The World is Crumbling Around Us, is this an obstacle or an opportunity ? I keep hearing that we ER doctors and nurses and technicians and hospital workers are the soldiers on the front lines of this battle with an invisible enemy. Well, if we look at the stats, eighty percent of the people who get this infection will recover without any particular difficulty. It seems a little less scary than a soldier going into battle with bullets whizzing over his head and the enemy hell bent on killing him. Obviously there is significant concern with this virus and it has wreaked havoc over the entire globe causing a tremendous amount of suffering, fear, panic and pain.
What is God’s role in all of this? We are either going to believe that God is sovereign or we aren’t. He is either allowing this to happen or he is powerless to do something about it. How you see this event and whether or not you believe that God is in control will be a huge determining factor in your attitude about it.
The Terrified
I have seen or heard of people who are absolutely terrified of this virus, mostly people who have underlying medical problems including heart disease or respiratory problems or reduced immunity. Rightfully so. But there is something else I’ve noticed. Not everyone is so scared. I’ve seen people who are just taking it in stride and just going about their business and doing their jobs in the health care field with very little fear. I have also seen some people who are physicians who are doing everything they can to avoid clinical situations or exposure to the virus because of pure unadulterated fear and anxiety.
Comfort or Discomfort
This comes down to the idea of comfort and discomfort. In my new book on passion, I go over two scenarios regarding comfort, discomfort and end of life scenarios. These are very timely ideas in light of our current situation:
God expects us to move against our fear because that is a powerful means to learn to trust him. Let me go over an idea about comfort and discomfort to help us as we are going about trying to fulfill our purpose. Someone once told me a story about an elderly priest who was in the ICU. He was in his late eighties or early nineties and, because of his illness, knew he would die soon. The interesting part of the story was that he was being visited by another priest, and they were laughing and joking like they were waiting in line for a ride at Disneyland. The priest who was dying even made a comment to his visitor, “Ha, I am going to see Jesus before you!!” And they both started laughing. They were both happy, almost joyous. The dying priest was at the end of his life, and he was at maximum comfort, on the verge of being in the presence of Jesus. He most likely spent most of his life being uncomfortable going about the business of doing God’s work.
Now we contrast that with a story that a hospice nurse shared with me. She told me about a very wealthy patient she was taking care of. She visited him on his yacht twice per week. Most of the time he had a team of advisors and family in the room while she checked his vital signs and examined him. One day he asked that everyone leave the room because he wanted to talk to her alone. She said that he called her over and told her, “Look, I have plenty of money. I can write a check for whatever you want. There must be some cure for my type of cancer that is not available to everyone. Just let me write you a check so that I can get better.”
Thinking about those two scenarios made me realize something. The wealthy man was at maximum discomfort. He was on the edge of the unknown. He was doing everything he could to stay in his life of comfort, luxury, and ease. This life was the closest thing to heaven for him.
If we can look at these two end of life scenes, and then look at our own lives, we can get a good idea where we are as far as our own comfort when it comes to the risk of this virus and how we see our own death. More than likely it is intimately tied to our faith and whether or not we believe Jesus when he tells us that he has prepared a place for us.
My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
(John 14:2-3 NIV)
This is a prime opportunity for us to look at this situation and examine our own level of anxiety and fear. Are we nervous and worried ? Do we have faith that we can pull out of this financial quagmire? Are we going to lose our jobs? Can we take care of our families? We’re all in the same boat.
Personally, I think that this whole scenario is being orchestrated by God. It is an opportunity to examine our faith and where we are in our spiritual journey. We can talk the talk all day long, but when it comes to death, and financial insecurity and illness, are we comfortable? Are you comfortable right now? Are you at peace?
There is a tremendous amount of power in self-examination and self-awareness, but there has to be an attitude of willingness or desire to improve. We should be asking ourselves the question, “Can I do better? Can I be better?” If we aren’t asking those questions, we won’t take advantage of a golden opportunity for growth. Golden opportunity? Yep. It’s right here staring at us in the face.
In my book Brave the Wave, one of the main ideas that I talked about repeatedly was that in this life, it doesn’t matter who you are, how much you know, what your religion is, how much money you have or what kind of gifts and talents you have, there will be trials, waves, troubles, obstacles and big doses of pain. It is inevitable. NO ONE CAN AVOID THEM.
Perspective and Observation
Essentially what I am arguing through out the whole book of Brave the Wave was that we might as well learn something or get something out of these painful circumstances. It is really all about our attitude and our vision. How we see the world. We need to step back and take a look at what is happening and remove ourselves from the situation. We have to look at things objectively.
I’m an ER physician. All I keep hearing is people telling my wife, “we are thinking about your husband, he is on the front lines.” People are scared to death right now. Rightfully so. Many people are losing their jobs and they are concerned about taking care of their families. Many people are afraid of getting sick, especially if they have some underlying illness. There is work from home and the financial markets are crumbling.
So what do we do? We change our perspective. We look at these times as an opportunity.
Here is another excerpt from my next book on Passion, Power and Purpose.
This brings me to another story. This one involves Thomas Edison. I read my first biography about him when I was ten.
At around 5:30 in the evening on Dec. 10, 1914, a massive explosion erupted in West Orange, New Jersey. Ten buildings in legendary inventor Thomas Edison’s plant, which made up more than half of the site, were engulfed in flames. Between six and eight fire departments rushed to the scene, but the chemical-fueled inferno was too powerful to put out quickly. According to a 1961 Reader’s Digest article by Edison’s son Charles, Edison calmly walked over to him as he watched the fire destroy his dad’s work. In a childlike voice, Edison told his 24-year-old son, “Go get your mother and all her friends. They’ll never see a fire like this again.” When Charles objected, Edison said, “It’s all right. We’ve just got rid of a lot of rubbish.”
Later, at the scene of the blaze, Edison was quoted in The New York Times as saying, “Although I am over 67 years old, I’ll start all over again tomorrow.” He told the reporter that he was exhausted from remaining at the scene until the chaos was under control, but he stuck to his word and immediately began rebuilding the next morning without firing any of his employees. Was there any other viable response? In the new book, The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph, author Ryan Holiday says there wasn’t. Sure, Edison could have wept, yelled in anger, or locked himself in his house in a state of depression. But instead, he put on a smile and told his son to enjoy the spectacle.
This whole story is about perspective and perseverance. How do you see circumstances and challenges when they arise? Can you see them as opportunities? Edison lost reams and reams of notes and data on his experiments. He just accepted the fact that he would be starting over—AT AGE SIXTY-SEVEN. He did a lot of productive work into his eighties.
Nothing takes the air out of a room quicker than negativity and pessimism. One thing that is clear is that when we are pursuing our purpose or a goal, if we don’t strongly believe in what we are doing, we might as well not spend time or energy. We should believe that what we are engaging in is exactly what we were created to do.
One powerful and useful idea to keep coming back to is that our purpose is bigger than our fears, circumstances, trials, and failures. This purpose is built on the framework of our authentic selves. It is bigger than our own selfish pursuits. We were created to do things that are to benefit the world.
A Golden Opportunity
These are tough times, there is no doubt, but can these times be an opportunity? Can we look at these times as an opportunity that is God given to spend more time with our families? How about opportunities to serve our neighbors who are older and have medical problems? Can we help them by going to the store and getting food and supplies for them? How about our neighbors who have small children who need day care or who are out of school and need to be watched while their parents are working? How about the opportunity to spend time with our own children? These are golden opportunities for us to love and spend time with our families.
These are also opportunities for us to be leaders in the family. To show strength, courage, resilience and faith. We can lead by having a positive attitude and by being patient when everyone around is fearful and feeling overwhelmed.
How about the opportunity to spend time with God in bible reading, prayer and meditation? If you are not involved in any bible reading or meditation, this is a golden opportunity to start this habit. There is no habit on the planet that has more value than spending a quiet time with Jesus, getting to know him more intimately by reading the Word. Nothing is more important.
We may have an attitude of pessimism or we may feel down and depressed, but if we can look at this time as an opportunity to love and serve others, we can be grateful. Grateful? Yes. God has given us a beautiful gift. A time to pause and take a breath and reflect. An opportunity to love Him and spend time with Him. An opportunity to love and serve each other and spend time with each other.
THERE IS NOTHING MORE IMPORTANT THAN THAT
If this has helped you in any way, please forward to others.
Your Brother In Christ
Johnny Cavazos MD
Bravethewaveweride@gmail.com
Bravethewave.org