QUARANTINE BLOG # 64

June 2, 2020

It is called “employment churn,” the number of jobs an individual will have in his or her lifetime.  According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average worker holds ten different jobs before age forty.  Trusting the BLS to be telling us the truth, my son-in-law, Jack Herrington, has thrown those statistics into the proverbial “cocked hat” (to throw into a state of confusion).  Today he was given an award by UPS for 25 years continual service.  Congratulations, Jack!  The blessings of the stability of those years of service to you and your family are well-earned!

👉  Several days ago I gave you a link to a live webcam in San Marco Piazza in Venice.  That was one of our favorite places as Bonnie and I were blessed to spend a week in Venice.

Almost every day I look in on St. Mark’s Square.  Over the last two weeks the number of people in the Square have been increasing.  Today I guesstimated 100.  There was one bold sign of an attempt to return to normalcy – a souvenir vendor was set up near St. Mark’s Basilica.  Here is that camera link again: https://www.skylinewebcams.com/en/webcam/italia/veneto/venezia/piazza-san-marco.html

👉   Today is National Rocky Road Ice Cream Day.  Chocolate, marshmallows and nuts.  What’s not to love about this day?  Don’t worry about all the extra calories though, because June has several days of healthy eating recognition coming up to counter all the rocky road related treats.  If RR isn’t your favorite flavor, grab a scoop of what is.  Yesterday was National Say Something Nice Day.  I’m sorry I missed it.

👉  Michael Jordan, is one of the greatest basketball players of all time (and just a fair baseball player – many think if he hadn’t tried out for the major leagues via the Birmingham Barons, the Chicago Bulls would have won 6 straight NBA championships).  Today he is the voice of one crying in the wilderness: “We must listen to each other, show compassion and empathy and never turn our backs on senseless brutality. We need to continue peaceful expressions against injustice and demand accountability.”

👉  Sweden decided early on in the pandemic to forgo lockdown in the hope of achieving broad immunity to the coronavirus.  While social distancing was promoted, the government allowed bars, restaurants, salons, gyms and schools to stay open.

Initially, Sweden saw death rates from COVID-19 that were similar to other European nations that had closed down their economies.  Today Sweden’s 7-day rolling average of daily confirmed COVID-19 deaths per million, is the highest in Europe.

“I’d say it hasn’t worked out so well,” said Dr. George Rutherford, professor of epidemiology at the University of California, San Francisco. “I think the mortality in Norway is something like ten-fold lower.  That’s the real comparator.  Maybe it didn’t hurt businesses, but you have twice the mortality rate of the United States.  All those people who died were part of families and they were citizens and part of the fabric of Swedish society.  And now they’re gone because of a policy that hasn’t worked out quite the way they thought it would.”

👉   This one slipped past me, and I apologize for bringing it up today.  However, journalistic honesty compels me to tell you that CNN (Cable News Network), the world’s first 24-hour television news network, made its debut 80 years ago yesterday.  Using the phrase “journalistic honesty” and “CNN” in the same sentence is enough to gag a maggot off of a gut wagon.  Some of you have heard me say this before, but one of the tragedies of our lifetimes has been the unleashing of the 24 hour news cycle (failing to recognize the difference between reporting and editorializing, and rushing to air without checking the facts) and a second is unrestrained social media (unrestrained by the users – “I saw it on the internet, it must be true”).

👉   Turning from the dark side (sorry Star Wars), let’s look at some things that can cause us to smile.  Below are some wedding pictures that I don’t think many would like to have in their souvenir albums.  Since our family is anticipating a wedding in July, I offer these actual wedding photographs as a warning – the camera sees all, records all.

Bridesmaids’s everywhere gladly accept the honor to be included in a wedding, and then cringe at the thought of a dress they’ll wear once and would be refused as a gift by Goodwill Industries.  In the photograph immediately above, what were they thinking?  And those hats!  Words escape me!

👉  Today’s closing piece is adapted from a comment on Song of Solomon 2:15 in Morning by Morning by Charles Spurgeon, the Prince of Preachers: “the little foxes spoil the vines.”

A little thorn may cause much suffering.  A little cloud may hide the sun.  Little foxes spoil the vines; and little sins do mischief to the tender heart.  These little sins burrow in the soul.

A wall may be built up of little pebbles, as easily as of great stones.  The sea is made of drops; the rocks are made of grains: and the sea which divides us from Christ may be filled with the drops of our little sins.

If we would live with Christ, and walk with Christ, and see Christ, and have fellowship with Christ, we must beware of “the little foxes that spoil the vines, for our vines have tender grapes.”

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