So, for at least one more time, Tom Brady is going to the Super Bowl.  And, for at least one more time, Drew Brees is not going to the Super Bowl.  Who says life is unpredictable?  [I know, I know – too soon.]

 Maybe this is what people have meant for the last 10 months when they have been saying, “I am hoping that life will return to some kind of normalcy.”  To paraphrase Hans Gruber from that wonderful Christmas movie, “Die Hard” – “You asked for normalcy?  I give you the N. - F. - L.”  

Yeah, no.  That is definitely NOT what people mean by a “return to normalcy”, especially people in South Louisiana.  We’ve had about all of that kind of normalcy that we can stand.  

We want things to be like they used to be in the pre-Pandemic days.  We want to get rid of the masks.  We want to get rid of the fear. We want to BE WITH other people – in restaurants, in giant stadiums, in movie theaters, in church - maybe especially in church.

One of the things which I fear about the times in which we live is that all of this is actually evolving into something which we will consider to be “normal”, and more and more as time goes by.  Maybe you think that could never happen?  Consider this:  When the Pandemic was just getting started early last year, and photographs and videos were appearing showing many people wearing masks, to me it all seemed so very strange and foreign and even hard to believe.  I simply assumed that nothing like that could ever happen here.  It wasn’t too much later that I found myself making sure I had a mask or two in the car at all times.  And even though there were times when I would get out of my car and be halfway to the store before I realized I had forgotten my mask, and even though I would grumble under my breath about it as I walked back to the car, I would nevertheless get my mask and put it on before marching back into the store.  Fast forward to last week.  I was in a local store, and was actually shocked when I saw not one, but two different customers inside the store who were not wearing masks!  The first thing that popped into my head was - “These people have failed to comply with the requirements of our Society.  How dare they?” 

And thus, in a very short time, what was once so strange that I couldn’t believe it could ever happen, had now become normal – so normal in fact that people living like we all did just 10 months ago now seem to be renegades, rogues, outlaws, barbarians.  Is this going to be our new normal?  Is this going to be our “brave new world”?

Here is where the reader might think that soothing words of wisdom and reassurance should appear.  “It’s all going to work out; it’s all going to be ok; we’re all going to be fine.”  

Does that sound good?  Those words are actually the truth – for the relatively few of us who say “Jesus is Lord”, and who live out this confession.  Oh, things may not work out great for us in this life.  Our Lord actually tried to let us know this while He was here.  “You will have suffering in this world.” – John 16:33b.  And that is just one of many similar statements Jesus made.  How is it that when it happens, we are shocked, and we wonder if God has abandoned us?  He hasn’t.  Instead, we have this amazing promise – “Take heart!  I have overcome the world” – John 16:33c.  

Need more?  Let your heart, troubled by all the ways our world is changing, wrap itself in this crazy, wonderful, incredible promise too - “God is not ashamed to be called their [read: “your”] God” – Hebrews 11:16.  Have you ever been ashamed of yourself?  God has NEVER been ashamed of you!  Does that not blow your mind?  Does that not drive you to your knees in praise?   

We may well be learning to navigate a “new normal” in this world.  And we may never see a return to those things we are all missing.  But really, it is all going to work out for us.  You probably know somebody whose heart is troubled by the present state of this world, somebody who needs to know what you know, somebody who needs some wonderful promises to grab hold of.  I hope you will tell them.                 

Ambrose Ramsey | Shepherd