As a believer in God, I build my life on the idea that there is an all-knowing, all-powerful, and everywhere present being who runs the world. I believe God created it, sustains it, saved it, and will make it his own eternally.

And yet when I enter new phases of life, I tend to doubt that he will work everything out for good. Case in point, when we began the Covid-19 shutdown 12 weeks ago, I was sure he could handle four weeks of no weekly Church meetings. I doubted that we could go for six to eight weeks without worship. Here we are 12 weeks later, and good things still seem to be happening.

During this time of lockdown, our Church has generated more income than we needed. We have been able to make two sizeable donations to other charities as a result, and I hope we can make another one soon. Our video worship appears to have worked well. It took a few volunteers and several hours of reading and learning, but our program seemed to connect with people. Each week we have maintained a large number of unique views along with getting new “likes” and “shares” from people we do not know. Our leadership has only communicated through email for the past three months. Last night we met, and everyone picked up right where we left off and are fully prepared to move forward. Every person I run into is making strides ahead in their marriage because of the sermon series I am preaching. The words are connecting, and perspectives are being altered positively. Many good things are happening in this Church community.

If you had told me a year ago that we were not going to worship in person for three months, I would have said that we will have no people, no money, and no hope left at the end of it. Yet here we are today, doing well and ready to get back into our weekly worship schedule. The problem with my vision is that I often forget to calculate in God. When he shows up, impossible situations turn into places of blessings.

I am praising God for what he is doing in the Church I lead today. I also realize that his goodness and power do not stop when you leave the doors of the Church. Whenever we make God a part of our equation in life, the odds change, and the impossible seems possible. Stepping out in faith stretches a believer, but times like this remind me that God can do anything.