May The Force Be With You

 

Jennifer and I made our way to Piedmont Hospital and the usual prep began. Eventually, I was rolled into the operating room where I met the Da Vinci Robot, who was going to partner with the doctor during the surgery.

 

Being sedated, I think I asked the robot how it was doing.

I dozed off, opened my eyes and learned that six hours had passed.

At the time, I remember some discomfort, but it was somewhat manageable with the help of Sister Morphine.

Here I lie in my hospital bed

Tell me, Sister Morphine, when are you coming round again?

Oh, I don't think I can wait that long

Oh, you see that I'm not that strong ~ The Rolling Stones

 

 

 

And I rested.

When I would awaken, a nurse, or Jennifer, would usually be standing by my bed, trying to get me up and walking. I wanted no part of that.

On the second day of this surgical journey, I met a nurse named Joel Bond. I will never forget him, or the mystical experience his visit became. I only connected with Joel for that brief stay at Piedmont, but his effect on me completely changed my life.

Joel was often very busy when he’d drop by to check on me, but he’d still take a moment and pull a chair up beside my bed and chat for a couple of minutes. He’d joke and he’d give me some encouraging words before he rushed away again; always promising to check on me in a while and always keeping his promise.

I had some minor complications that kept me in the hospital for a few days, but Joel was there every day. And on the third day after my visit to the cave (Hero’s Journey), Joel came in smiling. He pulled his chair up and said, “I’m so happy.”

I had no idea what he was referring to. “About?” I asked.

“Oh, I’ve seen your path,” he said, “You are going to live a long time.”

I had no idea what he was talking about. But I did not have time to ask him to clarify; my doctor walked in.

“We’ve got your pathology report back Mark.” Said Dr. Wong.

Joel put his hand over his mouth, “I thought you knew. I let it slip.” He said.

Oh… Okay, path is short for pathology. Right.

“We got it all and we won’t need to do anything more.” Said Dr. Wong, “We are just going to monitor your PSA a while. You’ll die of something one day, but not prostate cancer.”

With that, Dr. Wong walked out and Joel said, “I am so sorry. I thought you already knew.”

I told Joel I had no idea that “path” meant “pathology” and we had a laugh about that.

“I may not see you anymore.” Said Joel, “This is not my floor. I’m upstairs if you need me. After I met you, I asked them if I could stay on this floor until I knew you were going to be okay, but I’ve got to get back now.”

Joel gave me a pat on the arm and said, “It has been fun. You are going to be fine.”

I’ve not seen him since.

As soon as Joel walked out, it was easy for me to believe I’d just had a mystical experience, based on a true story.

The name Joel comes from the same source that gives us the word “jewel” It means: The Lord is God.

The word “Bond”, Joel’s last name, means: uniting power or influence; or a method of laying bricks.

The path? It is not really short of pathology in this story. It is Joseph Campbell’s path of a hero; which we are all called to travel on from time to time. It is the journey which every life-story is based on, for every individual. George Lucas wrote Star Wars based on The Hero’s Journey. To me, it seems clear that Lucas uses Luke to tell of his own journeys. Whether you see it or not, you’ll be called out on a journey. You won’t want to go. You’ll meet others, the way I met Joel Bond, and you’ll find yourself in a cave, where you have to deal with your fears. Your Joel, or your Yoda or your mentor, will help you to discover your strength.

“My ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is. Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us, binds us. Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter.” ~ Yoda

 

The Journey's End

 

Today would have been my 40^th anniversary if Lori. I miss Lori on some strange level. I suppose I remember the shy little creature I dated 40-44 years ago, predating the beginning of the end. In that smaller window of my story, I can still see a rather cheerful period; an experience I enjoyed very much. In those years, I was in need of a miraculous rescue. From ages 0-14, I was developing and living in a story of complete anxiety. I was a wild Mustang of a horse. I hid behind hills and drank from streams and foraged in that wilderness of unhappy isolation. I could not really fit in anywhere. I would go to school and I was an outcast, making friends with the unruliest students I could find. I only made such friends because I could not identify with anyone who fit in socially. When The Universe introduced Lori as a supporting actress in my story, I found myself playing parts I had never played. I found out that dating would require a trip to a restaurant; something I had only done once or twice in my life. I did not know about these buildings where food was offered and servers would ask me difficult questions like, “Would you like some fresh grated parmesan cheese?”

It may sound like a simple question, but questions like that produced such uncomfortable feelings within me. “If I say no, will I offend this person? Does the cheese cost more? Does the server really have time to bother with such a selfish request?”

These imponderables would cause my heart to race and a bead of sweat would appear on my forehead. I stammered and sent the friendly server away, wishing I could have enjoyed the cheese I just refused.

To say that I was an awkward teenager is as much of an understatement as saying the ocean is wet.

Lori was not my girlfriend or a permanent fixture in my life; that was never the intention. Of course, my desire was to keep her on as my mate, but a Greater Mind knew that she had a limited role. Lori was a door into an adventure. When I was 19, and finally stepping through that door, I saw Lori and I as joint-protagonists. But later that day – this day, 40 years ago – I was given the clue of a lifetime and it was a literal sign, with two words on it and those two words captured the essence of the entire story of Lori. I did not realize this then, but the two words on that sign were there to reveal the title of the play in which Lori and I were costars. The two words? Journey’s End. That night, the epilogue was printed and the hardcover edition of the very first book of The Chronicles of My Life was bound.

It seemed unusual to begin a series of books with the first one being referred to as The Journey’s End, but it was the end; not of my life’s story, but of the story a complete adventure, where I was as wild as a Mustang and broken by a little, redheaded girl.

So today still marks an anniversary for me; it’s the anniversary of the end of book one. Without the first book, The Journey’s End, I would not have been prepared to accept the call we read about in the second book. Lori appeared in the first few chapters of the second book, but only to set up the characters who would help me over the threshold and back into the special world. Every Hero’s Journey begins in a mundane, ordinary world. Shortly after I stepped through the door of perception, which was introduced in the first episode of my life, I found myself in a very ordinary state. At that point, I could ask for parmesan cheese without the slightest delay. I was in this ordinary state for eight years into the second book, but the phone rang, and it was Lori. “Meet me,” She said, “and let’s say, ‘goodbye.’”

I agreed and we met at a middle school, located almost exactly in the middle of where we began and where we ended up. From that meeting, I watched her drive away and then I turned and answered the call back into the special world.

 

They Call Us Flippers

 

You would not believe how often we uncover a patch that completely shocks us; and I don’t know why it still shocks us. In so many cases, a floor is just one bounce from falling through, a wire is just one jiggle away from burning down the house, a wall is just one good push away from falling in or out and this list goes on forever.

Some real examples:

1.     1. In one house, the add-on laundry room was leaking and the drywall had fallen in, and the renter was behind on rent so they did not even call the landlord; instead, they tried to patch the ceiling from the inside. I kid you not. They took a bucket of tar and slathered it to the exposed decking; INSIDE THE LAUNDRY ROOM. This probably would not have even worked if they’d gotten a ladder and tried to patch it from the roof side, but the odds would have been significantly better.

2.      2.  On one house, some siding had rotted and fallen away from the house. No problem: the homeowner found some decent cardboard, cut it out bigger than the hole, attached it with duct tape, and actually painted his patch to match the house. I swear, someone should make videos of repairs like that. It is sad and funny. The sad part is that the person who makes such repairs spends a lot of time doing so and they actually think it will work.

3.      3. We bought one house and it was actually a decent house; except the homeowner was a “handyman”. He had a lot of silicone and several boxes of drywall screws in assorted sizes. This demo was the hardest one we’ve done. For decades, the homeowner had been squeezing silicone and screwing anything he added or repaired. Nothing was level or cut properly, but it was securely in place; FOREVER. Pipes were literally all coated in a half-inch layer of silicone. I’m still not clear on what he was thinking here. It may be that he was thinking the silicone would insulate the pipes, or maybe he thought the outer-layer of silicone would prevent leaks? I am not sure, but the pipes had to be rescued from the silicone before they could be removed.

I could go on. But don’t get me wrong; this is why I have a job and I love it.

During the boom we’ve been experiencing, we’ve been watching our competition. There are some flippers out there who know what they are doing. I usually go and check out their work whenever I can. Some people just go in and renew everything. Those are usually the best examples of a renovation, but they often cover up beautiful hardwoods and they’ll just throw old, wavy-glass windows in the dumpster and replace them with off-the-shelf, vinyl windows. While I agree that the house will often function even better, giving up the charm to achieve that goal is not always the best idea.

There was one house we really wanted. We made an offer but were outbid by another company. The house was absolutely gorgeous. It was old and neglected and it needed a lot of work, but we dreamed of bringing it back the way it was designed. It was filled with old-world character you just cannot find anymore. Naturally, we watched the renovation. We were hoping the flippers would have the same vision we had and that they’d bring it back to its original, stunning character. Everyone was talking about this particular house; and they still are. It’s all done now, and if you like the modern version of an old, farmhouse, you’d like this renovation. But it’s as if the old, Victorian charmer was never even there. So far, everyone I’ve talked to wishes that we’d gotten it. In my opinion, taking an antebellum-style home and making it look like the houses you’ll find in every new subdivision is kind of backwards.

Bill and I are presently renovating a village home in The Goodyear Village in Rockmart. We are basing everything we do on maintaining the character of the old village. Sure, we could make the cottage stand out by creating a farm-house there on the corner; but it would be as out of place as I was, when I wore a brown suit to a Harry Norman Christmas party.

The last house we did was one that our aunt built in 1955. So what did we do? We found pictures of homes built in 1955 and we redesigned it to fit the original style. Bill furnished it with midcentury-modern furniture. If you go there now, it’s like stepping back in time, to 1955, and walking around in a new house from that period. Where the floor needed patching, we found old wood. Everything we did, we tried to keep the original charm in mind.

Flipping is hard work sometimes. This is why you’ll find plenty of houses where the demo is either underway or complete. I can almost understand why these houses are often offered for sale at that point. This is when we look around and feel overwhelmed. To be honest, this stage can be difficult for anyone. You’ll always find something you weren’t expecting. This is the only thing we seem to have in common with the popular HGTV shows; someone is always going to say, “You may want to come in here and have a look at this.”

Only we don’t get to cut to a commercial. And this will happen almost daily. We’ve learned to deal with it. You cannot let these things get to you; putting a sign up at this point will result in a loss.

Speaking of dealing with it, Bill has learned how to estimate any job and his method is the most accurate method there is. We’ll look at a project and Bill will ask me to come in and give him my estimate on the total costs. He nods and says, “Okay, I got it.” He doubles my guestimate and that has proven to be almost exact in every case. This is where having a good ol’ boy and a business major from UGA works out great.

I wish I had known to do this when Susan and I built our own home. It ended up costing almost exactly twice what I said it would; I didn’t know to double it back then.

The Upside

 

Experts are saying that inflation has hit Americans harder than expected; if someone did not see this coming, I don’t know why we’d call them an expert.

The feds are definitely going to pull back on bonds in the coming weeks. And in the summer of 2022, interest rates are going to start going up. Houses will be selling like hotcakes through the month of June and then it will begin to slow down. Prices, however, will not be going down. Prices only go down when money is worth as much as the printed value on it; that’s not the case post-inflation.

Incomes will be greatly improved by the summer. This has nothing to do with policymakers pushing for higher, minimum wages; it’s going to be fueled by the demand for workers. Employers who want to survive this transition are going to have to pay much higher wages and give up a lot of their bottom line. The upside to doing so will be the ability to remain viable until inflation catches up with the reset. Absolutely everything is going to cost more; much more. Every retailer or service provider will have to make rationing decisions and slow their own growth so as not to become kindling for the changes in the markets. Wages and prices will need to go up. Any employer who refuses to raise wages will not recover their workforce and without a workforce, they’ll fail.

Home prices will continue to go up. So will everything else. As wages are increased, affordability will meet the new prices. Personal, fiscal growth is still going to be doable, and small companies could capitalize by hiring the best workers while the huge, super-retailers refuse to give up massive profits they typically enjoy by paying very little for products, and paying very low wages.

This could be the end of huge department stores and the beginning of a new kind of opportunity for startups. Quality is key. Hire the best workers and pay them well. Sell the best products and provide the best services and build a strong, small company while the mega-stores struggle to find people who will work for almost nothing.

Just a few years ago, most mom-and-pop companies had to sell out or give up under the pressure of super-chains. I think we may see the opposite scenario taking place soon. Workers are holding out for better wages and consumers are looking for higher quality and better services. These ideas go against everything that makes a mega-store or a monopoly.

This is not gloom and doom… unless you are a Superstore that was doing really well when you could buy really cheap products and have them shipped for very little, while paying your workforce just enough to buy some of the junk you were peddling.

 

 

Navigating

 

I am so thankful to be here. After an illness last week, my entire perspective was jolted. It came just as my dear friend David, was being lowered into the earth. Those events, when coupled, caused a spike in my awareness. While the events are dreadful, I hope I can keep the energy of this spike. It feels so wonderful in my soul.

I think it is a good idea to give the self some things to do. Many of today’s teacher’s call the self; ego. For some reason, I have yet to embrace that. It carries a connotation that maybe the self has to be selfish. This may not be so. I think we may be able to train the self.

When I think of the self now, I think of it as my thing. The self is a subordinate to The I AM. What has only just come to light for me is that the self is very unaware of its status as a servant. The self is not a power-grabber, but all of its thoughts assure it that it is doing everything own its own. One way to think of this is to consider other people you know. Do you feel a separation from yourself and those other selves? You probably do. I know I do. But then, let us consider the category, Life. Are those other people a part of Life? Are you are part of Life? Somehow, while we think of ourselves as individuals, at the same time, we accept the fact that we are also a small part of a bigger picture; whatever that picture is. I am not Everything, but I am a part of It. With this understanding in mind, let us come back to the self and simply observe any self at all. As an Observer, it is very easy to see that every self has its uniqueness. One characteristic present in every self, is the mind in the mechanical room of each self. To say that the mind is unaware is not really fair. It is extremely aware of the functions of itself. However, it is not the duty of the mind to grasp what is “out there”. Think of the self as having been trained to operate the machine that gives it life. It is not unlike legs, hands, eyes and so on. If you have two legs and if you are familiar with walking on them, you can see that it serves you best if your legs only concern themselves with the body perched above them. Can you imagine trying to make your legs aware of other bodies that may also need mobility? Your legs would lose track of their mission and, in their confusion, they’d fail you in order to see what they could do for others. So the self, running all of the controls in the mechanical room of your individual machine, constantly works to keep the machine running. One by one, it will solve problems without worrying about what may exist aside from its machine. In fact, it will actually attempt to put everything in a logical, local category. Give it a word and watch what it does. This can be entertaining. The self in every individual is a decorated soldier. This soldier is trained to be extremely disciplined. The self does not cry. The soldier in you can tell when you are crying; he rolls his eyes and causes your hand to reach for a towel. He sends commands like, “Stop. Focus. Regroup. Straighten up. Get a grip.”

That is his duty to the machine. The self does not care what it is that is making you cry. This proud, decorated soldier calls it a storm and he starts yelling commands to every hand on the ship of your experience. With every surge, the soldier says, “Stay with me; we’ve got to get through this.”

Throughout your life, you will find yourself in waters like this and, if you will observe carefully, you can see the work of the soldier in real time. Your eyes may fill with tears and you may feel tremendous heartache and you may hear yourself saying, “I don’t know why I cannot stop crying.”

In such a moment, you can see two distinct characteristics present within you. One is filled with grief or sympathy or empathy or love. One is building a resistance to these categories as quickly as possible. You’ll notice that there is something about yourself that says, “We cannot remain in this dreadfully raw place and function in this real world.”

At the same time, you will probably notice The I AM saying, “Fine, but the feelings will remain. I’ll just try to spare the self from as much exposure as possible.”

In every case of grief, the self eventually emerges. He has saved his ship. Oftentimes you will hear someone say, “I am still standing!”

When someone says this, they are not saying that they’ve overcome the sadness; they are saying that the machine has been refitted to carry on with the new information.

That’s right; to your soul, it is not just information. Your heart has broken. Your life has changed. There is sadness. But to the self, a few new boards are brought in and a wall is thrown up to hold back the emotional part of this new situation.

You’ll see this in your own experience when a loved one dies. At first, it has the capacity to cripple your ship, but you know you mustn’t allow the situation to take you to the bottom of the sea. In most cases, day by day, you’ll find yourself engaging in routine events again; in spite of the fact that the loss is still very real.

As The Observer you are, you can hover over this situation with The Light of Awareness and you can see how both sides are getting on. Shining the light on the self, you’ll notice new safeguards and supports in place. The self may gather friends and ask for support in order to regain the ship and this is a very good idea. Then if you take the same Lamp and shine it on The I AM, you’ll see that the feelings are all still there. The emotions are there. The I AM is also relying on the support of friends, but It needs and wants to get to The I AM in them. The pain and rawness of the event recolors the water around your ship and it may even appear red to your Awareness. You see this color changing the very Ocean of your own existence and you know it has begun to reshape the entire Ocean forever. The waves will be different now. The tide may be different. Your “I AM” has affected the entire experience for yourself and everyone else; forever and throughout all space. In a case where you’ve lost a loved one, the very buoyancy of your own ship will likely increase; making navigation easier on the self; that determined soldier in your wheelhouse.

This is how our loved ones remain with us forever. In the physical sense, we can observe the ship and notice their absence, but if we allow a look by The Observer in us, we will see our loved one’s impact on The Sea of Life. If we are honest with our mighty soldier, the self, we cannot ignore the changes in The Sea. The self has the data too. That’s why, if you consider the machine you are riding in, you’ll notice more resilience in certain, affected areas. A good soldier will guide you around your own ship and say things like, “See, I made it through that day without tears.” And later on, “I’ve been through a lot and I am stronger as a result.”

These are the words of your captain. Without him, you’ll go mad. Let him do his job. Let him reach for towels and let him have friends. It is not his job to file any kind of emotion at all. It is his job to stop those files from contaminating the machine. That’s healthy and normal. The captain will make yourself stronger.

 

 

 

The Honeybee

COVID-19 is the name of the nemesis. A virus has become the archenemy of the human race. This must be how bugs feel when a pest controller sprays their nests. I don’t know how many times I have sprinkled granules of some kind of poison on an anthill. Don’t you know that as that poison begins to do the trick, there must be panic within the mound? I don’t think ants are as savvy as humans, but I am sure each generation is getting a little closer to catching on to the warning signs of an angry homeowner. Typically, we have to change the method of control once the pests “learn” how to get around our poisons.

We’ve been fighting viruses for centuries. We have probably done our part by chasing them with all kinds of solutions, vaccines, antibiotics and other remedies. If you were a virus, wouldn’t you try to find the right kind of DNA to give your offspring in order for them to survive the stuff humans try to use for control? It’s a match that someone has to eventually lose.

Of course it is very premature to talk about what may come after COVID-19, but if we manage to find some sort of immunity with this virus, the next one may give us more trouble. Of course it could be decades away.

The reality we have yet to accept is that, as humans, we may not always be able to think our way out of something. This is the case with hurricanes and earthquakes. When we heed all of the warnings, we tend to survive many of these enemies, but when a human is blindsided by a storm, it may not be decided by who has the bigger brain.

During this uniquely stressful pandemic, I’ve watched the reactions of all kinds of people and most of our best guesses are not really winning the fight as quickly as we’d like. One with lots of money is accustomed to treating things with money and money does not really seem to solve the underlying concerns if you ask me. Someone with mechanical skills will often begin talking about machines that may help people breathe if they find their own ability to get enough oxygen is just not enough. Someone who cooks will talk about ways to keep people fed. Someone who sells toilet paper seems to fare pretty well for some reason. Scientists are looking for ways to accelerate tests that will get some kind of potential treatment out to humans sooner rather than later. And the tests are happening at an alarming rate, all over the world. Governments are trying to find ways to “flatten the curve”, which is another way of saying, “We may have just as many cases, but over a longer period of time so the hospitals can treat everyone instead of the just the most critical ones.”

Preachers are preaching as usual. Huge companies are laying off employees as a way to mitigate the effect of the virus on the bottom line. Doctors and nurses are doing everything they can do to keep people alive and safe. Teachers are having classes online. Some essential workers are literally risking their lives to keep food production going and shipping. Nursing homes are taking emergency measures to the extreme and people are not being allowed to visit loved ones for now.

We are all doing things differently in order to slow or stop this virus. The thing about COVID-19 is, it really did not seem to come prepared to kill all of its potential hosts. As with most bugs, this virus seems to want to live concurrently with humans. To coronaviruses, a perfect world is one where humans and viruses can live together. It can only be a serious player if it can survive. And this is the most likely scenario. COVID-19 will probably eventually find its way into so much of the herd that it will begin to have less effect. The fact that it is so easily spread seems to suggest that it is trying to pair up with as many hosts as possible in a short period. The effect this virus has on the elderly is extremely dangerous for this portion of our herd. And this is where we refuse to act like buffalo and leave our old ones behind. Thankfully, humans are far more empathetic than most other animals. We don’t leave anyone behind.

But if this virus finds its way into our communities and we’ve kept our elderly away, what is their defense when we begin to mingle again? If the virus learns to coexist with healthier, younger humans, then how will those healthier, younger humans not become lethal to the aged and unhealthy?

Herd immunity will eventually work, except many people will likely die as the fight has to be taken up by stronger, healthier humans. This pandemic is like a pack of wolves chasing our entire herd as I type this note. Way out front, you have those younger, healthier, faster humans running up and into the hills without giving out of breath. Behind them, you have some who are running, but are dealing with the dust from the younger ones and the fear of the wolves they see and hear behind them. Right behind that, behind people my age, you have those people who are over 60 and maybe not quite as swift. Right behind them, you have an enormous group of people who cannot outrun the virus. They are out of breath and many are too unhealthy to keep running. Some are giving up and some are being killed.

Amazingly, the altruism of the human race shows up in the nick of time. Some of the ones who could have outran this enemy have turned around to face it head on. You are seeing them in a staring contest with the virus.  We all have elderly or unhealthy loved ones. We are all determined that the virus can’t take them without a fight and everyone is preparing to fight now. How will this fight ultimately turn out for the herd and its nemesis, COVID-19?

As a senior in this very herd, with a mother who is 85, a father-in-law who is 85 and a mother-in-law who is 80, I’ve begun to stand between the virus and the elderly in my group. As a responsible fighter, I’ve agreed that I can probably risk a little more than my aged loved ones so I place myself a little closer to the frontline where food and necessities can still be had. I bring them to my loved ones and try to avoid any close contact. But I am deeply concerned that I can only delay this disease and not completely prevent it. The flattened models I have seen do not really show us saving the most vulnerable, it seems to show us delaying their infection and their fight. If the front lines do not find a way to kill this virus, it seems to me that the virus will kill some of our elderly population in a wave; now or later.

It may be that the new ventilators will save many of our stronger ones. If they survive it, the virus may be around for decades and it may kill millions as does the flu and cancer. It may be around for the rest of this human period. I may survive this and become somewhat immune to COVID-19 and die of something else later on. It may be that the only possible solution is to build our individual immune systems to fight this thing individually, but what about my mom, father-in-law and mother-in-law?

I think the only hope for them at all is a serum. Whatever the human immune system develops as a cure for this disease, will have to be administered to the elderly. This is the race now. This is the fight now.

Time won’t take care of this. Having the virus running freely within our community will only provide better health for those who are already relatively healthy and fairly young too. But for anyone with any kind of illness or already fighting the disease of age, this virus seems to be the one they cannot beat.

It’s our time to show creation what we are made of. Honey bees are a good example of what our best may well demonstrate during this crisis. We’ve taken note of this coronavirus and we feel threatened. We recognize the enemy’s desire to do harm to our hive, our tribe, our herd. When a honeybee has decided that its hive is being threatened, it finds the enemy and stings if possible. The honeybee does not take this lightly as it knows that it will die after it has stung the assailant. It will take this mindset to defeat this enemy. We will have to fight with a honeybee mindset. You are seeing this today. I am proud of the human race for saying, “No, you cannot take our old people and our unhealthy people without a fight.”

The entire herd seems to have stalled out and turned around to face this thing. It has been a beautiful moment to witness. At first, the youngest ones could not be slowed down. They are too filled with excitement and life. But they saw the middle group stopping and they eventually stopped to look back. We’ve witnessed the tragedy out back, where the oldest ones are being taken down by this enemy, but almost at once, others in the herd began to stand between the virus and the herd. Now it is a standoff. Right now, nobody knows what happens next.

Some people are calling for the herd to carry on. But there is too much love among humans for that. Most people know that if we carry on and do nothing, we will be thinned out and the ones we love will have died for us instead of having it the other way around. It’s a beautiful fact that most humans, when given the choice of dying for someone verses having someone die for us, we choose to die. It is not an easy choice. Life has always been our most valuable possession. I believe many people will be risking their lives in order to fight this disease on the front lines. Some will lose that fight. But I also believe the one thing this virus cannot withstand is a love so great.

This is not the first time this has happened. It happens in every generation. My uncle was on a tractor, in 1939, plowing a field. He had been hearing about the war and how the enemy wanted to take away American freedom. He stepped off of that tractor, walked by his mother and father, on his way to gather a few things and he was off to the train station where he joined 16 million others and became a soldier. His life was not at risk in that garden. But there was no way he was going to allow an enemy to have its way with America.

This is what we do. This is how we are naturally wired. Millions of people are literally risking their lives to save others right now. This is happening all over the world. If the enemy wants a fight, mankind will give it to him. The thing that no enemy is ever really prepared for is The Divine Wind. Today, we are seeing the evidence of this Divine Wind. When you see people risking their lives to save others, there is a Wind behind them and it is Divine. It’s the soldier, the nurse, the doctor, the honeybee and the caregiver.

To answer your question, Jack Johnson, “Where’d all the good people go?” take a look around.

God and the Coronavirus

If I were challenged to explain God’s position on this coronavirus and its effect on our world today, as anyone else, I would likely grapple and wrestle with my thoughts and how to communicate them. But if there was ever a time for anyone to self-examine one’s spiritual convictions, it would be now.

To begin, I would offer a disclaimer to admit that I am a doubter and on my best days, I am not a fundamental believer. In other words, if someone wanted to read about some of the most traditional religious dogmas, I would never be a good source. In my case, I have never been one to promote or encourage the validity of someone else’s views. I have always been on a very personal journey regarding my faith and I never take anyone’s word for what I cannot test for myself. Needless to say, I would not want to depend on a prayer-cloth, purchased from a televangelist, to get us through this pandemic.

I believe the ultimate answer is available for everyone and not just for the few who can muster up the faith to believe it to be so. Love, in a word, is what we can rely on. Whether we’ve accepted a specific religious path or not, the case for Love has been proven over and over. Life is just one thing and we are all expressions of it. The only way through any trial we face as a people, is to respond as a people. We are truly all in this together. If Love is the one thing we know we can rely on, we should trust it to get us through this.

I believe in people in general. I think we will naturally be more inclined to love our neighbors when we learn that more and more of our neighbors may actually need something.

On Tuesday, in Atlanta, Quazavier Dupre was on his way home from work and he saw a house on fire. His work crew was with him and he said their first reaction was to stop and help. Inside the house, they found a man, a woman and a baby. Darrell McClendon said he had to save the family. He has children of his own and was thinking about them. The woman in the house was naked and the men clothed her. The men who stopped to help “neighbors” on the way home from work, saved the family.

Dupree told reporters he was just doing God’s will. Cornell White said he didn’t feel like a hero, but a blessing and he said, “Thank God for that.”

Hearts like that will get us through this. If we see someone in need, we will have an opportunity to help. It’s not that we won’t see smoke, flames and families facing such challenges, but we will see the best in people and we will see people running into dangerous situations to help. Where is God in this pandemic? We can see Him. He’ll look like Quazavier Dupre and his friends.