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This pandemic has definitely caught us all off guard. Nobody said last year that they were hoping 2020 would be known as the year we would all miss one thing or another. Children would miss their friends. Athletes would miss their sports. Seniors would miss their graduations. Adults would miss their jobs. There would be no concerts, no weddings, no funerals, no picnics, no movies, no restaurants, no haircuts, no dentists, no chiropractors, no school and no church services. Life is hard enough battling this coronavirus to begin with but to have to do so without one another physically there to lean on has made this ordeal even more challenging.

Nobody misses being together more than me, but this ordeal is something that we are all in together. We are not being persecuted because of our color, our social background, our creed or our level of intelligence. The virus is not picky. It will infect anyone within its greedy germs. So as a Family, as a Church, as a Neighborhood and as a County, we must be willing to work together. It is going to take the prayer of all the denominations to beat this disease. Lord knows that it has already accomplished stealing so much life from everyone up to this point. No one group, one church, one people are being persecuted! It is messing with all of us!

I have really felt for the children. It is so easy to just assume they are doing well because they go along with the program, but they have feelings and just because they don’t express them as freely as adults do, it doesn’t mean that they aren’t there. I have been asking children what they miss most as they have had to venture through this chaos and their number one answer is their friends. Isolation is not in the makeup of any of us no matter what our age may be. I have been encouraging adults to make time and take time to give the kids a chance to talk. This challenges most of us to practice another trait that we are not always that good at and it’s listening. Listen with our ears and our eyes and our hearts.

We must stay away from the blame game. This isn’t the Democrats fault or the Republicans fault. This isn’t because of New Jersey’s negligence. Just ask those in Ohio or Omaha. They too are facing the same stipulations and barriers that we are. And it is much too easy to blame God. But remember that the Lord has made us with free will, and because of that, sin has reared its ugly head in all of our gardens. Cancer doesn’t discriminate. Depression isn’t choosy. Storms ruin the plans of both those who believe and those who label themselves as atheists. What I love about my faith is that it doesn’t abandon me when the skies get dark and things don’t go my way. The Lord is our Shepherd and stays with us no matter what might come upon His sheep. He doesn’t watch us from a distance. He is right there in the room of the senior adult who appears to be dying alone. He is right there promising to redeem the brokenness and restore what this planet tried to paralyze. If ever there was a time to run in the right direction to the Lord, it is now!

As the Pastor of the Lighthouse Church, our church will continue to be creative in the ways we worship and interact together! Thank God that the One we worship never changes and is still in charge! Not even Covoid19 could separate us from His Love! We must refuse to live in fear and can’t allow the “what if’s” to rob us from the reality of “what is!” April has seemed to last forever. Most of us don’t even know what day it is, but this too will pass. May is coming and so is June, July and August! I know we will all be committed to getting Cape May County open again, even if it must be done via baby steps rather than giant steps. We may not always agree with those in charge, but who does? As a Leader, I am used to those in the grandstands second guessing me and thinking they could do my job better than I could. I have invited many who want my role to come and get it. Still when you are placed within a position that has to make the best decisions for others, you hope and pray that ego and pride don’t get in the way of doing your absolute best! I know in our family we don’t always see eye to eye but we still treat one another with love and respect. This world would be a whole lot brighter quicker if we would treat one another not as the enemy, but as a brother or sister.

So we look for the things to celebrate even amidst a rainy parade. We applaud and give a special shout out of gratitude and appreciation to all the Pastors taking care of their flocks in ways that we were never taught in Bible College. We come alongside our local Policemen and Government Leaders and Medical Personnel and Retail Workers and Postal Employees and Everyone who is fighting this chaos together! I don’t have to wear a mask at my job mostly because you wouldn’t understand a word I was saying at the church or on the radio. I have seen the pictures of those who have facial marks because of the imprints those tight masks have made. I ache for each and every one of our neighbors who put themselves in harms way every single day. I also pray for all of you. If you have any personal requests or needs, please don’t hesitate to let me know. It’s hard to complain about inconveniences when you know that we are all in this together!

So Lord, we collectively and corporately trust You and cry out to You on behalf of the lonely and the sick and the hurting and the tired and the depressed and especially the children! Please Lord, we humbly ask that Your will be done and Your Kingdom come here in Cape May County as it is in Heaven! Hugs to you all! We need to keep looking up no matter what we see when we look out! I truly believe the best is yet to come and we will see treasure in all of us because we have sojourned through these unique trails together. God has blessed us and He is not finished with us yet!