Intellectual progress usually occurs through sheer abandonment of
questions together with both of the alternatives they assume —
an abandonment that results from their decreasing vitality and
a change of urgent interest.
We do not solve them: we get over them.”
John Dewey
(a map of Norway /atlas.com
Yesterday I read a most wonderful post over on Mel Wild’s site,
In My Father’s House.
If you’ve never read any of Mel’s posts, I highly recommend them!
Nourishing food for both soul and mind!!
Yesterday Mel wrote about our need for a pandemic paradigm shift—
meaning we need to be looking at all of this current mess much differently—
lest we lose our ever-loving minds…
as in both our minds and freedoms are in very precarious
places these days.
Mel’s post began with this paragraph:
“Norway has become the latest country to drop ALL Covid restrictions
(see Daily Mail article here), joining an increasing number of other countries.
Norway will have no vaccine mandates, no vaccine passports, no masks,
no social distancing. Large venues, concerts, parties,
sporting events are all allowed, no restrictions on public places or
gatherings of any kind.
He went on to cite the an article by Kim Iversen of the Hill…
Iversen states that…
“the reason for lifting the restrictions isn’t what you would expect:
“The Norweigan government didn’t cite high vaccination rates or
even having the virus under control as justification for returning to
life as normal.
Instead, the Prime Minister said the lifting of restrictions is due to
fatigue in the public of constantly changing restriction and the lack
of normalcy in their daily lives.
She cautions that the virus is still with the world, so take
personal responsibility.”
What they’ve done is changed their whole mindset about the Covid pandemic
We should note that the Prime Minister of Norway is saying that she is lifting
the Covid restrictions in her nation not because Norway is the poster child
of vaccines and lower cases…quite the contrary..
But what she is saying is that in her country she is witnessing
an overwhelming fatigue of the people…
fatigue in the lack of normalcy in their daily lives…
She knows they do not have a huge vaccination rate and that Covid is still
very present in Norway…but she is allowing the citizens to make choices while
living a more normal existence—noting that Covid is now a new virus that will
most likely be with us from here on out…much like all the various flus
and other viruses we combat.
And that’s the thing…we deal with these other viruses by taking our
seasonal precautions—we opt to get vaccinated or not, we take vitamins,
we wash hands, we stay home when sick…
I think I much like Norway…might need to visit it one day!
“He may retain his human dignity even in a concentration camp.
Dostoevsky said once,
‘There is only one thing that I dread: not to be worthy of my sufferings’.”
― Viktor E. Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning
It was just little over a week ago that I shared the latest news on our
friend Nabeel Qureshi and his fight against the aggressive form of stomach
cancer that was gaining an upper hand.
Sadly Nabeel’s battle ended Saturday.
Nabeel was only 34 years old.
A loving husband and father, a Christian convert from Islam,
as well as an ardent Christian Apologist.
It was almost exactly a year ago that I first stumbled upon Nabeel and his no holds
barred, unapologetic, unwavering proclamation that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior.
At the time I found Nabeel, I was writing a brief post about the Trinity, and during my gathering of information, I found a video clip of a presentation Nabeel had delivered at Wayne St. University about the Oneness, or Tawhid, of God.
Our friend the good Scottish pastor David Robertson offered this about Nabeel
in his Monday posting of the Wee Flea…
Possibly the most well known Muslim convert to Christianity, Nabeel Quershi has died aged 34 after a long battle with cancer. You can read his story here – with some wonderful interviews – https://blogs.thegospelcoalition.org/justintaylor/2017/09/16/nabeel-qureshi-1983-2017/
“In the past few days my spirits have soared and sank as I pursue the Lord’s will and consider what the future might look like, but never once have I doubted this: that Jesus is Lord, His blood has paid my ransom, and by His wounds I am healed. I have firm faith that my soul is saved by the grace and mercy of the Triune God, and not by any accomplishment or merit of my own. I am so thankful that I am a child of the Father, redeemed by the Son, and sealed in the Spirit. No, in the midst of the storm, I do not have to worry about my salvation, and for that I praise you, God. . . .”
I have been nearly consumed these last few months with my own small world’s
battle with both passings and death…all up close and quite personal.
And I doubt that any of us ever grow immune to our own body’s and
spirit’s reactions to such traumatic events.
As countless numbers of books have long been written regarding the
stages and emotions associated with both loss and grief.
Even watching last night’s airing of America’s Got Talent (no football was on),
I was reminded of our constant living balance with grief.
The 13 year old singing contestant Evie Clair, from a tiny town in Arizona,
whose father had been battling stomach cancer throughout most the show’s season….
He was a dad who had been in attendance throughout his daughter’s performances and
was noticeably absent the past two weeks.
Her dad actually lost his battle about the same time Nabeel had lost his.
Yet this brave little girl continued on with her final performance Tuesday night,
as I’m certain her father had encouraged her to do no matter what his
outcome may be.
So when I saw Nabeel’s final video posting from his hospital bed, as he shared
that his doctors had finally called off all treatment as now palliative care
was being called in, Nabeel still spoke of healing and miracles.
Now the smug and jaded among us, those non believers,
those cynical ones who would see and hear a dying man
speaking of miracles and healing from his death bed…
or who would watch a grieving 13 year old young girl sing a song of hope while
standing in the face of death all in front of millions of viewers, would write such
off as merely being pitiful, misguided, lost or even foolish.
Yet as I mulled over Nabeel’s last video clip…
as I wrestled with the sorrow and sadness of his image in his hospital bed…
as I heard him wrestle with a battle now seemingly ending despite
his best efforts to battle on….
as I turned it and his words over and over in my mind—
those words of a continued and constant prayer and belief in healings and miracles…
I had a shift of thinking.
We earthbound pray for earthly miracles.
We long for these miracles.
We don’t want those we know and love to hurt, to suffer or to leave us here–alone.
We can’t bear imagining a life without those we love and cherish.
Our roles no longer being what they were.
Our earthly identities now shifted and skewed.
It is often more than any of us can bear….
And so we pray, we pray earnestly and fervently…
we implore, we plead, we cry and we beg….
Yet when all of that energy and hopefulness is still met by suffering and or Death,
we do one of two things…
we accept or we reject…
And if we opt for rejecting…we are most often consumed by anger and rage at
this unseen God who we have been imploring and pleading with…..
But what if, what if the prayers of the healing and of the miracles are actually
more than asking for a loved one to remain earth bound…
What if our prayers are really for the healing and the miracle of being Heaven bound?
That our prayers for miraculous healing are really not for remaining here but rather
for those we love to be prayed Homeward…..
in that the passing away on Earth is really the miracle of moving forward?
I think they call that a paradigm shift….
On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare
a feast of rich food for all peoples,
a banquet of aged wine—
the best of meats and the finest of wines.
On this mountain he will destroy
the shroud that enfolds all peoples,
the sheet that covers all nations;
he will swallow up death forever.
The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears
from all faces;
he will remove his people’s disgrace
from all the earth.
The Lord has spoken.
Isaiah 25:6-8
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