Banking, office hour, our Hope

I got word from the bank that all the paperwork was ready a little after 10 am yesterday, so I took the afternoon off and Mama and I drove to Lawton to sign the papers. It is an easy drive and Mama was able to work on various things for her business as we made the drive to Lawton. We spent a good deal of time talking about how to handle the money we were borrowing against the houses but since there is no particular hurry to designate the funds for a specific project - other than completing the work on the two houses in Lawton – we are going to move very slowly and pray about what needs to be done outside of our real estate business. Hopefully, by July 1 we will have one of the two houses rented, which will more than cover the note. If not, we will hang in as we get the houses completed and rented. We did not borrow enough to do any heavy investing. That was done on purpose. I did not want leverage too much and end up in a worse situation than we just came out of. From here, we move slowly. Prayerfully.

When Mama and I got back we hit the ground running. Feeding needed to be done along with many other  animal related chores around the farm. Since it was a church night, we had to get everything done quickly so we could have the time to shower and get ready for church. Pastor invited the Walker’s to do a week of revival meetings. It will be a delight to spend next week with them. Like many evangelists and missionaries on deputation, they have had no meetings scheduled since late February. That means they have had no income (or very little income) for the past three months. That makes things a little tough. We cannot help them all, but since we had to cancel Vacation Bible School, we plan to use the family for the revival services instead. It will be a more relaxing time for them than VBS would have been, but it will be great for us as a congregation. The services will be held in the new building so we can still “distance” from each other. All the services will be broadcast for those who cannot attend. And I am sure the Walker’s will put on quite a presentation for all the services. Having services four nights in a row is a little bit of a hardship, but we will enjoy it as it unfolds.

I spent about a half hour in the office this morning to trade off files. I will be presenting an online 8-hour class every Wednesday for the next eight weeks starting next Wednesday. In order to be ready for those classes, I needed to upload files I have been working on and download files that I need to work on. What would have taken me eight to ten minutes per file at the house took me about forty five seconds at work. It was worth the drive there and back to get the work done. I was not allowed to stay at the office since I am not one of the twelve allowed to be in the building right now. We are at 25% occupancy per the guidelines being followed by businesses that are reopening.

I do not believe anyone in our office – other than the one person who has routine testing along with her monthly chemotherapy treatment – has ever been tested for COVID-19. I suppose, ignorance is bliss. As long as the perception of fear rules the day, we are going to try to figure out how to stop doing what we are doing and struggle back towards normal.

I read an interesting article by a liberal professor who argued that Christians are unafraid of the virus because they believe in an “afterlife”. That belief allows them to live fearlessly in this life because they believe there is a better life waiting on them when this one is over. Well, duh! Then he made a statement that struck me. He argued that for those who believe this life is all they have, they are terrified to lose it and enraged that anyone would lack the decency to protect them from anything that might jeopardize their one shot at life. I wanted to ask, Do you smoke? Do you drive a car? Do fly on planes? Do you eat fatty foods? Do you engage in risky sexual behavior? What other things around you threaten your life that you pay no attention to? Why is this virus the most dangerous threat you have ever faced? How am I responsible to protect you from a virus that I do not have? A virus that can access your body through myriad vectors.  A virus that you would statistically be unaffected by. It makes no sense unless you are placing all your hopes in this life.

It was a stark reminder of the hope that motivated those of us who believe. A stark reminder of the hopelessness, the despair of those who do not know our Savior. Thank God for our Hope.