By BRIAN MASSEY

The world has changed drastically… in just a few weeks. Businesses closing, schools closings, stock markets crashing, among many other groanings throughout the earth, have hit us quickly and hard. Never have I witnessed a crisis of this size so close and personal. My kids asked me if coronavirus would make it into the history books and I said “absolutely.” And, it is highly probable (statistically) that it hits Abilene and the Big Country and we become part of the story.

Brian Massey

The time in which we live is likely to present us, the church, with opportunities to step up and present the Gospel of Jesus Christ through our acts of service and love as we have never seen in this land. It will be those acts that present the only true and real hope available… Jesus, the Light of the world. At the time of this writing, there are rumors of coronavirus being very near, much nearer than I ever wanted.

This type of news can propel us into fear but, it doesn’t have to. There is a law in Romans 8:2, the law of the Spirit of Life. This law overcomes the law of sin and death (unto hell) and provides hope to hurting people. We can deliver this message through our acts of service and love, provided we don’t walk after our own flesh. This is the medicine from Heaven… life in Christ. When our country’s medical systems are likely to be overwhelmed, let it not be so in the church. If believers are God’s “Spiritual Life” representatives, we don’t want to be short on supplies for the ones who are feeling the effects of this pandemic. We want to be part of the response from heaven toward hopelessness.

Marvin Gregory delivers Care Baskets made by a Women’s Retreat at Camp Butman. Photo submitted by Brian Massey

On February 24, Houses for Healing mailed out our first direct mail blast to as many churches as we could find through online searches. In this direct mail-out, we simply appealed to churches to reach out across the aisle and take another follower of Christ by the hand and begin to develop relationship… outside of their organization. I believe that it pleases the Lord when we strive to operate according to Christ’s prayer in John 17:20-21. We need to grow in unity so that our efforts are unified. This represents links of a chain being welded together and we want that chain to hold up under the load growing load on our society. I hope you will seek out a fellow believer to partner with in helping love others.

Practically, I invite you to join us in helping the medically fragile of your area obtain groceries, prescriptions, run errands, etc. so that they are not at risk unnecessarily. Medical patients and the aged are especially vulnerable. Please consider your neighbors and help them during this time.  Please also, stand against fear… that’s a spirit and it should not control us. If we, the church, stand strong, it will be our greatest hour. If we run away from the needs we so evidently see, it will be our worst failure.

Brian Massey is founder of Houses for Healing

Top photo credit: dino_b on VisualHunt / CC BY-NC-ND