The world is in a new state of crisis. We have never before been in a situation like this one and hopefully never will be again. We might be looking up or even out of our front gate for the first time in months.

Things look very different and perhaps scary as we confront this new way of living. Everybody looks like a criminal with masks covering their faces. Smiles cannot be seen and facial expressions are unreadable. Communication is difficult as masks mute voices and nuances.

Masks have gone from basic medical gear to all sorts of fashion statements. I see branded face coverings in all sorts of colors and styles. Many people have different masks for different outfits. We wear our masks as easily as we wear our shoes. We now have a very real thing that we can hide behind!

We have become slaves to fear. Our conversations all come back to the C word. Our hands are wrinkled and dry from endless squirts of hand sanitizer and our world is governed by new rules and new realities.

This folks is not a time for racial, religious, political or idealistic cliques. We cannot afford to turn this pandemic into a new attack against each other. This is a time for human beings of all kinds to join hands and heal together.

It is a time to put aside our grievances and differences, to stand as one race – the human race – and rebuild our world, our economies and our livelihoods.

It is also a time to clean out the attic of harbored anger, hatred , inherited prejudices and harmful attitudes. We cannot build a new existence based on old principles.

We cannot form camps and label various groups as enemies and expect to have harmony and healing.

Who do you hate? Who do you believe is your worst enemy? Who has hurt you and who have you held grudges against that were never your grudges to hold? What grievances have you inherited through bloodlines? We will never heal and restore our world if we take our familiar relics of prejudice with us.

Who of you ever moved into a new home and brought your black refuse bags filled with discarded rubbish from your old house?

Leave behind whatever old junk belongs in the past and let’s walk forward into a new reality untethered and uncluttered. Let’s embrace one another with grace and acceptance, understanding that we are different but we are also so alike at the same time, kind of like the movie title “The same kind of different as me “!

I want the post COVID world to be better than the pre COVID world . Allow God to do what only He can do and do what He enables you to do . Walk forward without holding onto the harmful familiarities of yesterday.

This virus that came to steal, kill and destroy is only as successful as its allowed to be .

So today this is my bottom line – Choose LIFE! Live LIFE and embrace LIFE….it’s the only weapon worth holding onto!

“Yes, there are many parts, but only one body. The eye can never say to the hand, “I don’t need you.” The head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you.” In fact, some parts of the body that seem weakest and least important are actually the most necessary. And the parts we regard as less honorable are those we clothe with the greatest care. So we carefully protect those parts that should not be seen, while the more honorable parts do not require this special care. So God has put the body together such that extra honor and care are given to those parts that have less dignity. This makes for harmony among the members, so that all the members care for each other. If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad.”
‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭12:20-26‬ ‭NLT‬‬