This is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. All who obey his commandments abide in him, and he abides in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit that he has given us.
1st John 3:23-24
There is a lot of information out there. There are a lot of smart people out there. Most of that information speaks to how critical this next week will be in “flattening the curve” in the United States. Please believe them.
I used to be an engineering geek. I used to be that guy who could approach a triple integral with ease or solve a differential equation with confidence. I used to be that guy who carried logarithmic paper so I could turn exponential relationships into linear ones. I used to be that guy who carried a calculator driven by something called “reverse Polish notation” before the days of PC’s, laptops, and tablets. Yes, I used to be that guy.
Parts of my brain involve synapses that have gone unused for many years now. Those parts became fully engaged again over these last two weeks as we began planning, forecasting, interpreting, and evaluating. I need you to hear me clearly. This is not going to come in the form of engineeringese or preacherese or gobbledygook.
Let me say this plain and simple. We can change what the future will look like in our country by the actions we take this next week. I am a man of faith and science. I find harmony – not dissonance – between faith and science. Honestly, the more I learn about both, the more I find each one complementing the other. I believe flattening that curve will be very important.
We will get through this together. But for a while (particularly this week), let us come together in staying apart. If we do that, our health care system will be able to manage those who are sick. If we do that, our ability to test will catch up to the demand. If we do that, more people will avoid the health repercussions of COVID-19.
That’s the science part. So here’s the faith question:
How will you show the love of Christ to those around you this week?
