Corona virus… Corona-virus… Coronavirus… Coronavirus disease. These creators of panic in this twenty four hour news cycle we all live in can’t lock a name in for this virus, but whatever history calls it, we aren’t likely to ever forget the destruction it leaves behind. So far the markets are down about thirty percent, and nobody has a clue where the bottom is. Three weeks ago everyone with money in the stock market was experiencing record highs, and feeling pretty good about the future. This virus had killed a lot of old people in China, and making it’s way through Europe. We had a couple of cruise ships under quarantine, but other than that, most folks weren’t taking any of what they were hearing very serious. And then eighteen million people in northern Italy are quarantined, and the corona virus is overwhelming Europe. Our markets here in the United States begin falling and coming back, making huge swings, but losing major ground every couple of days. A lot of ordinary people who live modest lives from the dividends paid from their investments are hurting now, and will be for quite some time. As of this date the fear of this virus far exceeds the actual damage it has done. At first I thought that it felt like preparing for a hurricane, not knowing where or how bad it would actually be. Maybe we could avoid this thing altogether. Now it feels like a plague of locust that won’t leave anything undamaged by the time it’s over. The panic caused by the news media have caused empty shelves in grocery stores. Our governments have given us cute little names to replace more menacing ones. Rather than being quarantined, we are practicing social distancing. Small businesses that operate with their heads barely above water will not recover from this social distancing. As governors and local government close schools, and encourage churches to close. restaurants, movie theaters are also closing. The NCAA has cancelled all winter and spring sports. The NBA has stopped playing. Concerts called off. A cruise we had planned for this month has been called off. People are working from home now, or being laid off. We are basically on lock down. All this with nothing but anticipation of the locusts that will surely come. My grandparents experienced a financial meltdown almost a hundred years ago that we now call the Great Depression. I wonder what they called it at the time. That experience stayed with them for a lifetime. That same experience stayed with my parents all their lives until now. It even affected me. I wonder what history will call this present time. Like many around me, I am in shock at how quickly life can change, but whatever the outcome of all this, I have no fear. This world is not my home, and I am ready for whatever my Creator has in store for me. I plan on holding on to my plans but being flexible enough to change if God requires it. Isn’t that the way we should be living our lives anyway? And when all this passes, we will hopefully go around helping each other up, dust each other off and become better people in the process. Amen

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