May 13, 2020
Leadership Notes
Every school year, on average, in America, two high school students die either going to or coming home from school or school related activities in car accidents when a student is driving. Raising the driving age to 19 would eliminate hundreds of deaths and countless more injuries and permanent disabilities. For a lot of reasons, that would probably never happen. It's not because we don't care if teenagers die, or that we want teenagers to die.
Several summers ago, there was a tragic story of an entire family killed in a car accident on their drive home from a Disney World vacation. Every year millions of families pile into cars for much needed vacation travels. Some of those vacations will end in tragedy. Knowing the risk, we continue to do it.
I suppose if you wanted to avoid risk, you would never leave your house. But then, what about going up and down stairs, or getting in and out of the bath? Do you know how many people are injured getting out of bed in the morning? Life is about risk.
Last week, someone suggested we need to begin opening the economy, and hence the country, back up. This person also offered the sober observation that people will die when we return to work. That's reality. He was immediately attacked by some talking heads. It was a childish response. Guess what? People die at work, even driving to or from work, every day, when we're not facing a pandemic. Those are the risks of life.
Every year, 30,000+ Americans die in car accidents. Yet we still love our cars. We love the convenience. We love the mobility. Some people even love the status {nothing says success like a luxury car}. Knowing the risk, we tool around in these drivable missiles, putting grandparents, children, everybody else in harm's way.
In light of the risk, we do what people have always done. We try to minimize it. Over the years, all kinds of safety features and improvements have been added. Some of us can remember taking long trips without seatbelts…even sleeping on the floor in front of the back seat! But you can never eliminate risk. Tangentially related, when Jesus was asked about the tragedy that happened at Siloam, he said the most important thing was making sure you were right with God if a tower crashes on you. Risk is part of life.
So, we're now starting to think about opening things back up, even
here at Covenant Church. Our leadership board will meet later this month to firm up plans and processes. I touched on some of those in last week's LN. In the end, with reasonable, practical, and rational protocols in place, it will ultimately be up to each individual to decide when he or she feels most comfortable returning to worship and other activities here at Covenant Church.
Just as we learn to live with murderous machines, we will learn to live with a murderous virus. That's what adults do. I see all kinds of resiliency in the people of Covenant Church. I see it in our community and nation. People want to get back to work. People want to grow the economy. Most people, most of the time, love their families and their communities, and want to do the right thing. That will happen as we thoughtfully come back to church!
It doesn't matter how many towers fall in Siloam. We know that no matter what happens…no matter what we experience or go through in life, all is well because Jesus Christ is Lord. When you're right with Jesus, all is right with the world.
Be of Good Cheer,
Richard