Greetings of Christian love to each one. I trust that each of you are finding peace, joy, and contentment in the circumstances that God has allowed into your life.
This year, 2020, has been quite interesting to say the least. It could seem like there has not been a year like this in our memory. For many of us, there was a normal way of life that we had become accustomed to. When one or two things in our life changes to a new normal it may take some time to get used to it. But what about when most of our normal is no longer normal?
Many things have happened; many things have changed. There have been some major factors, from which there have been many negative ripple effects. One thing that we cannot ignore is that things will probably never return to that which we used to call normal.
One of the major factors has been the Covid-19 pandemic. It started coming to the attention on a global level in January of 2020 and has since spread its infection around the world. The last time I checked some of the online data there were over 38 million people worldwide affected by the virus, resulting in over 1 million deaths.
Many world leaders required their citizens to “stay at home” for varying periods of time in an effort to slow the spread of the virus. This in turn caused many negative ripple effects. Since people weren’t traveling, the oil supply outpaced the demand, causing multiple ocean-going tankers to sit fully loaded in various ports around the world, unable to unload their cargo. This caused the oil market to crash to $38.00 below zero—a record low never heard of in recorded history.
Restaurants and retail stores were not able to utilize their normal flow of customers, due to the “stay at home” orders. Some retail establishments were able to hang on until business resumed once more, while others discovered unique ways to reach their customers within the new normal. However, many other businesses were not able to weather the storm and needed to sell out.
At an individual level many things changed as well. Many people lost their jobs or else had their hours cut back substantially. This again caused a ripple effect that was not good. Some homeowners were not able to make their payments, causing them to go into default. Some renters could not make their rent payments, resulting in them losing their homes.
In the middle of these day-to-day struggles, there were many who came through in very thoughtful ways to help the less fortunate. There were individuals, churches, and non-profit organizations that paid others’ bills and provided free food and clothing. There were businesses that provided discounts to their customers to help them out during this time of difficulty.
Here we could ask a question, “How have we as individual Christians, or as a local church responded during this time of hardship for those around us?” Have we been doing our part? Have we been a leader in our community in this situation? Or are we being put to shame by the selfless efforts of the world around us? I know that I have been challenged to do more as I observe what others are doing. Let’s not become discouraged and let’s not become isolated from the needs around us.
But the virus pandemic and the resulting problems aren’t the only challenges facing us in 2020. There has been a number of other unsettling events as well. Early in the year, one part of the government set out to try to unseat the President through an impeachment. Eventually this was unsuccessful, but the polarization in the government wasn’t settled, in fact it only got worse. Towards the end of the year one of the long-time sitting Supreme Court judges died, creating a vacancy to be filled, either by the Republicans or the Democrats, whoever finally has the last say. The list could go on of the many chaotic events between these two.
Also as the year has progressed there seems to have been a concerted effort by some to create as much chaos and confusion as possible in our country. There have been all-out efforts to politicize the virus pandemic, alleging that it has been purposefully caused by the Republicans, the Democrats, the military, the elite in the medical establishment, or by some other country. Depending who is talking will determine who they believe the culprit is. One thing is common though and that is everyone seems to be alleging that the purpose behind the virus is either to determine the outcome of the Presidential election or it is simply an effort to destroy this country for some vaguely-defined purpose.
Another area of chaos and confusion has to do with equal rights and race equality. It seems at though there was a simmering level of unrest just below the surface for many people. All it took was for a person of color to be killed by a police officer and for someone present to use social media to pass on a video or audio recording of the event. It wasn’t long until there were peaceful protests, which gravitated into violent protests and riots. Some cities used whatever arm of the law was necessary to quell the violence, while others gave in to the public pressure to be nice.
There was even a push by some to “defund the police”. What are they thinking? The Bible is clear that civil authorities are …the minister of God … for good. It goes on to say, But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil –Romans 13:4. History is full of situations like this—if the arm of the law is withdrawn, then it is only a matter of time until anarchy rules, because without God, man is the same today as he was back in the beginning of time. And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually –Genesis 6:5.
To anyone familiar with God’s Word, it seems clear that the end of time is fast approaching. As Christians, if our hearts are right with God, we should be looking forward to our new home in heaven. A time when there will be no more sorrows, nor tears. A time when there will be no more sickness, nor pain, nor death. IF we have this hope in our hearts, let’s do all that we can to minister to those who God brings into our lives as we encounter more and more challenging events.
We should have hope. We should have joy. We should have peace. We should have love. Let’s pass it on.
Now on to some points of interest about our ministry—The Berean Voice. Being a small, yet growing organization, we were caught somewhat off-guard by some of the ripple effects of the virus pandemic. As a result, we have been making a number of changes to help streamline our efforts. We plan to learn from the challenges that come our way and make the necessary changes to keep things on track.
In the past, we have struggled at times to have an article available to fit a certain category by the time that issue of the magazine should go to print. We have made a number of changes in this area over the last several years that has made this problem continually better. We thank each of you who has helped to make this possible through your prayers, your suggestions, your personally authored poems and articles, and your generous financial contributions.
Going forward, we will be continuing to restructure some more, as we see better ways of handling various situations. As we continue, we covet your prayers, we welcome your suggestions, and we appreciate your patience and understanding with the changes that come.
Finally, there have been various questions and requests that we have received over the last while that we regretfully haven’t had the time to respond to. Our goal is that with some of the changes we have been making, we will be more available to respond to these requests. If you are one who has made such a request and haven’t heard from us, we ask that you send us a renewed version of that request and we will try to respond.
Blessings to all,
Curvin L Wenger
