Daly Focus Blog
On the 100th day of the COVID-19 global pandemic, I would offer to you that the world has learned a few lessons.
This list is hardly exhaustive, but it’s nevertheless irrefutable – at least from my perspective:
1. We are not in control. God is.
2. Humans are frail, fragile – and resilient.
3. Because of sin, bad things happen to everyone.
4. No matter how dark the night, the sun rises in the morning.
5.
Although Wall Street’s rout seems to have stabilized in recent days since the first surge of coronavirus cases, the volatility of the financial markets is nevertheless unprecedented in modern times.
Your perspective of this last month may mirror the late President Reagan’s witty observation of long ago:
“Recession is when your neighbor loses his job,” he once remarked. “Depression is when you lose yours.”
Economic experts are working feverishly to stabilize the markets. Part of the emergency relief plan involves stimulus checks for families – funds that should be received in the coming weeks.
Are
you suffering financially because of the coronavirus pandemic? If so, our
broadcast “Trusting God in Today’s Economy” is for you!
We’re
airing a message by Steve Farrar, the author of Manna: When You’re Out of Options, God Will Provide. Steve
recorded this talk a few years ago in response to the stock market crash of
2008, but the principles he shared are timeless.
At some point, each of us finds
ourselves in a wilderness – moments where we are utterly dependent on God to help
us through circumstances that are beyond our control.
A 68-bed emergency field hospital now stands in the middle of New York City’s Central Park, the product of a herculean effort of Franklin Graham’s Samaritan’s Purse.
Since its inception in 1970, the ministry’s goal has been “to meet emergency needs in crisis” – and there is no greater humanitarian plight in the world today than the coronavirus global pandemic, the epicenter of which is now in the middle of the Empire State’s largest city.
Earlier in March, Samaritan’s Purse deployed a similar medical response team to Cremona, Italy, an area likewise hard hit by the virus.
Dr. Jerome Adams is the United States Surgeon General and our special guest on today’s Focus on the Family Broadcast.
You’ve undoubtedly seen the Surgeon General in the news these last few weeks, often providing timely updates at the daily White House briefings on the coronavirus.
Dr. Adams is an eminently qualified physician with an extensive resume, but he’s also a man of deep Christian faith.At one point on the program, the doctor quotes 1 Peter 5:7: “Cast your anxiety on Him for He cares for you.”
He then went on to say that God is at work in the midst of this crisis.
President Trump’s sobering update from the White House yesterday included projections that the current trajectory of the coronavirus global pandemic could potentially claim between 100,000 and 240,000 American lives.
The grim death rate, even on the low end, is almost twice as much as those who die annually from the flu.
The race to save lives has unleashed an unprecedented response from federal, state and local governments as well as other organizations. From field hospitals rising in convention centers and hotels to the deployment of hospital ships on both coasts, it’s an all-out effort to save lives.
It’s an early spring day in March inside the White House Rose Garden, the picturesque space bordering the Oval Office and the West Wing of the famed executive mansion. Trees that ring the gardens are leafing out, and the aromatic scent of colorful flowers fills the air.
The President of the United States strolls to the podium. Smiling, he acknowledges those gathered, turns a few pages and begins to address the crowd.
“I have seen first‐hand how basic spiritual beliefs and deeds can shatter barriers,” he begins. “I have seen those barriers crumble in the presence of faith and hope, and from this experience I have drawn new hope that the seemingly insurmountable … issues that we face at home and abroad today can be resolved by men of strong faith and men of brave deeds.”
He continues:
“But that can happen, only if the separation of church and state does not mean the divorce of spiritual values from secular affairs.
Less than 12 hours from shepherding the passage of a massive and complex coronavirus relief and stimulus bill through the United States Senate, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) joined us on Thursday’s Focus on the Family radio program to discuss the historic legislation.
It’s always an honor to host Kentucky’s senior senator, although his appearance this time around comes at a moment of great peril for the nation.
The House of Representatives is expected to pass the emergency relief package today, setting in motion a plan designed to provide immediate help to hospitals, families, governmental municipalities and businesses reeling from the global outbreak of COVID-19.
Corrie ten Boom once said,
“Worry is like a rocking chair. It keeps you moving, but it doesn’t get you
anywhere.”
There’s plenty of opportunity to worry and be
fearful these days. Society has ground to a halt in very real ways. And yet,
the world around us still seems hectic and chaotic.
The more we’re immersed in uncertainty, the more
likely we are to develop “spiritual
amnesia.” That’s what author Lee Strobel calls the worry and anxiety we feel over the
unknown because we’ve forgotten everything that God has done for us in the past.
As the country finds its way halfway through the second full week of the coronavirus pandemic, Americans are still searching for a new sense of normal.
Long-established routines have been upended, impacting employment, school activities and many other facets of daily life. Anxiety and tensions remain high everywhere.
President Trump’s comments at yesterday’s White House briefing about a desire to “reopen” the country by Easter seemed to buoy spirits and provide the hope of a light at the end of a long, dark tunnel.
Jim Daly is a husband, father and President of Focus on the Family and host of its National Radio Hall of Fame broadcast. His blog, Daly Focus, is full of timely commentary and wisdom designed to help you navigate and understand today’s culture. His latest book is Marriage Done Right.
