QUARANTINE BLOG # 33

May 2, 2020

I asked you to pray for Kathy, the sister of our cruise buddy Jani, because she had tested positive for the coronavirus.  Yesterday Jani sent me a praise report:

“I talked to Kathy.  She’s better.   She hasn’t had any diarrhea or anything for 3 days now.  So the nurse said she can go back to work on Monday.  Strange that she tested positive but didn’t have any of the normal symptoms they talk about.  I just thank the good Lord that it is over.  Thanks for the prayers.  We both know how much they help!!!”

👉  Two nights ago, Michael and the Crew at 2042 ordered delivery from Applebee’s Restaurant.  Thanks to electronic devices, Applebee’s was able to provide good customer service, telling them the time to expect their supper to arrive.

It was with a certain amount of amusement that Michael received the second notice from the restaurant.

When those two posts were shared in a group text, my daughter-in-law, Carey, replied, “That is a reminder that Jesus is always our provider!”  Amen!

👉 I received an email Thursday from the Vice President of Entertainment for Carnival with an update of the travel schedule to get the remaining team members off of their ships and home.  As you know, airlines and some countries have changed many of their rules, and so some folks are still stuck on board, unable to fly home.  In one of the finest acts of humanitarian care, Carnival is sending 18 of their ships to rendezvous off the coast of the Bahamas over the next several days.  They will then  transfer team members via water shuttle to 9 ships for repatriation voyages.  Way to go Carnival!

👉  This day in history happened yesterday, but it’s too good to miss.

On May 1, 1931, President Herbert Hoover officially dedicated the Empire State Building, pressing a button from the White House that turned on the building’s lights.

The idea for the Empire State Building was born of a competition between Walter Chrysler of the Chrysler Corporation and John Jakob Raskob of General Motors, to see who could erect the taller building. Chrysler had already begun work on the Chrysler Building, a 1,046-foot skyscraper in midtown Manhattan. Not to be bested, Raskob assembled a group of well-known investors, and the entire building went up in just over a year, under budget, and ahead of schedule.

At the time of its completion, the Empire State Building, at 102 stories and 1,250 feet high (1,454 feet to the top of the lightning rod), was the world’s tallest skyscraper.

👉  NASA selected the Blue Origin national team to return humans to the moon (editorial comment: and it’s about doggone time, too!).  The Blue Origin National Team, which includes Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Draper, was selected by NASA to begin to develop the Artemis Human Landing System.

“NASA’s Artemis program will be the next major milestone in the history of human space flight, and we’re honored to be a part of it,” said Bob Smith, CEO, Blue Origin. “Our National Team brings unparalleled heritage, passion and innovation that will enable Americans to return to the lunar surface and inspire another generation. It’s time to go back to the Moon, this time to stay.”

👉  One of my favorite characters from literature is Eeyore, the constantly dispirited donkey in A. A. Milne’s stories of Winnie the Pooh.  In one episode Eeyore looks at a beautiful gift he has just received and laments, “It’s gonna break.  I know it’s gonna break!”  In The House at Pooh Corner, Eeyore remarks that the snow is still falling, and the temperatures outside are freezing.  “However,” he said, brightening up a little, “we haven’t had an earthquake lately.”

You can enjoy some more Eeyoreisms here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQI0E1WCLMU

David concludes Psalm 23 with an extraordinary picture of the future.  Unlike Eeyore, and some humans, he is not anticipating fear, or calamity, or despair.  He expects to be pursued by goodness and mercy as long as he lives, and he anticipates permanent residence in the Lord’s House.

Read it again: “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

Surely.  It’s not maybe, or possibly, or I have a hunch.  Surely!

Goodness and mercy following.  Satchel Page, a great baseball pitcher of days gone by, was famous for saying, “Don’t look back.  Something may be gaining on you.”  Christian, look back!  That’s goodness and mercy following you!  Maybe you should slow down?

All the days.  Not some, not most, not nearly all, but all the days of my life.

Glenda the Good Witch told Dorothy Gale that the power to go home was always within her grasp.  All she had to do was click together her ruby slippers.  Dorothy chanted, “There’s no place like home,” and woke up in her own bed, remembering a very strange dream.  While you think of happy memories of home – a place of refuge, a place where we enjoy being with those we love, a place where our needs are met –  think, too, about your eternal home, dwelling in the house of the Lord.  Forever.

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