Connie Cates sent a great Facebook post this morning that spoke to what I have been hearing and feeling these past few days, so I want to share some major portions of it with you, along with my surrounding thoughts.
Jessica Casarez, a wife, mother, and strong woman of faith from Pearland Texas shared that, as she read the Headline “COVID 19 Death Rate Increases” the Lord allowed her to see it as:
CO VID 19 Recognizing “Co” as an abbreviation for Corinthians and with her Bible already marked to 2 Corinthians, she flipped to 1:9, which reads:
Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death, so that we would not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead. (2 Corinthians 1:9, CSB)
(Paul had a near-death experience during his time in Ephesus, with his insights most likely recorded in 2 Corinthians chapter 5:1-10.)
As Casarez shares, the “not trust in ourselves” jumped off the page. I would add, people of mature faith (though, in grace, let's remember that we all have weak days, occasionally!) do not horde, hide, hibernate, or hysteria-bait. God is calling us to trust in Him, Who alone raises the dead.
TRUTH: YOUR CHANCE OF DYING HAS NOT INCREASED AT ALL SINCE THIS LATEST SCARE BEGAN. YOU HAD A 100% CHANCE OF DYING BEFORE THIS VIRUS STARTED, AND A 100% CHANCE DYING AFTER IT PASSES…! Kingdom People live in the promise of the resurrection, not in the lie of “almost eternal” lives in these “bodies of death (Romans 7)!!”
As my oncologist reminded me some time back when I asked if I had terminal cancer, “Craig, we are all terminal!”
But what about the “VID?” As Casarez shares and I confirm through separate research, the word VID is Latin for SEE, appearing in many English words such as “Video,” “Visual” and so forth.
How amazing for us in the Year of Sight that the Lord would remind us to SEE beyond this virus with KINGDOM OF GOD Sight, into the deeper realities for people of faith.
Physical death is universal; but an eternal separation from God is infinitely worse and will increase exponentially if the Church of Jesus Christ retreats in this battle rather than advances.
NOW is the time to share the Gospel. NOW is the time to pray for the sick—particularly the COVID19 sick...! NOW is the time to take our eyes off circumstances and place them firmly on Christ!
As Casarez relates, “Corona” means crown, as in something that surrounds us. What surrounds us currently can be downright terrifying. Let me add, corona is the crown of Satan; it is the entrapment of a fallen world. But we are a people promised true Crowns, Crowns placed upon us as we lay aside ourselves and our selfishness and give ourselves completely to the King and His Kingdom, trusting in the Life beyond death, trusting in Love beyond separation, Trusting in the resurrection, not in physical death.
More than ever, we need to VID – SEE…!