Surprise Visitation

In the matter of a few weeks, our nation has surprisingly been taken hostage by a virus that came out of China. The pandemic has caused a panic of fear. All of a sudden our comfortable life style has been changed into an atmosphere of fear. It happened very quickly.

President Trump asked that we don’t participate in gatherings of more than 10 people. We had been asked to do the Sunday morning service for a church about three hours from us. When the president made the announcement, we called to say we would not be coming. It all happened very quickly.

Things have changed. What do we do with our fear and panic?

The news media showed supermarket shelves entirely empty where the toilet paper was supposed to be. It had all been purchased. The last time we were in the grocery store the bread shelves were almost bare. Social distancing is not possible at stores that supply food so just yesterday Lorraine put in an order for pick up for essentials we felt we would need, given this pandemic continues for a while. She soon learned that two cans of a particular kind of soup is the limit for any order.

Is God still able to meet all of our needs? Is He still a shelter in the time of storm? Can we rest in quiet peace under the shadow of His wings? I think of the old hymn I have performed often, Under His Wings.

Under His wings, I am safely abiding

Though the night deepen

And tempests are wild

Still I can trust Him . . .

“That’s a nice theory, George,” you might be saying, “but does it work, or is it just a nice theory?”

You might doubt the truth of the story I am about to tell you. I assure you, it is entirely true.

A few months ago, Lorraine and I were preparing the monthly newsletter. I wrote it and Lorraine took the pictures and completed the layout. Then it was time to print. Ah, but to our dismay, part way into the run, the yellow cartridge ran out of ink.

At the time, we did not have the money for a new cartridge. What were we to do now?

“Well, we’ll send out the letters we have printed, and we’ll just have to wait and see what happens,” I said to Lorraine.

Our apartment is relatively small. The printer resides on a small dresser, pushed into the closet of my office. The doors of the closet are left open and the printer faces my office, easily accessible when we need to print. There is a compartment in the dresser that used to have a door, but the door has been taken off. This compartment is where we keep the paper.

On Thursday of that week I was at a coffee shop working, when my phone rang. It was Lorraine and she was excited. “I came into the office to sit down and plan out my day. My eyes were drawn to the compartment where we keep the paper and . . . there was sitting a brand new cartridge, poking out of the compartment! It’s yellow, the exact cartridge we need. The box hasn’t been opened. It’s brand new!”

Well, we were both shocked and amazed! We chattered in excitement for a few minutes and then I said, “Maybe there’s an ink angel. He said, ‘I think I can fit them in on Thursday!'”

So what did we do? After we recovered from our complete astonishment, we printed the rest of the newsletters and sent them out.

You’re saying, “There has to be a mistake. You must have had the cartridge and just forgot it was there.” Yeah, we wondered the same thing. The thing is, a couple days earlier I was cleaning the office. I ran across some blank paper and I put it in the paper compartment. There was no ink cartridge there. Further, Lorraine sends the empty cartridges back to the supplier, and she keeps the receipts, to match up with the cartridges. The receipts showed proof that we had not purchased a yellow cartridge.

Ahhh . . . isn’t God good, and completely wonderful?

 

When I told my friend, Dan, what had happened, he said, “You have to write about this!”

We have saved this story, I think in God’s timing, for such a time as this, when many of you are struggling with fear, in the midst of a crisis that has suddenly come out of nowhere.

God is real. He is still on the throne. He still does miracles, and if you place your complete trust in Him, He will take care of you.

Jesus says it this way:

Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin?

And yet not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will.

But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered

(for the Father is sovereign and has complete knowledge).

So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.

Matthew 10: 29-31 (Amplified Bible)

F. Y. I.

Can anything good come out of the Coronavirus pandemic?

When 9-11 hit, church attendance increased by 40 percent. I would suspect the same thing will happen with this pandemic, once the initial crisis has leveled out. Church attendance is good. Most will fall off in time, but some will stay with it.

Church attendees live an average

of six years longer than those

who don’t attend church.

So what about now, in the peak of the crisis? A couple letters ago, I wrote about the adverse effects of over activity, never stopping to seek silence or solitude. It is in solitude that we can hear the voice of God. So, we are now encouraged to practice social distancing and staying at home.

What a great time to find the

place of solitude and time alone with God.

Lastly, we all have projects that never seem to get done. Now, with more time at home, it would be a great time to tackle those projects. Again, a couple years ago, I wrote about the “Closet in Your Head.”  Clutter and confusion in our physical space creates clutter in our head, which in turn makes us less effective in our everyday lives. It’s a great time to clear out and organize the clutter in our physical living space in order to clean out the closet in our head.

I hope these tips will be helpful. We can never stop being diligent, and seeking to better our daily practices in order to improve our efficiency and performance in everyday living. This might be a great time to get rid of harmful habits and form new and more productive ones. It takes 21 days to make or break a habit.

Please remember to pray for people globally,

our president, national and state leaders.

Pray for our health care providers

and those who work in law enforcement.

Pray for our Pastors.

 

In His Service,

George and Lorraine Halama

All contributions are tax deductible

Photos designed and taken by Lorraine

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