Covid Still Bows to God’s Commands

Written January 10th (But todays my first day of real wifi!).

I woke up today on a top bunk with my t-shirt stuck to me from humidity and a jungle outside my window. Two days ago my squad arrived in Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica after a 15+ hour travel day and a lot of change. I am still praising God for 25 negative cover tests that arrived less than 10 hours before we had to leave for the airport. By the grace of God, our squad, who gathered from all around the United States less than 2 days before, was completely covid free. 

I’ve been thinking back to November when we traveled to Lake Charles, Louisiana to be apart of the disaster clean up work happening after two hurricanes hit the coast. After two weeks of helping, we traveled back to Gainesville, and in less than a full day of being back, half my squad was quarantined from sickness. And to find out after all being tested, we had a covid outbreak. In that moment, that was the last thing I wanted. Our whole squad had to be moved off campus and separated into three houses. What we signed up for as nine months of unified community, turned out to be separation and sickness for over a month. 

But God. 

Because that happened around thanksgiving break, we didn’t have to worry about over half my squad catching covid again when we launched two days ago. We still had to have proof of negative covid tests, but our chances of launching were exponentially higher considering the fact that our bodies carry antibodies for a little while after fighting off a virus. 

So what would have happened if my squad didn’t have a covid outbreak after Louisiana? Would we be living in Puerto Viejo right now eating gelato in an ice-cream shop and preparing for our first day of ministry tomorrow? I have no idea. Honestly our chances of having to sit in Gainesville, Georgia quarantining and ultimately separated right now would have been really high. If even one person had tested positive, our launch would have been delayed for who knows how long.   

God allowed covid to invade my squad before we even knew Costa Rica was the country we would be traveling to because He was in the midst of turning our pain and anxiety and sickness from the past into a pathway for the present. We learned to walk through the fire of fallen expectations without being burned; He put us through His winepress to produce what a grave situation never could on its own. Although then we were walking through darkness, ultimately it bowed to His command. Pain, yet again, was simply a tool in Abba’s kind hands. 

Man, God knows what He is doing.