Most of you who were alive and well in Spokane in the mid-90s have memories of that November 19th day that started just like another other drizzly pre-Thanksgiving morning. By that evening, it was anything but normal. Many of us began to realize that something totally unexpected had descended upon our city. And it would significantly impact our lives for we didn’t know how long.    

Sandy & I had four children at the time (11, 8, 5 & 3). And if you ask any of them today about Ice Storm ’96, they all have some fond, and probably a few not-so-fond, memories of that 8-day, no-electricity experience in our cold, dark home on Wardson St.  

· We all slept on the floor in the same basement family room…in sleeping bags. 

· We all stayed warm by and cooked on the one wood-fired fireplace insert there in the house. 

· We all did homework and played games at night by candlelight. 

· We didn’t watch TV, surf the internet, play on our computers or talk on the phone. The only electronic device we listened to was a little transistor radio that ran by battery and gave us periodic updates plus a little music.  

· We all slept in our clothes, didn’t take many/any showers, went to work (where they had electricity sooner) and looked in on neighbors from time to time. 

But that inconvenient, slightly challenging time did some really good things to us as a family. 

· It gave us a new shared experience that bonded us a bit more. 

· It brought us closer together in a variety of ways. (Some kids really move in their sleep!) 

· It created some new experiences we still like to engage in (camping, backpacking, game nights, etc.). 

· It gave us an appreciation for the blessings of normal, average, mundane and routine life. 

· It called upon us as parents to lead and educate our children in new ways that would better equip them for life and experiences… like the one we’re all having right now.    

That and more is what this COVID-19 experience is doing with all of us and billions of people around the world.    

We have a heavenly Father who is wanting to guide and shepherd all of us through this present crisis. Just like Sandy and I were not going to let our children go hungry or live on the street or not have enough warm clothes for the cold days and nights, neither is our heavenly Father about to abandon us to our own inadequate wisdom, experience or resources.    

But He is going to continue to invite us into life at a different level with Him. 

· There will be plenty of the regular, not very eventful and sometimes mundane routines that we still need to do and in which God will still be present. 

· There will be some special, interesting and even fun new experiences He wants to give us that can bind our lives more to Him. 

· Some of us will have less time alone with God while others will have more. 

· Some will start new experiences with God we won’t want to stop when this is over. 

· Some will deepen existing experiences with God that will serve us even better going forward than if we had never had this lock-down experience.    

In all of this experience, our Heavenly Father is designing things for our good and even for eternal memories that we will look back upon and be grateful for from heaven’s vantage point. Who knows, we will probably find ourselves in heaven saying from time to time, “Remember COVID-19 back in Spokane?” And then someone will recount some story that will make us all laugh…and thank our Father again for shepherding us through this present danger.    

Let me close with a few practical suggestions for using this time (and the rest of life here on this earth) to bond our lives closer to our Heavenly Daddy, Abba Father. Regarding GOD’S WORD to us in this time, you might want to… 

· Pick up that devotional you’ve been wanting to get into and read it daily. 

· Start a daily PBJ time if you don’t have it already…or add another one to a different part of your day. (PBJ = Prayer, Bible & Journaling) 

· Start a Bible study once or twice a week if you’re not involved in one regularly now. (Check out Bible Study Fellowship’s free on-line group studies at https://www.bsfinternational.org/classes/joining-a-class or The Navigator’s Bible studies at https://www.navigators.org/topic/bible-study/) 

· Begin journaling what God is saying to you in His Word or what you are saying to him in your prayers. 

Speaking of PRAYER, you might want to… 

· Begin a personal prayer journal where you keep track of the people and things you are praying for, when you started praying as well as when and how God answers. 

· Set aside a few more minutes than you do right now to pray. If you aren’t used to having a specific prayer time daily, start with 10 minutes now. If you pray 15 minutes every day now, why not go to 25? 

· If you are uncomfortable praying in a group, start praying with one other family member daily…or join Mosaic’s Evening Prayer for a few minutes between 7:00-8:00 p.m. and just listen to others pray together. (Go to https://us04web.zoom.us/j/425797188?pwd=YnFsalFkRC9yejFMczVPUkhSUThHQT09 of log into Zoom.com using meeting ID 425 797 188 and password 672665 any time between 7:00 and 8:00 p.m. every evening.)   

In the coming days of continued lock-down, I’ll be sharing further ideas of both God-bonding things we can do during and after this crisis as well as good ideas about just making the most of this time. Please feel free to share your thoughts and ideas with me so that I can pass them along to all of our Mosaic Fellowship family.    

And please, if you have a critical need of any kind, let us know. We’re in this together and by God’s grace, we will all grow and triumph through this.   

Now…“May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The One who calls you is faithful, and He will do it.”  1 Thessalonians 5:23-24   

Resting in His faithfulness,   

John—for the Pastoral Staff      

P.S.  We'll be doing Worship Services on-line this Sunday again and probably for the next couple of weeks at least.  You can find us at   our Mosaic Fellowship Spokane Facebook page starting at 8:45 a.m. on Sunday.  After that we will try and post it on YouTube.