Reacting... One of the things I pray about daily in my life is that I not be reactive. I ask God on a daily basis (almost) that whatever I face through the day that I not react quickly. I ask God to give me the strength to be slow, steady, and measured. Those are the exact words I use. It is so easy for all of us to react quickly. When I react quickly I often regret it. Sometimes people tell me astounding things, and when they do, I don’t want to react. Sometimes I hear criticisms (we all do), and I don’t want to react. I want to hear people and process fully what they say to me, and when I react quickly I am not at my best and am prone to mistakes. Last week we made the decision at May Memorial to cancel all activities for the week. We have made that same decision for this week. I pray that next week things will be looking better, but based on President Trump and Governor Northam I am not sure that is realistic. I know that other churches in the community and across the nation did not cancel, and they do not plan to cancel. One pastor contended that God wants us to be “victorious” over Covid 19, that God will protect us, therefore we should not change our habits in any way. I think that is irresponsible. When we are nearing the end of this national emergency, I would rather have erred on the side of safety, even if it is an overreaction, than on the side of over-confidence resulting in the spread of the virus. The Coronavirus and Covid 19 are like most things in our life, we have no control over it. We have responsibility to ourselves, families, fellow church members, and neighbors to do what is on “our side of the street,” but that is as far as we can go. After that, we have to trust God that God will take care of us. And God will take care of us, but that does not mean that we are invincible to the many things in this world that can harm us. My parents taught me that God gave us “good sense” that he wants us to use, especially at times like this. Use your good sense. Follow the President’s and Governor's recommendations. Stay at home if you can, watch out for those grocery cart handles, wash your hands, use hand sanitizer. All of these things (and more) are on our side of the street. But then leave the rest to God. And God will take care of you, and us.