As you all know (and are probably sick of hearing) by now, the coronavirus has vastly affected our world and our homes. Now more than ever, people are encouraged to stay home with their families, stay home from work, and stay away from the stores.

I have seen MANY thoughts regarding this topic, and I'm sure you have too, but the Lord has been pressing this concept on my heart for a couple of weeks now and I just didn't have the words to say. Whether my thoughts were full of disdain or I just didn't know how to put my "pen to paper" essentially, I don't know.

I have been listening to podcasts, reading comments, and closely observing how people are reacting to a pandemic that none of us would have dreamed of happening in our lifetimes.

I see a movement rising from this pandemic.

Despite all of the hate speech, politicizing, and massive amounts of memes, God has showed me one thing.

He is creating community.

I have seen so many people delivering groceries, providing financial assistance, Zoom calls being made, dance videos being published, and people laughing with their families again.

I think as a nation, this is what we needed.

The circumstances are horrible, dreadful, boring, and inconceivable, I know, but the movement being born, you guys. The movement being born- it is irreplaceable.

More than ever before, in the year 2020, people are consumed by the devices in their face, the busy work schedules, the non-stop pace of our society, that they haven't had time for community.

I think that is where we have been stopped in our tracks and forced to look at how others are actually struggling and find ways to help in our community.

If 2020 has brought us anything, it has brought us the realization that life is fleeting. It is a vapor, and this world is not our home.

All throughout the Bible, we see commandments to be active community members, in Hebrews and 1 Corinthians, in Romans and in the Psalms.

We are one body, united in Christ. There is no better way to show unity then to sprinkle acts of kindness wherever you are right now.

So, as I know it is so easy to get caught up in the messages being sent, the laws being set in place, the chaos that has risen from this trying time, pause.

I encourage you to reach out to someone who has a compromised immune system and ask them if they need groceries.

I encourage you to message that group chat you never take part in.

I encourage you to call your friend that has been posting how bored they are.

I encourage you to hold your loved ones tight and play a dusty old board game with them.

Take advantage of where we have been planted.

I have seen so much negativity come from this. I have seen people be shamed over their social media posts for not "staying home," I have seen division, but I have also seen community.

I have seen toilet paper memes galore- I have seen hate speech abounding- I have seen worry and I have seen fear- I have seen the Target hand sanitizer aisle.

In a time full of selfishness-

I encourage you- be the one that starts that community.

I want to see more Facebook group chats coming about.

I want to see more meet-ups being planned for the near future.

I want to see more videos of you laughing with your kids.

This is an excellent time to be the church.

We have been called for such a time as this, y'all.

People are hardcore struggling right now.

Extroverts are being forced to stay at home, and let me tell you, they feel isolated, not distanced.

Small businesses are fearing the hope for a future.

People who are in the hospital cannot have visitors.

The lower and middle class is in need of rent.

The mama with a house full of kids is in need of a smile and a sense of relief.

There is domestic abuse happening.

Schools are shut down and seniors with hopes for a graduation are being let down every time a new law is passed.

Trips are being canceled.

Jobs are being lost.

But the whole world keeps on spinning. We need each other. We need community, because we are one body.

For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. - Romans 12:4-5

In the midst of a moment where you yourself feel like you're drowning, break that barrier, and be the fire that ignites community around you.

You have been called for such a time as this.