If the Apostle Paul was alive today, I imagine he might phrase 1 Corinthians 13 a bit like this.
If I get more retweets and likes than anyone, but my words lack love, it would be better if I never posted.
If I can predict the pandemic curve, sell millions of masks, and even create the best vaccine, but profit from others’ pain instead of prevent it, my net worth is the inverse of my human worth.
1 Corinthians 13 reveals the key ingredient that our global family needs now more than ever: love.
If you happen to be feeling discombobulated in these times, you are not alone! A sense of disorganization or mini-trauma creeps in when we cannot do what we always do. One of the leading trauma experts, Bessel vanderKolk, defines trauma as being in a situation that we are helpless to change, and which seems endless (hmmm, that sounds familiar!). I have learned much from Bessel in terms of how to handle trauma, and have added some of his best “tips” in this piece.
COVID-19 is for the birds – well, at least they are enjoying our stay-at-home directives! These feathered friends approach me fearlessly during my walks in Toronto's High Park. I am so tempted to reach out and touch them! My prayer is that we'll continue to welcome wildlife into our human habitations long after the pandemic is over.
Dear friends, I hope you are finding ways to keep your peace during the novel coronavirus crisis. I found myself seeking deeper anchors in my spiritual life to help me weather the storm, and I would love to share them with you.
While the whole world is suffering from the novel coronavirus, we are not suffering equally. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where health care is limited and the social safety net frayed or non-existent, poverty and famine are feared almost as much as COVID-19. But since the Congo is not quite clear from the world's second-largest Ebola outbreak, which has been raging, and now smouldering, since August 2018, authorities are not taking any chances.
I met Lionel during a writing retreat in the Dominican Republic in 2018. Fighting illness and the homebound isolation of a cold Canadian winter, I decided to finally visit my friends who have been serving as missionaries in the Dominican Republic for a decade. From the home base of their apartment complex, we took a break one Saturday to see the local market, which primarily served tourists. Lionel was a salesman in one of the jewellery stores.
