephesians 5:20, NIV ). Likewise, Scripture tells us to “give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” ( 1 Thessalonians 5:18, NIV ). I don’t think this means that we are to rejoice in evil, per se, since God hates evil ( Zechariah 8:17 ;  Proverbs 6:16-19 ) and commands us to hate it ( Psalm 97:10 ;  Proverbs 8:13 ;  Romans 12:9 ). I do think it means that we should believe  Romans 8:28 , which tells us God will work all things together for our good, including evil things that happen to us. Believing this frees us to thank God in the middle of difficult and even evil circumstances, knowing that in His sovereign grace, He is accomplishing great, eternal purposes in us through these things. We’re told to rejoice in the Lord and to “consider it all joy” when we face hardship ( James 1:2, NASB ). Choosing to rejoice, by rehearsing reasons to be happy and grateful while suffering, affirms trust in God. We walk by faith, believing in what God has done, is doing, and will do to bring a good end to all that troubles us. This response requires faith that God lovingly superintends our challenges. Viewing our sufferings as random or obsessing over someone else’s bad choices that caused our sufferings robs us of happiness. A weak, small, or faulty view of God always poisons the well of our contentment. The more we grow in our understanding of God’s attributes, the happier we become. We Have a Sovereign and Loving God The deeper our knowledge of God’s character, the deeper our reservoir of strength, perspective, and happiness in hard times. Who is this God we are to trust? What is He really like? As we have dealt with her cancer over the past two years, Nanci and I have spent time meditating on the attributes of God, rereading and listening to audiobooks such as  The Knowledge of the Holy  by A. W. Tozer and  Knowing God  by J. I. Packer and  Trusting God  by Jerry Bridges. Our hearts are lifted in praise as we contemplate His holiness, grace, justice, mercy, and every facet of His being revealed to us in Scripture. Scripture teaches that we have a God who loves us and is sovereign over the universe, including all evil. We can’t be happy, and remain happy, without believing in the sovereignty of a loving God. The beauty of the Christian worldview is that while we’re encouraged to take initiative and control what’s within our power, we also know that the enormous part of life we can’t control is under God’s governance. Scripture tells us, “Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases” ( Psalm 115:3 ). It assures us, “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps” ( Proverbs 16:9 ). And since God is eternally wise and good and happy, and we’re not, we’re far better off with Him, not us, in control. Gratitude Is Central One surefire way to raise our level of happiness in times of suffering is choosing to be thankful. In every circumstance, no matter how difficult, we can give thanks to God and experience his joy.  Ephesians 5:18-20  says, “Be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Being Spirit controlled is inseparable from giving thanks in everything. When Nanci and I had to cancel a trip we were really looking forward to, we began to contemplate all the good things that we could do with the time we now had. Then we started doing those good things and got excited about them. Instead of clinging to unhappiness for something we lost, we found happiness in something we gained. Whether we find ourselves having reason to celebrate or to mourn, there’s never a time not to express our gratitude to God.  Psalm 140:13  declares, “Surely the righteous shall give thanks to your name.” While it may seem hard to “make ourselves happy,” it’s not hard to choose to give thanks, which in turn always kindles happiness. No matter how difficult our circumstances, the happiness thanksgiving generates is always within our reach. Our Suffering Will End Even if the worst suffering of our lives still lies ahead of us, our loving God assures us it will be for only a short time. But He promises far more—a future payoff for our present sufferings: Our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. ( Romans 8:18, NIV ) Our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. ( 2 Corinthians 4:17, NIV ) In light of that eternal glory being achieved for us by our momentary troubles, Paul offers the following words of eternal perspective: “We fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” ( 2 Corinthians 4:18, NIV ). This verse has always cleared my head, and that’s why I named our organization Eternal Perspective Ministries. How wonderful to be promised not only that our present sufferings will end but also that even now they have a hidden purpose that will forever outlast this life! The more we fix our eyes on what’s presently unseen, the more we can experience reassurance and comfort and the increase in happiness they inevitably bring. That’s why Scottish evangelist Duncan Matheson (1824–1869) prayed, “Lord, stamp eternity upon my eyeballs.” A normal day as resurrected people on the New Earth will be far better than the best day we’ve ever experienced here. And we will one day see our worst day on Earth under the Curse as not having been wasted but as making a positive and eternal difference. www.epm.org . This article is excerpted from Randy’s book  Does God Want Us to Be Happy?

Like it or not, digital is your new default as a leader. Everyone’s world has changed radically in the last week. And it will likely change even more in the weeks ahead. As a result, you’re leading your team and people remotely, and, church leaders, you will be heading into your first digital Easter. How do you lead in that environment? My phone has been buzzing with questions, so let me offer a few broad thoughts that I hope can help. They’re mostly broad principles because what we’re facing is an entirely unpredictable and unprecedented crisis. This is part of a Crisis Leadership series to help leaders navigate the pandemic. Here are the other (free) resources you can access: Crisis Leadership, Christian Leadership and the Coronavirus Epidemic How to Lead Through Rapid, Unexpected Change Things are changing hourly. But I’m hoping these principles can guide you and your team into the days and weeks ahead. The principles in this post will work for most leaders, but in this post, I want to particularly drill down on doing  church  digitally. My next post will be on leading teams digitally within any organization. Anyway, here are 8 ways to lead in the new digital default church. 1. MAKE DECISIONS FOR TODAY, NOT FOR FOREVER I’ve seen some leaders say the church as we knew it is over, that home church with digital shepherds is the new default , or that whatever they’re peddling is the new normal. Not so fast. That’s very premature. Do I think things will go back to the way they were? No, I do not. We’ll clearly begin to see a new normal at some point. But here’s the truth: you and I have  zero  idea what the new normal  is , and have  zero  idea when the new normal will  start . We can’t even see the bottom of this crisis yet.  So don’t worry about what’s going to happen on the other side. It’s pure, useless speculation. What you need to do is make the best decision for  now , not for forever. With the situation unfolding the way it is, changes happen in minutes that used to take hours, hours have become like days, and days like weeks. So don’t worry about tomorrow, focus on serving people  today. 2. MAKE THE MISSION YOUR FOCUS, NOT THE METHODS So what filter should you use for decision making then? Simple. Make your  mission  bigger than your  methods . What’s felt so frightening over the last while is that the methods we’ve used for decades (centuries) collapsed before our eyes. The mission hasn’t. Your methods will continue to flex. Churches that held services inside buildings last week with no congregation either already can’t or likely won’t be able to do that soon as gatherings of 10 or more or any size are banned. Large churches with studios who offered their buildings to smaller churches with no gear likely won’t be able to do that for long. Again, maybe not by the time you’re reading this post. (Why? Because your production crew alone is usually larger than 10 people.) Is that the end? No… The model is temporary but the mission is eternal. In a world that’s falling apart, the mission feels more  relevant  today than it felt a month ago. The  methods  will change weekly. Here’s a quick practical exercise that will take five minutes. I did it with my team earlier this week (remotely via Zoom). Pull out your mission and values statement. Then ask your team which ones rise to the surface. We have values like “Serve first” “Pursue Health” and “Choose Trust” that immediately jumped out at people. Guess what? THOSE haven’t changed. They provide a filter through which we can serve in this crisis to help people thrive in life and leadership. The methods? They change. But at least now you remember what you’re about. In a time of crisis, make your mission central. Make your methods temporary. 3. GET INNOVATIVE…FAST What you’re probably spending a lot of time doing right now is figuring out how to do what you  used  to do. Um, that’s gone. It’s history. Instead, spend your time on is what you  can  do. Focus on what’s possible, not what you’ve lost. Church leaders, trying to revive up what you can’t do is a far less effective strategy than focusing on what you CAN do. In these early days of this crisis I’ve seen church leaders: Launch a daily podcast to connect with their church Start YouTube channels Get active on Instagram Take email way more seriously Do live prayer services on Zoom Leverage Facebook Live, Watch Parties and Groups And I’m sure there’s 1000 more examples out there. Just to give you an example from my own life…I just saw a significant part of my next few months traveling and speaking vaporize. In about 26 hours, all my speaking engagements are cancelled (and wisely so). I could sit in the corner or pretend to do virtual speaking or conferences, but instead, I asked myself: what does this make possible? In a single day I went from an idea of launching a new podcast to a full partnership for a brand a new podcast (watch this space). I also started writing more posts like this, launching this crisis series. We turned  one conference into a digital experience  and made it better. These ideas all came out of the last week, and as a result, we were able to help thousands more leaders almost instantly. It certainly beats sitting around wondering why things aren’t the way they used to be. ALL of this is an opportunity to serve…and you need to seize that opportunity. When I look back on my ‘success’ over the last few decades, a lot of my breakthrough moments came through crisis situations where we weren’t sure what to do, so we just did whatever seemed best. Necessity is the mother of invention. Crisis can become the cradle of innovation. 4. THINK ABOUT MEANING, MESSAGE AND CONNECTION WAY MORE THAN YOU THINK ABOUT PRODUCTION So week one of digital church was congregations live-streaming services from an empty auditorium. For reasons already stated, that’s likely not possible moving forward. On top of that, it’s a little weird—weird on the level of sports teams playing in empty arenas, which didn’t last long either. Right now church leaders are worried about production levels, lighting and optics. It can create a have/have not environment: churches with resources thrive while churches without great production fail. Again, not so fast. Production values become far less important when there’s a bigger battle going on. You know what the world needs right now? Meaning Message Connection Focus on meaning, message and connection, and you’ll always have an audience. 5. SIMPLE AND REAL BEATS POLISHED AND PROFESSIONAL If you’re studio-less, which many of you probably are by now, just remember to be simple and real. Simple and real beats polished and professional in a crisis like this. You’re probably reading this post on the only device you need to influence the people you lead in the future—your phone. Your phone is probably even 4k…way more than the web requires. For a few dollars you can buy a good mic (here’s  one I use …attach with the adapter your iPhone comes with), get into some good natural light or use a  circle ring light , and  tripod  you can put on a desk, mantle or table. Boom…there’s your studio for under $100. My friend Brady Shearer has a  ton of  social and online tips  on his social. You want to have a decent camera angle and not look like a slob when you don’t have a studio, but seriously, the internet flattened the world a long time ago. You don’t need a million dollars to make a difference. Ask any YouTuber. 6. THINK DAILY, NOT WEEKLY Our past model of church was hyper-focused on weekends, and I get that. But let me ask you a question: how often do you need hope, encouragement and connection? If you’re like me, every single day. Same with your people. Now more than ever, you can take the energy you used to put into gathering on Sunday into ministry on Monday. Still gather on Sundays of course, but as production simplifies and messages go mobile, you will have time, energy and focus to work on daily ways to inspire. Want some really low hanging fruit? A few years ago I saw that social media was not producing what it used to produce in terms of being able to connect content like this with my audience. So I did something I was terrified of: started email people almost daily with a link to content like this. I was terrified people were going to hate me, unsubscribe and bang down my door with baseball bats. Let me just say I was shocked when they thanked me. And subscribed. And told their friends to subscribe. My email list has grown significantly. And while I get a few dozen unsubscribes a day, we get far more people joining the list than leaving it. And a great open rate. Go figure. The key to seeing that happen for you (regardless of choosing email, social, YouTube or whatever), is to focus on serving people. Don’t spam them… help  them. If you can help people, they’ll be thrilled to hear from you. And suddenly, thanks to digital church as the new default, you can go from helping people weekly to helping people daily. 7.  LEVERAGE YOUR PEOPLE TO REACH MORE PEOPLE For years leaders have said “you don’t go to church, you are the church”. That takes on a whole new meaning when no one can go to church anymore. The truth is for most of your congregation, church is something they went to, not something they really had ownership in beyond their involvement. What if that changed….now? You can leverage the power of your social media and your church’s social media to get the message out, but the real force multiplier happens when you leverage the power of  everyone’s  social network to get the message out. My guess is your congregation has never been more motivated to do that than right now. First, people are growing lonelier by the day. Second, when a disruption like this one happens, people are willing to change their patterns. Third, people are looking for hope. Think about it: everyone you want to reach is online. It’s finally time to act like it. Everyone you want to reach is online. Act like it.CLICK TO TWEET Last weekend at our church, our  Lead Pastor Jeff Brodie  asked everyone to share the link to our weekend livestream with their friends. People did. Rather than shrinking, we grew from a 1500 people in physical attendance and maybe 1000 watch live online on Sunday, to many times that. On the first day we couldn’t meet, we grew. If you think of online church as an obstacle, it will be. If you think of online church as an opportunity, it will be. It’s pretty much that simple. 8. REPURPOSE YOUR ARCHIVE Churches are famous for focusing on what’s next. The relentless pressure of Sunday has you always focused on a new message, new music and the next weekend. However…you have an archive. Some of you have an audio archive of MP3 messages. Some of you have a podcast. Others have years of YouTube videos or services captured in HD that sit on some website nobody visits. Leverage those. One of the questions I get all the time is “how do you write so much content?” People who subscribe to my email list ask me all the time how I come up with so many insights. I tell them….It’s easy. I’ve been writing for  seven  years. Just because your content isn’t brand new doesn’t mean it won’t be new to your audience. Especially a new audience. (And don’t flatter yourself…most of your church has no idea what you said last year, or last month. Neither does mine.) Back to this website. Sure, I write several fresh posts a week and write a new email every day, but that’s just a few hours of work. The bulk of my content has been developed over years. And when it arrives in your inbox, so many leaders tell us every day that it’s exactly what they needed to hear. Here’s what’s true: you may have done your last family series two years ago, but I promise you families haven’t stopped having issues in the last 24 months (quarantine might make that series  way  more relevant). Your last money series may be exactly what someone needs to hear right now. That message you did on hope from the Psalms is exactly what someone feeling at the bottom needs right now. The amazing thing about email, social media and other online channels you have is you can repurpose and reuse content to meet people where they’re at and reach new people who have never met you. Not sure how to run campaigns like that of have a budget to hire staff to do it? Check out services like  Pro Media Fire  (partner link) that can help you for a fraction of the cost of a typical staff hire. Great older content  works . If you’re having trouble communicating with your kids, do you care that Gary Chapman’s Five Love Languages was written in the 90s? Nope. You don’t. You read it. It changes things. The key is to share these on weekdays and on other channels  throughout the week while you’re still directing people to what’s next and new on the weekend. People don’t care if a message is new nearly as much as they care if a message is great. Don’t believe this? How many times have you re-watched The Office or Friends? Last weekend at our church, our  Lead Pastor Jeff Brodie  asked everyone to share the link to our weekend livestream with their friends. People did. Rather than shrinking, we grew from a 1500 people in physical attendance and maybe 1000 watch live online on Sunday, to many times that. On the first day we couldn’t meet, we grew. If you think of online church as an obstacle, it will be. If you think of online church as an opportunity, it will be. It’s pretty much that simple. www.careynieuwhof.com .  Used by permission.

This is one of my favorite prayers, expressing the power and presence of God: The Prayer of Saint Patrick I arise today Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity, Through a belief in the Threeness, Through confession of the Oneness Of the Creator of creation. I arise today Through the strength of Christ’s birth and His baptism, Through the strength of His crucifixion and His burial, Through the strength of His resurrection and His ascension, Through the strength of His descent for the judgment of doom. I arise today Through the strength of the love of cherubim, In obedience of angels, In service of archangels, In the hope of resurrection to meet with reward, In the prayers of patriarchs, In preachings of the apostles, In faiths of confessors, In innocence of virgins, In deeds of righteous men. I arise today Through the strength of heaven; Light of the sun, Splendor of fire, Speed of lightning, Swiftness of the wind, Depth of the sea, Stability of the earth, Firmness of the rock. I arise today Through God’s strength to pilot me; God’s might to uphold me, God’s wisdom to guide me, God’s eye to look before me, God’s ear to hear me, God’s word to speak for me, God’s hand to guard me, God’s way to lie before me, God’s shield to protect me, God’s hosts to save me From snares of the devil, From temptations of vices, From every one who desires me ill, Afar and anear, Alone or in a multitude. I summon today all these powers between me and evil, Against every cruel merciless power that opposes my body and soul, Against incantations of false prophets, Against black laws of pagandom, Against false laws of heretics, Against craft of idolatry, Against spells of women and smiths and wizards, Against every knowledge that corrupts man’s body and soul. Christ shield me today Against poison, against burning, Against drowning, against wounding, So that reward may come to me in abundance. Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left, Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me, Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me, Christ in the eye that sees me, Christ in the ear that hears me. I arise today Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity, Through a belief in the Threeness, Through a confession of the Oneness Of the Creator of creation. Recovering reliable historical information about many of early Christians is difficult if not impossible, and Saint Patrick (c. 390–461) is no exception. Born in Scotland, Patrick was imprisoned and taken to Ireland when he was about sixteen years old. He retuned to Scotland, only to have a dream in which the people of Ireland called out to him, “we beg you, holy youth, to come and walk among us once again.” He did return, and although the details are obscure and the legends are large, he wandered and ministered in Ireland for over thirty years, converting many in the nation.

How do you quantify fear? How do you measure anxiety? None of us knows what lies ahead of us with the COVID-19 (coronavirus) situation. When scientists’ predictions range from tens of thousands to 10 million deaths worldwide, [i]  you realize that it is impossible to gauge what the impact will be. That uncertainty is fuel for fear; it fans the anxieties of our hearts. Fear Not But, dear Christian, we are not called to fear. We are not called to anxiety. “[W]hich of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?” Jesus asks in  Matthew 6:27 . We know Jesus is right, but how do we stop the cycle of anxiety in our hearts? John reminds us that “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear” ( 1 John 4:18 ). Where do we find the answer to anxiety? In love. God’s love, to be specific. “Fear not,” God says to us, “for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God” ( Isaiah 41:10 ). God doesn’t promise us that our circumstances will change. He promises himself. In the midst of crises he’s still God and he’s still with us. What more could we ask for? In Hebrews we are reminded again of this beautiful promise, “[W]e can confidently say, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?” ( Hebrews 13:6 ). In  Philippians 4:6 , Paul exhorts us, [D]o not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” Take captive anxious thoughts and give them to God in prayer. They are his, not yours. Courage in Crisis What if we could re-frame a crisis and see opportunity instead? These are days of opportunity and we are called to courage. When tragedy strikes, Christians lean in. When natural disasters hit, the church is mobilized. When a crisis sweeps through a nation, it is Christians who are the first responders. Consider the early church. In 165 AD, a devastating epidemic known as the Plague of Galen (also known as the Antonine Plague) swept through the Roman Empire. The plague lasted an fifteen years. More than a quarter of the population was killed. One generation after the Plague of Galen abated, The Plague of Cyprian (251-266 AD) spread from Africa through the West. Half of those who came in contact with the plague died. [ii]  The two plagues flattened the empire. During both of these plagues, many of those who had the financial means to flee, did so. Cities were abandoned by government officials. Dead family members were left on the roads, untreated and unburied. Christians, however, stayed and cared for their sick neighbors. In 260 AD, Bishop Dionysius of Corinth spoke of the horrors of the encroaching plague. He shared that “out of the blue came this disease, a thing…more frightful than any disaster…” But, for Bishop Dionysius, the plague was an opportunity for Christians to pass through God’s “schooling and testing.” And indeed, most Christians passed the test with flying colors. Dionysius praised the church, “Most of our brother Christians showed unbounded love and loyalty, never sparing themselves, and thinking only of one another. Heedless of danger, they took charge of the sick, attending to their every need and ministering to them in Christ, and with them departed this life serenely happy; for they were infected by others with the disease, drawing on themselves the sickness of their neighbors and cheerfully accepting their pains.” Dionysius continued, reflecting that the death of those who died as a result of nursing their sick neighbors, “seems in every way the equal of martyrdom.” The Christians reputation for running into the fire was so well known, that the pagan emperor Julian in 362 AD wrote the high priest in Galatia, saying that those leaving paganism for Christianity were doing so because of the Christians’ “moral character, even if pretended,” and by their “benevolence toward strangers and care for the graves of the dead.” Tertullian, whose early life was lived under the veil of the Plague of Galen wrote, “It is our care of the helpless, our practice of loving kindness that brands us in the eyes of many of our opponents. ‘Only look,’ they say, ‘look how they love one another.’” Jesus, Paul, and Crisis Jesus would not have been surprised. He was the one who reminded his followers that loving your neighbor looked like picking up the stripped, bloody, and half-dead stranger and caring for him ( Luke 10:29-37 ). And it was Jesus, who, the night before he died told his disciples that their love for one another would be a witness to the world ( John 17:20-21 ). Paul framed the threat of death that hung over his life with an eternal perspective. It was the promise of eternal life with Christ that gave Paul courage. In  2 Corinthians 5:6-8 , Paul reminds the church: So, we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. Paul spoke these same words to himself. He begins his letter to the church at Philippi, encouraging them that, while he is imprisoned under the threat of death, he takes courage in looking to eternity with Christ and the proclamation of the gospel through his death. He says, Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain  ( Philippians 1:18 b-21). Eternity frames our perspective. We know Christ is with us today, and we will be face to face with him in the new heavens and the new earth. And that changes everything. Not Foolishness, but Courage A family friend of ours once packed his bags in the midst of a dangerous crisis across the world to go help. His heart ached for the suffering they were enduring, and he wanted to help rescue those in need. While his intentions were predominantly good, he was also motivated by the adrenaline rush (and a desire for a little limelight was likely in his heart as well). Most importantly, his presence didn’t actually help anyone in need. He did not demonstrate the gospel in his heroic act. He demonstrated foolishness. In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic please do not be foolish. Make choices that promote your own health and the public’s welfare. Help slow the advance of coronavirus. Don’t minimize what is a serious global threat. Wash your hands. Sanitize surfaces. Limit physical contact. As the CDC has recommended, avoid gatherings. Help protect the elderly and those whose immune systems are compromised. I’m proud of how our country has responded. Let us heed the wisdom of the experts. But in addition to wise living, we ought to also demonstrate faith and courage. Don’t obsess over COVID-19 coverage. Don’t make choices that are driven purely by self-preservation. Speak hope. Speak courage. Speak faith. Care for those in need. Pray to the Creator and Savior of all. And act courageously. Not foolishly. But courageously. This will look different for every person depending on their age, health, and situation. For all of us it means that we ought to lean in to our family, friends, and neighbors who are fearful and need to hear the good news of Jesus Christ who brings peace in anxious times. When God calls you, run toward the fire. Christians run toward the fire.

In Revelation, after the apostle John describes the river of life, he mentions another striking feature: “On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations” ( Revelation 22:2 ). The tree of life is mentioned three times in Genesis 2 , in Eden, and again four times in Revelation, three of those in the final chapter. These instances seem to refer to Eden’s literal tree of life. We’re told the tree of life is presently in Paradise, the intermediate Heaven ( Revelation 2:7 ). The New Jerusalem itself, also in the present Heaven, will be brought down, tree of life and all, and placed on the New Earth ( Revelation 21:2 ). Just as the tree was apparently relocated from Eden to the present Heaven, it will be relocated again to the New Earth. In Eden, the tree appears to have been a source of ongoing physical life. The presence of the tree of life suggests a supernatural provision of life as Adam and Eve ate the fruit their Creator provided. Adam and Eve were designed to live forever, but to do so they likely needed to eat from the tree of life. Once they sinned, they were banned from the Garden, separated from the tree, and subject to physical death, just as they had experienced spiritual death. Since Eden, death has reigned throughout history. But on the New Earth, our access to the tree of life is forever restored. (Notice that there’s no mention of a tree of the knowledge of good and evil to test us. The redeemed have already known sin and its devastation; they will desire it no more.) In the New Earth, we will freely eat the fruit of the same tree that nourished Adam and Eve: “To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God” ( Revelation 2:7 ). Once more human beings will draw their strength and vitality from this tree. The tree will produce not one crop but twelve. The newness and freshness of Heaven is demonstrated in the monthly yield of fruit. The fruit is not merely to be admired but consumed. The description of the tree of life in Revelation 22  mirrors precisely what’s prophesied in the Old Testament: “Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing” ( Ezekiel 47:12 ). Commentator William Hendriksen suggests: “The term ‘tree of life’ is collective, just like ‘avenue’ and ‘river.’ The idea is not that there is just one single tree. No, there is an entire park: whole rows of trees alongside the river; hence, between the river and the avenue. And this is true with respect to all the avenues of the city. Hence, the city is just full of parks, cf.  Rev. 2:7 . Observe, therefore, this wonderful truth: the city is full of rivers of life. It is also full of parks containing trees of life. These trees, moreover, are full of fruit.”[1] This broader view of the tree of life would account for the fact that the tree grows on both sides of a great river at once and yields twelve different kinds of fruit. (Of course, even if Hendriksen is wrong in supposing that the tree of life is collective, it is reasonable that just as there were other trees in Eden, there will be other trees on the New Earth.) John also tells us that “the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations” ( Revelation 22:2 ). For the third time in Revelation 21–22 , the inhabitants of the New Earth are referred to as nations. Nations will not be eliminated but healed. But since we won’t experience pain or disease in Heaven, what’s the point of leaves for healing? Perhaps they, like the tree’s fruit, will have life-sustaining or life-enhancing properties that will help people maintain health and energy. Our physical life and health, even our healing, comes not from our intrinsic immortal nature but from partaking of God’s gracious provision in the fruit and leaves of the tree of life. Hence, our well-being is not granted once for all but will be forever sustained and renewed as we depend on Him and draw from His provision. Browse more resources  on the topic of Heaven, and see Randy’s  related books , including  Heaven . [1] William Hendriksen,  More Than Conquerors: An Interpretation of the Book of Revelation  (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1961), 249. www.epm.org .  Used by permission.

“Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you; love her, and she will watch over you.” Proverbs 4:6 I am sure you have asked yourself many times why you keep making the same bad choice over and over again. I know I have! Recently, this happened to me; my schedule was so busy, and my husband and I had little time to rest. As a result, what was a very little issue on a phone call with someone we know turned into an explosive fight because of our bad assumptions and decisions. However, we eventually calmed down and analyzed the root causes of our choices, and how we could learn from the situation in order to avoid making the same wrong decisions over and over again. In this week’s blog and podcast, I discuss the four main reasons we make bad decisions, how to stop making these decisions, how to become a proactive decision maker and how to re-train your brain to make better choices. There are two main parts to this process: first, understanding how to be a proactive decision-maker, and, second, recognizing the conditions under which bad decisions are generally made. Let’s talk about being a proactive decision maker first: We are thinking beings. As we think, we feel, and as we feel, we choose. We are literally doing this every 10 seconds in response to an incoming stream of signals from our environment. The signals are from people, discussions, social media, relationships, work, texts, calls emails, the news–life in general. This thinking, feeling and choosing response is our mind-in-action. It is filtered through the complexity of our own experiences—our stored memories. These memories move into the conscious mind in response to these signals of life, influencing our perceptions and worldview. They therefore need to be analyzed in a deliberate and intentional way to see if the perspective they provide is healthy or toxic. We literally need to train ourselves to observe our thinking and feeling (in response to incoming information) and analyze them objectively before making a decision, otherwise we can fall prey to reactive and potentially harmful choices. This deliberate, intentional, self-regulative way of thinking is proactive, and the good news is that our brains will respond in a very healthy way if we practice doing this on a regular basis. In fact, when we do this we become smarter and wiser! Part of this process is what I call “mental autopsy”: we examine our past bad decisions, deciding what our triggers were, what was wrong with how we reacted, what perspectives dominated our thinking, feeling and choosing, and how we can learn from these situations and react better in the future. Doing a mental-autopsy on past bad decisions will help prevent you from making the same mistakes again! This kind of decision-making is very different to reactive decision-making, which is “shooting from the hip” and impulsive. You don’t analyze or learn from your mistakes, which can lead to a pattern of wrong decisions. This is what happened in my fight with my husband—we made assumptions because we did not take the time to examine our perceptions and our thinking, feeling and choosing. We let our emotions get the better of us, which made the situation worse! Indeed, making a decision on assumptions is one of the major reasons we make wrong decisions! It is always vital to ask yourself if what you are thinking is based on fact or based on your own assumptions, which are often mistaken. So, how can you do this in your life? We have as humans the ability to stand back and observe our own thinking, feeling and choosing and existing upcoming memories, as well as the perspectives they provide, and weigh this all up and decide if it’s good for us—this is called our Multiple Perspective Advantage (MPA for short, which I discuss in my book Switch On Your Brain). As you do this, you become an objective observer, disassociating yourself from the situation you are in, almost as though you are helping someone else evaluate their thinking, feeling, choosing and perspective. In this way, you can analyze the pros and cons of how you are viewing a particular situation, and what the best next steps are. Now, let’s review the conditions under which it is so easy to make a bad decision: 1. Making decisions when tired: the brain has limited energy and needs recharging. We do this through lifestyle choices like good nutrition and exercise, but, even more so, with good mind-management techniques. Our mind is infinite and tireless; our brains are finite and get tired. When tired, chemicals don’t flow like they should and the internal networks of the brain can get stuck or over-fire. This is akin to driving through a storm with broken wind screen wipers, which is what happened in the fight with my husband. It is therefore so important that we take regular mental health breaks in the day in the form of “thinker moments”, where we daydream for a few moments to a few minutes – I recommend a minute or so every hour. These moments give your brain a rest and allow it to reboot and heal by letting your mind wander and daydream, which increases your clarity of thought and organizes the networks of your brain, rather than just letting toxic mindsets build up in the brain. Also, make sure you take a decent break midday, control the number of hours you work in a day (as much as possible), take mental vacations by watching your favorite TV show or reading a good novel, and avoid burnout by listening to the emotional and physical warning signals your body send you. 2. Extreme emotions: emotions are physically represented in the brain as chemicals, which are often called “molecules of emotion”. They are attached to information that is vibrating in the protein tree-like memory structures of the brain. We create emotions as we think; if our thinking is chaotic, the thought trees in the brain are chaotic. These are like trees being blown in a bad storm, which can create brain damage and lead to bad choices because we won’t be thinking clearly. When you find yourself in this kind of situation, it is best to do some breathing exercises, which dissipates cortisol and calms down your nervous system. You should also acknowledge out loud how you feel; differentiate, label and write your emotions down. Additionally, you can do a very simple physical exercise like tapping your feet, standing up and walking around for a few seconds, rotating your head, stretching or yawn to shift your focus from your own chaotic thinking and help calm you down. It is also important to let people know when you are feeling extreme emotions and cannot mentally make a decision right now—don’t try hide or suppress how you feel, as this will make things worse! 3. Distractions: these can lead to cognitive multitasking, which affects the flow of quantum and electromagnetic energy throughout our brain circuitry. This, in turn, can reduce intelligence in the moment…just when you need it to make a good decision! We need to recognize that although we as humans can do busy well, we also need to learn how to compartmentalize our tasks. This doesn’t mean you have to slow down. Rather, you just have to get organized by saying things to yourself like “I can’t finish this now but will as soon as I am done sorting this problem…” or “I will make a note of where I am in this document and what I was thinking, so I can pick up here later…”. You can also tell people who need your attention to give you the time to finish what you are doing—don’t just be a “yes man”! This will help you compartmentalize, keeping things tidy in your mind and helping you prioritize what needs attention and what can wait. It’s a choice you have to make to not allow distractions to interrupt your flow. Remember, you control the distractions, the distractions don’t control you! 4. Too many choices at once: these are like too many surges of energy all hitting the brain at once, and can make you feel overwhelmed and stressed out. In many cases, this can lead to decision-making paralysis, or impulse choices that you will later regret. The solution: take the time to sort out your thinking and your choices. You can do this by breathing in and out deeply, imagining holding up a shield around your mind, and then slowly focusing on each choice (one at a time) by writing them down as you speak out loud. Next, prioritize the top 2-3 options and toss the rest; force yourself to not look back at the other options, reminding yourself that even if you made the wrong decision, you learned something! Finally, set a deadline for making a decision.

Max Lucado inspires with these words about how to handle a recession with peace and joy: “Turn on the TV or open a paper and the financial news can be unsettling. “A recession is coming!” says one expert.  “No recession,” argues another.   “Save more, spend less, just in case!” cautions a third.  And with all the conflicting reports, our joy level sinks lower and lower. But does financial security equal personal joy? Does our economic status serve as an accurate barometer of our happiness level? In a classic study psychologists determined that recent winners of the Illinois State Lottery were no happier than recent accident victims who were consequently disabled. The two groups were asked to “rate the amount of pleasure they got from everyday activities: small but enjoyable things like chatting with a friend, watching TV, eating breakfast, laughing at a joke, or receiving a compliment. When the researchers analyzed their results, they found that the recent accident victims reported gaining more happiness from these everyday pleasures than the lottery winners.” [i] Even the thrill of winning the lottery wears off. More money makes truly poor people happier insofar as it relieves pressure from everyday life—getting enough to eat, having a place to live, affording medical care. But once people reach the middle-class income level, even big financial gains don’t yield much, if any, increase in happiness. [ii]   Americans who earn more than $10 million annually report a happiness level only slightly higher than the blue-collar workers they employ. [iii]   As one Harvard professor said, “We think money will bring lots of happiness for a long time, and actually it brings a little happiness for a short time.” [iv] We’ve all seen happy peasants and miserable millionaires, right? There is another option. It requires no credit card, monthly mortgage, or stroke of fortune. It demands no airline tickets or hotel reservations. It stipulates no PhD, MD, or blue-blood pedigree. Age, ethnicity, and gender are not factors. Balmy climates, blue skies, and Botox are not mandated. No resources for psychoanalysis, plastic surgery, or hormone therapy? No problem. You don’t have to change jobs, change cities, change looks, or change neighborhoods. But you might need to change doors. The motto on the front door says “Happiness happens when you get.” The sign on the lesser-used back door counters “Happiness happens when you give.” Doing good does good for the doer. Research bears this out. When volunteers were put in a functional MRI scanner and were told they would be giving some of their money to charity, the areas of their brains associated with pleasure—like food and sex—lit up like Christmas trees. Giving to help others triggers dopamine. [v]   (New fund-raising slogan perhaps?) In another study a team of social psychologists distilled happiness factors into eight common denominators. Two of the first three involve helping others. Happy, contented people “devote a great amount of time to their family and friends, nurturing and enjoying those relationships.” And “they are often the first to offer a helping hand to co-workers and passers-by.” Seeking joy? Do good for someone else. A tender example of this truth came my way just today. I met with a husband and daughter to plan the funeral of the wife and mother. Patty was the picture of unselfishness. We tried to imagine how many kids she had hugged, diapers she had changed, children she had taught, and hearts she had encouraged. To see her smile was to see springtime thaw the winter ice. Three months ago a brain condition had left her unable to speak, partially paralyzed, and living in a rehabilitation center. Her spirits sank so low she did not want to eat and had trouble sleeping. One evening her daughter had an idea. She placed her mother in a wheelchair and rolled her from room to room, looking for people who needed encouragement. It didn’t take long. Though unable to speak, Patty could touch and pray. So she did both. She patted other patients and then placed her hand on their hearts and bowed her head. For the better part of the evening, she touched and prayed her way through the rehab center. That night her appetite returned, and she slept peacefully. The words of Jesus are spot-on: “It is more blessed to give than to receive” ( Acts 22:35 ). Because when you do, it has a boomerang effect. Happiness happens when we give it away. This is such great news. You can’t control your genetics. You aren’t in charge of the weather, the traffic, or the occupant of the White House. But you can always increase the number of smiles on our planet. You can lower the anger level in your city. You—yes, you—can help people to sleep better, laugh more, hum instead of grumble, walk instead of stumble. You can lighten the load and brighten the day of other human beings. And don’t be surprised when you begin to sense a newfound joy yourself.” ©Max Lucado, September 2019

It’s ten o’clock, do you know where your husband is? Apparently many Americans are asking this question, judging by the sales and buzz generated by The Script: The 100% Predictable Things Men Do When They Cheat, a book by Elizabeth Landers and Vicky Mainzer. The book aims to educate women on how to see the “warning signs” that their husband is, to use the parlance of my Deep South upbringing, “running around.” The authors give a list of possible clues: a sudden interest in the gym, buying expensive gifts for his wife, emotional distance. Of particular interest is the authors’ observations about the mind of the adulterous man. He rarely will admit to an affair because he wanted to have sex with an attractive woman. Rather he will use such language as, “I found my soul-mate.” Moreover, he will prepare the way for the affair by letting others know how cold his wife is, often by telling the wife she needs to lose weight or even see a psychiatrist. The woman who laughs at his jokes and plays with his hair, however, now she understands what he’s all about. While reading the book, I couldn’t help but have flashbacks to thousands of incidents in local congregational ministry to families in crisis. These women have the situation sized up perfectly. I wonder, though, how much more susceptible our own congregations are to adultery, precisely because of the ways in which we picture marriage. The “soul-mate” language is self-justifying and self-deceiving, as the apostle Paul tells us sin always is. The promise of the thrilling new lover is vaporous and, in the end, deadly, just as Solomon warned us thousands of years ago (Prov 7). But have we contributed to this with our endless sermon series on “Putting the Sizzle Back in Your Spouse” and “Ten Tips for Couples for a Hotter, Holier Romance”? For years, evangelicals have produced sex manuals and have counseled young couples to maintain date nights and romantic evenings. No doubt fulfilling sex, romantic getaways, and loving affection are necessary for a Christian marriage. Still, have we been neglecting to teach young men and women the self-sacrificial nature of fidelity? Several years ago, an evangelical celebrity told a broadcast television network about her struggle after meeting her “soul-mate,” while married to another man. This was presented as an authentic spiritual dilemma. Perhaps in all our talk of romance and candlelight, we should re-emphasize that sometimes the romance is deferred, sometimes the fireworks are postponed. Perhaps rather than always pointing to the example of a sexy young married couple, we should point our older teenagers and young married couples to the eighty-seven year old man who has been wheeling his wife into the congregation every Sunday for thirty years, since she lost the use of her arms and legs in a stroke, or to the sixty year-old woman who faithfully shaves the face of her Alzheimer’s-riddled husband, even as he curses and swats at a woman he doesn’t remember. Fidelity is sexier than adultery. We know that. And we should encourage every young man to rejoice in the wife of his youth, indeed be intoxicated with her breasts, as the Scriptures tell us (Prov 5:18-19). But adultery always follows a script, as the book reminds us, and this script includes the thrill of romance, a romance that is newer and thus more hormonally sparked than long-lasting love. The adulteress persuades a man, as a butcher slaughters a cow (Prov 7:22). A postponed feast in the Father’s kingdom doesn’t initially seem as appetizing as stones-into-bread to break a 40 day fast (Matt 4:3-4). But why does Jesus defer the joy of eating until after a wilderness temptation–indeed postponing the messianic feast until after a grisly crucifixion? Because he wishes to maintain fidelity to his Bride, with whom he will eat and drink at his Father’s table (Luke 22:14-18). That kind of Christ love must be emphasized by pastors and teachers who emphasize fidelity and sacrifice, and, yes, romance and hot sex too. And this means pastors and church leaders who are willing to reiterate: “Looking for your soul-mate? Her picture’s in your wallet.” www.russellmoore.com . Original article HERE.