Something Very Bad Came Around the Corner!

Hello there!

Gary came through our front door one day after his daily walk and stated disappointedly, “They closed my pond!”  As with many subdivisions water collects in a man-made pond (about 5 acres in size) behind our Churchville home.  It has grown into a wonderful bird sanctuary with its peaceful trail to walk around.  I have often said, “You never know what’s coming around the corner!”  Well, this time something very bad came around the corner – COVID-19 – which has even closed all our parks and trails.  (We do so want to visit Rattray Marsh Conservation area along Lake Ontario in Mississauga when it reopens.)

The news about the deaths of so many seniors in residences or nursing homes is quite heartbreaking.  Our daughter-in-law, Melissa works in this service area as her father owns several senior residences.  She reported this week that a few of their homes have had outbreaks; the army is helping out one of the homes.  The seniors are going to bed completely fine and isolated but then not waking up in the morning. This deadly virus has spread so quickly for them all.  It has gone from something bad to something horrible.  I’m sure she would appreciate your prayers for her heavy workload along with prayers for the residence leadership and the frontline workers.  Gary’s sister who lives in a seniors’ residence broke her front tooth the other day.  It was quite an ordeal for her to find a dentist to help.  She had to get permission to leave her home for her appointment; just an ordinary occurrence became a struggle.  I feel really sorry for the children not able to attend school and missing their friends.  To date Canada has reached about 3000 deaths and the U.S. over 60,000.  When will this “bad” ever stop?

Nevertheless, humans are very resilient.  “Good” can be found around that same corner.  I will take these gas prices any day.  Are you finding your neighbours more friendly, kind and helpful?  I am sure many of the policies and regulations developed during these days will stay in place to improve our society in the future.  And what about the creative people who are making amazing inventions, particularly young people?

Our online Sunday services continue from week to week for Hillside Church, Milton.  The learning curve for Gary has been huge since March.  His goal is to put together a program containing several interesting spiritual snippets rather than preaching one long sermon.  Check us out at Facebook.com/hillsidechurchmilton.  Glitches, such as forgetting to turn the mute button off, occur less often than before; however, I am sure every Sunday he is going to have a nervous breakdown before the service ends with all the technology he is using.  Please pray that he will be able to continue tackling this new responsibility.  We have not received approval from the government re student employment funding for our outreach program.

I remember singing a little chorus a few years ago at the church we were attending at the time.

            God is so good.

            God is so good.

            God is so good.

            He is so good to me.

We would then change the words to list all the “good” He is about.  His goodness covers a whole lot of unexpected “bad “that does come around the corner, wouldn’t you agree?

Don’t get discouraged!

Wendy

Wendy.carter@kainos.org