As iron sharpens iron,
one person sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
“I’ve found it useful to reflect on hospital experiences through writing, with particular focus on the quiet individuals working alongside physicians and nurses during this time, including patient transport staff, environmental services staff, and dining services staff. They are unsung heroes, in my opinion, important components of any hospital operation.” - BJU Today
“Kitty co-leads weekly Wednesday Facebook Live seminars alongside Dr. Robert Pryor, a local internal medicine practitioner (and my Sunday school teacher). These seminars offer updates and medical insights on the coronavirus spread and trends within our region.” - CPost
If you’ve been reading the economic news, you’ve been seeing the same things I have. Much of the forecasting is dire, and the numbers right now are beyond disturbing.1 There’s a wide range of predictions, and even the best-case scenarios aren’t fun to think about.
Like many of you, I’m more afraid of poverty than I am of COVID-19. This could be temporary. Nobody close to me has developed the disease. People close to me have lost their jobs.
“You lost it, you’re furious, and you feel like a total failure. You yelled, slammed the door, or hit the table. Then the shame and guilt set in. ‘These are my precious children. What am I thinking? What can I do?’” - Challies
“The following interview with Beth Smith (Class of ’88) was submitted by Melanie Schell, Class of ’84 and professor in BJU’s Division of Health Sciences….Smith works as an infection control specialist in Greenville, South Carolina.” - BJU Today
“As these situations demonstrate, millions of people worldwide look more to religious authorities than health officials for guidance on how to behave and what to believe in a crisis. … But it is difficult to build partnerships between faith and health networks not accustomed to working together.
Where Must Faith Always Look? I’m sure we all know that the answer is Christ – at least we ought to! I know, but I’m afraid I don’t always live it. I need constant reminders. So this isn’t me sermonizing (I’m unqualified); it’s a confession of my failing, and a passing on of a message from someone else…
“These are just some examples of recent ‘prayer shaming,’ a term describing the ridicule toward people who offer their ‘thoughts and prayers’ for victims of tragedies. But they are also part of an old debate about the conflict between religion and science.
Over the last several weeks I’ve encountered a range of negative views toward the models epidemiologists have been using in the struggle against COVID-19. Skepticism is a healthy thing. But rejecting models entirely isn’t skepticism. Latching onto fringe theories isn’t skepticism. Rejecting the flattening-the-curve strategy because it’s allegedly model-based isn’t skepticism either.
These responses are mostly misunderstandings of what models are and of how flattening-the-curve came to be.
That feeling you sense is the unmovable ground—what you thought was unmovable, anyway—shifting beneath your feet.
It will never return to its previous form. It has been, to use a term now in vogue, “transformed.”
Personally, I have never been in an earthquake—until now.
But, you see, this is not merely a terrestrial earthquake, but a medical, economic, political, cultural, societal and spiritual earthquake.
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