Quarantine Epistle #4:

 Kathy and I returned back to our apartment on the PIU campus, Monday night. It is good to be back home, but  . . . I'll get back to the "but" in a moment. Let me explore the good. Let me make clear, for any watchers, that we are making a good faith effort to abide by the quarantine requirements. We aren't COVID Pharisees, though. We have talked to a very few people just outside our door, masked up and six feet apart. Two little girls told Kathy they had cared for her flowers while we were away. One of my colleagues brought us a lunch plate from a meeting that went on yesterday, and then again, today lunch was brought by a friend. Our neighbor went to the grocery store for us, and this afternoon another coworker brought our mail. It has helped me realize just how much little acts of kindness mean--a lot. We enjoy our home, and we certainly enjoy one another. Thank you, Lord.

I've had a lot of work to do, mostly writing. Some days I have gotten to the Jelly-fied phase, you know when your brain feels like jelly. We've dealt with some hard matters, but have been aware of God's presence.

I've read some things that seemed to fit in the context in which I find myself.

• My devotional plan led me to the story of Abraham's servant fetching a wife, Rebekah, for Isaac, Genesis 24. I enjoy a good story, and this one is told masterfully. I also needed the reminders about the Lord's guidance, the servant's faith, and Gods just-in-time delivery.
• A poem came Kathy's way. She shared it with me. It is billed as one that Winston Churchill loved. "The Clattering Train" is by Edwin Millikin. It's kind of dark. We're on the train, but often circumstances compel us to wonder " Who is in charge of the clattering train?"
• My neighbors in FSM have been diligent to keep COVID-19 out. A story caught my eye earlier this evening, COVID-Nineteen Free No Longer--Federated States of Micronesia." I had already heard about the ship with COVID-19 infected folk aboard that had anchored in Pohnpei harbor. What I didn't know was one of the passengers on this ship is a Chuukese boy who was lost at sea with his uncle. The uncle died out on the deep but the boy ended up in the Philippines. Now nearly a year later he's on a ship being guarded 24/7 Closer to home, but will he get there?

It's no wonder Sir Winston liked that poem. Much of his life was like a clattering train, about which the question could be asked, "Who is driving this thing." This COVID fueled world kind of feels that way, doesn't it? Then there is that twelve-year-old boy, or is he thirteen now? What becomes of him? How tiny are my problems compared to his. Yet, am I the only one riding the clattering train, lost at sea--not to mention a horrible mixer of metaphors--who wonders what in the world is going on? I doubt it..

I read something else this evening in Matthew 10, Jesus sends the disciples out into a world that had its problems. In fact, before our Lord finishes his pre-trip briefing, it seems like he is talking about the world of all times, ours included. At least three times the Lord tells them/us to not be afraid, and clearly He implies it several more.

Clattering train, trackless ocean, unwelcome boat, or the issues that live with me in quarantine, Lord don't let fear win in my life. AMEN

Howard Merrell