Coronavirus, Courage and the Christian Call

Living in a pandemic can be scary. Imagine how much more frightening it is when you struggle to understand the language and culture, when you can only speculate what the continuous updates and warnings are saying.

That’s the world where HOPE Literacy students live. But they are not alone. While new restrictions and recommendations may impact classes for the next few weeks, those teachers and administrators who have walked this far with their foreign friends will lift them up in prayer and support them in any way possible.

Society panics in the face of pandemic. There’s no more toilet paper at Walmart and the shelves of sanitizers stand empty. You’d think the world was about to end. But as Christians, we should see things differently. And how we live in these trying times sends a message.

In his time, CS Lewis’s society faced a similar panic -- not due to pestilence, but due to fear of nuclear holocaust. He wrote, “If we are all going to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, let that bomb when it comes find us doing sensible and human things — praying, working, teaching, reading, listening to music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to our friends over a pint and a game of darts–not huddled together like frightened sheep and thinking about bombs. They may break our bodies (any microbe can do that) but they need not dominate our minds.”

Instead of panicking, we need to re-evaluate where our hope lies. If it is truly in Christ, we will exude the peace that passes understanding and be able to reach out with love for others in the face of a sick and dying world.