NOTES, 24 MARCH 2020

Greetings, dear reader, as we continue on our journey of faith in this dark hour. If this humble blog helps you get through the day, then fine. It certainly helps me get through the day. We are in trying times to say the least. Always remember, you are not alone. We are all in this together and we will get through it together. Just a few items today.

The latest report in the Post and Courier says that Bishop Steve Wood is still in the ICU on a ventilator but his x-rays show slight improvement. Find the article here . This would be his fifth day in the ICU if he were admitted last Friday. Let us pray for his speedy recovery.

I was glad to read in the article that some twenty parishioners spontaneously appeared outside the hospital with appeals to Heaven. I am still baffled by the lack of official response to Wood's condition. On yesterday, the St. Andrew's Church website said nothing new about Wood. I contacted a clergy person of the church but got no response about Wood's status. I can find no mention of Wood's health on any Anglican website, let alone appeals for prayers for his recovery. How can they all be ignoring the perilous condition of a major rector, and bishop, who is clinging to life in the ICU on a ventilator as he has been for five days? I do not understand this strange silence.

A television station has reported that two residents of the Bishop Gadsden retirement community, on James Island, have tested positive for the coronavirus. Find the report here .

I am coming to understand the personal effects of the virus. I have a brother and sister who live in Bay Saint Louis, Mississippi. My brother's wife, my sister-in-law, has a serious case of diabetes and goes to dialysis three days a week. Last Saturday, she complained of chills but no one paid much attention to it. On Monday morning she woke up with a fever of 102 degrees and could not go to her regular dialysis. This morning she still has fever. My brother plans to get her medical attention today. It seems to me there is a good chance she has the virus which means my brother and sister probably have it too

(Update. My brother took his wife to the hospital this a.m.. The personnel tested her for the virus but the results will not be available for four days. Her symptoms were not bad enough for admission. The doctors sent her home. This is hopeful.)

I saw on the morning news that the world continues to reel from the pestilence. The summer Olympics that had been scheduled in Tokyo has been postponed until next year. This is the first time in history an Olympics has been postponed.

Meanwhile, numbers of cases continue to climb by the minute in America, doubling every few days. The latest count in the U.S. is 46,000 cases. In South Carolina, as of yesterday, there were 298 cases and 5 deaths. In Alabama there are 196 cases today. All indications are the virus is just beginning to spread in our states. There is worse down the road.

Unfortunately our national leadership is all over the place in this national crisis. President Trump is simply incapable of leading the nation in this emergency. Great public leadership has two qualities, telling the truth and showing empathy. Men as Lincoln, FDR, and Churchill all had the qualities. Apparently, Trump is just not able to deal with truth or empathy and there is no point in hoping some day he will learn either. He has even turned the daily briefings into campaign rallies going on and on about what great work he is doing. My advice to everyone---do not listen to his nonsense. Look at the body language of the experts standing behind him. Our real leaders of the hour are Drs. Fauci and Birx. Listen to what they have to say. Yesterday, Dr. Fauci did not show up for the briefing and Trump went on interminably. This sent a chill up my spine. Fauci is our indispensable man of the hour. He is our momentary national treasure. If the president has given him the axe, well, we will remember in November. God only knows what would happen between now and then.

Stay well and keep up the courage and I will strive to do the same. Peace.

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Need an example of heroic Christ-like sacrifice? Take a look here .