400,000 People and Counting

 

            Music has always been important to me.   Sometimes, the words of a song capture well what I am thinking and feeling.   In recent days, I have had come to mind a song of my youth by singer/songwriter Joni Mitchell.   The song is titled “Big Yellow Taxi” and it includes these words:

Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got till it's gone

            A few days ago, the news reported that there is now a grand total of 400,000 people in the United States who have died of illness related to this pandemic.   To put that into perspective, it is reported that there are approximately  464,000 people who live in Raleigh, the capitol city of North Carolina.   Can you imagine most of the people of Raleigh dying in less than a years time?   Yet, that is what has happened across this nation.   Those people are more than a number and a statistic.   They are more than another patient in the hospital or another death for a funeral home.   They are people who touched lives and had an impact on the world where they lived.  .  I think of some of the people that I have known who have died of illness related to this deadly virus:

·         The man who  was a father and husband

·         The person  who was a leader of not only his local church, but who was known as a man of faith in leadership across the state and nation

·         The fella who spent his retirement days working at disaster recovery sites providing food for the volunteers

·         The guy  who started  and ran a successful family business

·         The man who was a counselor-educator who taught people about grief in over 15 countries around the world

·         The fella who was a teacher, coach, and driving education instructor for over 50 years

“Don't it always seem to go  That you don't know what you've got till it's gone”, Joni Mitchell wrote and sang many years ago.      One of the things I have seen done by families when someone has died is to leave an empty chair at the dinner table on a holiday or other special occasion as a reminder that there is an emptiness and void at their table and in their lives.  In these days, many families are not only knowing an empty place in their world because a loved one has died from the coronavirus, but our world is  also a little emptier.   Thanks be to God for the lives of each and every one.  May God swiftly show mercy on us that this pandemic will be in our rear-view mirror.   Have a joy-filled week.-   Pastor Randy Wall

PRAYER:     O God,  we give you thanks for  all those who we know and do not know that have died from COVID-19.   We thank you for the many lives that were touched by each and every person.  We pray for their families and friends who have experienced loss that they might know your peace.  Thank you, God, that you see us through all the challenges of life; through Christ our Lord.   Amen.