We Passed the Tests
My two youngest grandsons, their friend and I took the COVID-19 test yesterday before our trip back home to Austin today. Thank goodness, we passed the tests, and we’ll be back home tonight. Vacations are great for changing up our lives for a few days but I agree with Brennan when he said: “I’m ready to get back home!”
Speaking of changing up our lives – all of our lives, the world over were changed because of COVID-19. This month marks the one year mark since the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus pandemic. I read that Sandra Lindsay, a nurse at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, was inoculated with the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 on December 14, 2020. We may not remember the name of Sandra Lindsay, but future generations will. The intensive care nurse received America’s first FDA-approved COVID-19 vaccine which marked a turning point in fighting the pandemic that killed more than 535,000 Americans. It made history.Now, history will be preserved for generations to come because the first (now empty) tiny Pfizer-BioNTech vial was acquired by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. It will be displayed along with Lindsay’s vaccination card, her scrubs, and her hospital ID.
I speak of this event as I ponder our lives today and how much they have been changed. In Mexico, I’ve noticed that the guidelines seem to be even stiffer than ours back home. We must wear our masks throughout the amenities here, plus if we leave the resort, when we return, our temperature is taken before entry. Our temperature is taken if we go out of the resort into town for restaurants, malls, and stores. It seems they are stricter than we are back home. And, on a side note, I hear that Mexico has fewer cases of COVID-19 and less losses per capita than other countries.
Life before March 2020 is very different than our world today. Perhaps I’ll soon catch on with the “new norm” as time and again, I go out without having my mask with me and must return to home or my car to put one on. Which brings me to what hasn’t changed – and that’s the HOPE we have in God and His Promises. The same mainstay when Jesus walked the earth and assured us He would never leave us or forsake us is our mainstay today. Most of us know of someone who suffered through COVID-19 and even someone who died. The good news is God’s Word offers hope beyond human comprehension for those who have died in Christ or are suffering today.
This bottom photo of my two grandchildren and I here in Cabo ten+ years ago was taken under huge rock formations. A couple of days ago, we took this current photo for me as it shows the growth in my grands. But, even more so, is the growth of my hope. I think of the old song: “My hope is built on nothing less; than Jesus blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame; but wholly lean on Jesus’ name. On Christ the solid rock I stand; All other ground is sinking sand; All other ground is sinking sand. Thank God for Jesus, our ‘solid rock” foundation that sets us apart from those who are hope-less and are in constant fear about what today and tomorrow holds for them. Those of faith and hope live by a different playbook.
The best news ever is there is One who IS not just “rock solid”, but He is THE SOLID ROCK that we can always count on . He is “the ROCK that is higher than I” (Psalm 61:2). He is reliable, strong, immovable, eternal and unchanging. In Him, we can find that place of comfort, shelter, peace and, above all — the faith and strength we need to carry on.
Psalm 62:5-8 “But I stand silently before the Lord, waiting for Him to rescue me. For salvation comes from Him alone. Yes, HE ALONE IS MY ROCK, my rescuer, defense, and fortress—why then should I be tense with fear when troubles come? My protection and success come from God alone. He is my refuge, A ROCK where no enemy can reach me. O my people, trust Him all the time. Pour out your longings before Him, for He can help!”