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Do you have enough TOILET PAPER?

That’s a question I never thought I would have to ask, but as the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak continues, some strange things are happening.

For many of us, it’s no longer just strange — it’s getting downright uncomfortable.

Not much is certain about how this pandemic will play out, but this much is clear:  It will effect you — and it will effect you in ways you do not like.  This coronavirus brings with it, not only a concern for the health of those at-risk, but also an economic and social impact that will be with us long after the threat of the virus is gone.

How are you responding to this pandemic?

Are you like the many hoarding food, hand sanitizer, and toilet paper?

Have you turned to social media to express your anger, your frustrations, your fears — or to laugh this off as a hoax or a scam?

Are you worried about your health or the health of someone you love?

Are you panicking about not being able to work — or not having child-care for your children while the schools are closed?

Are you sitting back and watching your retirement plunge with the stock market?

One of the advantages of living in a small, rural community like ours, is that we are sometimes isolated from the kinds of threats faced by the rest of the world.

But, with very little notice, we’re all already feeling the effects of this pandemic, and this is only the beginning.

Uncomfortable as it may be, we must ask the question — how do I respond as an individual, and how will we respond as a community?

Practical Wisdom and Hope

1.  Take the advice of the CDC and local government

• Don’t shake hands
• Keep your 6 foot radius

2.  Share resources

• Some people don’t have enough supplies.  If you have more than you need, be willing to share it with others. 

3.  Stay positive and focus on things you can control

• You can’t control every germ, but you can wash your hands
• You can’t control the economy, but you can still make dinner tonight.
• You can’t find toilet paper, but there are better alternatives than most people throughout human history have had.

4.  Limit your news and social media intake. 

• Most news outlets profit by keeping your eyes glued to the tv or website.  Don’t be controlled by it.
• Social media is full of people posting about things they don’t know as much about as they think they do.   Don’t get sucked in.

5.  Only make positive and helpful contributions to the conversation.

• Resist the temptation to contribute noise to the chaos by posting your frustrations, fears, or unverified facts online.  If you have something helpful and positive to contribute, that’s fine…but BE CAREFUL!

6.  Do not fear!

Coronavirus is out of our control.  It was surprise that snuck up on us quickly.

Yet, the universe was created — and is sustained by a God who is sovereign over all things and surprised by nothing. 

Faith can be defined as hope or belief in something you cannot see.  Navigating through a situation like a global pandemic requires faith because you don’t know what tomorrow holds, but you’re trusting that somehow you’re going to get through it.

What is your faith in?

Your bank account?  It could dry up tomorrow.

Your career?  Look how easily it could be lost!

Your family? 

Your friends?

Your health?

We were not made to place our faith in any of those things, and a coronavirus — a tiny microbe we can’t even see — is big enough to remind us of that.

We were created to place our faith in God!  He is all-wise.  He is all-powerful.  He is a healer!  He can overcome.