Madison520web

TheTime COIN
Camille Anding
In times like these, strange things
abound! I would never have
imagined toilet paper as a prized gift.
It’s somehow due to a strange phenomenon
relating to the coronavirus that’s added toilet paper to
the “endangered” list. It’s disappeared from the grocery
shelves, and truckers who are delivering it to stores
could possibly need armed guard protection.
This week our doorbell rang and an angel in human
form, standing some distance from the door, had left a
twelve-pack roll of toilet paper and a bouquet of tulips.
The flowers were lovely, but we scooped up the toilet
paper first as Othel shouted, “Hallelujah!” Only in times
like these!
I’ve been a kind of harper on the electronic age
kidnapping our young with their screen entrapments
and the way multiple-on-top-of-multiple TV channels can
manipulate an entire day. But worship via electronics is a
blessing when the church doors are closed. We plan to
be back in our pew when the doors open again, but
Easter Sunday was a blessing – getting to watch three
powerful messages online. Only in times like these!
God is definitely giving us time to recall
blessings that I was so accustomed to
that I failed to see them as blessings –
running to the grocery store to pick up
and pulling them close, speaking with neighbors within
touching distance, inviting friends for a meal, enjoying
a dinner in a restaurant with menus and waiters,
shopping in REAL stores for birthday presents, keeping
a dental appointment, strolling through the rows of
flowering plants at the nursery, visiting with friends in
assisted living facilities, and ordering a bucket of
popcorn in a movie theatre.
Times like these have given me much time to think.
Will large crowds ever sit packed in stadiums watching
football pile-ons again? Will the COVID-19 resurface in
another replication? Will basketball players go back to
competing among sweaty bodies and close contact?
Will emergency rooms become last resorts for people?
Will home offices become the new norm? Will a
supply of masks become a necessary safety item?
Times like these have brought on a myriad of
questions and changes, but one thing will never change:
“In times like these you need a Savior.
In times like these you need an Anchor.
Be very sure, be very sure
Your anchor holds and grips the Solid Rock.”...
for all times. ●
a single item, eating with extended family
50 • MAY 2020