Having lived for a number of years with a terminal illness, there is much about the current crisis that is very familiar. Some with cancer have been asking the question whether people are now experiencing what they experience—living under the cloud of death, always fearing that the next scan or blood test will reveal the means of the end.
And yet, in the midst of these tensions, challenges, dangers, and threats, I find there is so much to thank God for. Good government, generous financial relief packages, careful strategies for isolation, the support of neighbours and friends, excellent medical resources, current good health, a loving family, a beautiful view, a comfortable bed, computers and phones, and FaceBook and Zoom, and coffee and family.
Is there any hope? Yes! Absolutely. In washing hands and social distancing, in good health care, in ICUs and ventilators, in flattening the curve, in the search for a vaccine, in government grants, in business bailouts, you name it. But our deepest hopes will only be realised as we look to the the one who made us, became one of us, died for us, and was raised again.
Good Friday reminds us of the sacrificial, costly love of God. When I see the body bags and catastrophic death tolls, I am tempted to doubt God. But when I look again at the crucifixion of Jesus I’m reminded just how much he cares. He could have left us alone forever to live with our mistakes, but instead he became one of us to offer us forgiveness.
What are you grateful for this Easter?
macarisms 
Hi Brother I am genuinely grateful to hear that you are still walking the journey and finding things to be thankful for. You are not forgotten. I have been aware that you have had to isolate longer and more fastidiously than most of us. I have also been aware that people are still dying of cancer and heart disease and suicide and…… which are no easier or more pleasant than CoVid-19. And that our friends in the Philippines risk their lives to feed the starving and tend the sick who are denied health care right now, and that the US is in a relative mess in terms of caring for its poor and sick, and that Dave Hay etc are courageously staying in SA and……We are blessed indeed.