In the past 3 weeks I've traveled from the US (Portland Oregon) to Europe (the Netherlands), back to Portland and down under to Australia. In my 62 years and many global travels I've never encountered what I did in the past 3 weeks. Everywhere I went I saw people wearing masks with fear in their eyes. In Amsterdam I watched people purposely walk to the other side of the walkways when someone wearing a mask was coming towards them. I was on planes where people were asking to move to a different section of the plane due to someone of Asian descent wearing a mask was sitting in their section. I felt a twinge of fear myself as I boarded airplane after airplane and saw people wearing masks and not knowing if they were infected or just being protective of their own health. I found myself quickly moving out of the area of people who were coughing or sneezing. And for the first time I've had to tell my company that I will not travel as they asked me to go to South Korea, Singapore, China, and India in the coming weeks. I also found people around the world centered and connected around a common fear - and unlike travels of the past decades where the fear was war, the new fear is an epidemic. I spoke to people around the world in the past 3 weeks while in offices, at restaurants, on the streets, and in the air and everyone is talking about Corona. It has replaced idle talk about politics, the weather, or sports. People of every generation, every culture, and every language are all talking about the same thing. I am just thankful that I know where I am going after this planet and even if I did catch Corona while on my travels I'm sure of one thing - I'm heaven bound. I just pray for the millions who do not yet know our Lord and Savior and that there will be a chance for all of them to know Him before its too late. Peace and Safety to all my RITAN brothers and sisters. Anyone who can say that they are Heaven bound, can live apart from fear and are buffeted with a joy that passes understanding. Our perspective is an eternal and divine one. As such, we are grateful for all of God's gifts, both temporary and eternal! We won't need to wear masks in heaven! TR May the Lord Jesus protect you from all harm in your travels. God bless and keep you safe. :prayer-hands: :prayer-hands: Glad to hear you were safe during your travels, Todd. Praying everyone here stays safe as well. I had a terrible incident today while shopping. I was fine until my last stop ... it was at the Dollar Store. I saw an oriental lady in the store with her baby. and they were both coughing and sneezing. I immediately headed to the check out line and was holding my breath. I also heard someone vacuuming in the store and I’m sure that stirred up dust. That was my last stop and while driving home I literally went into an asthmatic attack. I never had a flare up this bad since 2015 so I took out my inhaler and use it but I still didn’t get relief. So I starting praying I would make it home ok ... 24 miles later I was home and I ran into the house to the medicine cabinet to get the Mucinex pills. I took 1 pill with water and 10 minutes later got instant relief. This pill last for 12 hrs as it clears out the fluid build up in the your lungs. Thank you, Lord! I’m going to have to carry a pill with me at all times in case that happens again. Also I think I’m going to stay away from Dollar stores in the future. I just bought a cream blanket from Walmart and I see the label says “made in China”. So I have it in the washing machine right now ... I don’t want to take any chances. :wacko: Yes, its very comforting to know our souls are secure in Jesus! Geri, that was a traumatic moment for you, very glad you are ok. Asthma attacks are nothing to take for granted. They can be dangerous if treatment is not easily available. It can be very challenging to not get caught up in the fear and mass hysteria (not even sure if hysteria is the right word to use in this context, since its use often implies exaggeration, and I am not at all sure that the threat is being exaggerated). We need to preach to ourselves truths like, Fear not for I am with you, Perfect love casts out fear, God has not given us a spirit of fear. (If you are like me, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.) Lord, we desperately need You. It is quite sobering to contemplate that this fear that is sweeping the globe will pale in comparison to the blanket of fear and panic that will engulf the globe as soon as the Bride has been removed. I don't think we can even begin to truly know what that horror will feel like, and I praise God that we never will. For me personally, I don't think I fear death itself. I tend to view it as a promotion or upgrade. What I struggle with is the prospects of more suffering before I am done with this world. God knows I have certainly had my share already. I have found the bodies of brutally murdered family members at the hands of another family member. I have watched a cousin commit suicide. I have been abandoned by my earthly father growing up as a child. I have struggled in a marriage filled with emotional pain for both of us for 31 years. I have seen the closeness of my relationship with my daughter deteriorate. I have been ravaged financially by Lyme disease, while at the same time being driven several years ago to the edge of suicide because of the combined physical and mental anguish of that insidious disease. (Thankfully, I am doing much better health-wise, with most days very manageable.) So, I actually welcome the thought of being liberated from this corrupted, mortal body and waking up on the other side where I am ultimately clothed with incorruptible immortality. I just don't want to suffer anymore to get there. From where I stand, it is enough Abba, enough. Maranatha!!! Amen brother. Enough, enough.! Whether through much suffering and many trials or through the plodding of uneventful or unnoticed lives simply waiting for death, we all aspire for something better. God is the only one that truly satisfies! We have truly been given only a foretaste of what is stored up for us. I think that fear of death can better be described as fear of the unknown. Those that gloried only in their flesh naturally fight death, fearful that nothing else exists. Those that have expanded their vision of reality to include an afterlife don't cling as hard to this life. But with God we are afforded His help in this life and promised an eternity of fullness in the next! But then we are called to leave behind the simple and childish things like Earth, and take on the greater and more meatier aspects of a different realm like Heaven! TR Watchman, may the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ continue to grant you the peace that passes all of our earthly understanding. I agree with you, it is enough, I am so ready to hear that trumpet. :prayer-hands:
On another note in reflection of Todd’s travels and increased scare awareness. I have noted an increase of “mask” wearing even in my little corner of the world of 1.7 million residents. We have a large port for exports and imports from all over the world. My area is also home to several large military bases that include transient families. We have mask stations available in the area hospitals, mostly set up for flu season, but folks have been taking them by the handfuls.
it is certainly getting interesting out there. We just need to go home now. :prayer-hands:
