Scripture Reading
Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor His ear too dull to hear.
Isaiah 59:1
Thought of the Day
If you are like me, you have had a chance to catch up on a lot of TV and movies over the past few months. Beverly and I have started, watched, and finished a ton of TV series. Thank goodness for cable and Netflix and Amazon. Lots of movies. I re-watched one of my favorite movies a couple of weeks ago. It was APOLLO 13. (I sure wish I had seen the first twelve APOLLO movies)
Anyway, there was a scene in the movie that really grabbed me. It was after they had discovered the problem (not a spoiler alert…you have had twenty-five years to see this movie) and were trying to figure out how to get home. The scientists at NASA calculated that the only way to get the guys home was to continue towards the moon and to orbit around it and “slingshot” back towards earth. As the space craft approached the moon NASA reminded the astronauts that they would experience total radio silence when they were on the dark side of the moon (by the way, I am an old Pink Floyd fan). Actually, there is not really a dark side of the moon. It is better described as the far side of the moon. Anyway, when they went to the far side, they would experience this total loss of contact with earth for a period of ten minutes or so. Even though that was not very long, can you imagine how that must have been? To lose contact with your lifeline and support must have been the ultimate feeling of loneliness and despair. It must have been so comforting to hear the Flight controller say, “Welcome back. Good to hear from you again.”
Since the middle of March or so, we have lived and felt that loss of contact. A lot of us have been isolated from our families and friends because of the virus. We have had to rethink how we live in this new normal. Luckily, we have phones and email to stay in touch with others, but we can still feel alone.
Re-read the scripture from Isaiah. Never forget that God is never too far away, or His ear too “dull” to hear us in our loneliness and despair. We are never alone. God cares. God loves you. Never ever forget that!
Prayer
God, Hear us. Hold us. Love us. Amen.