For the planners among us this time of isolation and uncertainty is a nightmare. We have so many questions in our mind; what about my holiday in the summer? Will I still be able to move flat in the autumn? What about my job? When can I next see my family? How do I schedule chats with my friends? Or simply, when will life be back to normal, so that I can do the things I need to do? But even if you are not a planner, I suspect that the future being a big ‘…’ is unsettling. Nothing has changed, you never knew the future… This may seem a ridiculous thing to say because, in one sense, everything has changed, but in another profound way, nothing has changed; you never knew what tomorrow holds. The Biblical writers remind us of this truth time and again from James [4:13-14]: ‘Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What
This week I stumbled across a video. It was nestled in amongst the countless videos and articles – many of them church related – that made up my Facebook news feed, and despite it’s ordinary look I was drawn to click play. It was a Pastor from Belfast, filming at home, telling his story of suffering from COVID-19 and particularly an incident that took place whilst he was in the isolation ward in hospital. God Loves Crisps… This Pastor describes a night where he really took a turn for the worse and truly feared for his life. Crying out in prayer, he asked for something, anything from God; a touch, encouragement, even supernatural healing. And God sent a cleaner. Due to being on the isolation ward cleaners were the only people allowed onto the ward other than medical staff, and this particular cleaner got talking to Pastor Lee. He spoke with him about many things but eventually shared that he had been a missionary in Nigeria for 14 years and seen God use him in powerful wa