$1 billion gamble? Or the miracle we are all waiting for?
That is the huge question. And at a time when many are in despair about the Corona-crunch, Christians are uniquely able to lift up our heads and continue to hope. We don’t hope blindly. We are not fools. We know that the vaccine may not work. But we dare to believe that there is a God in heaven who is FOR us. And that things WILL kind of work out right. Just like during the Cold War nobody was actually allowed to press that button. We have a belief that God is not finished with the human race just yet and some virus is not how the Bible says the world will end. Over $1 billion of investment says lets stop this crisis really soon! (more of that in the other posts in this series)
I have also come to realise that we have a unique opportunity at the moment to witness to our hope. To enter into Internet forums that people who are christians rarely go. To find people who share certain things with us, and gently build a friendship and point subtly to Jesus. This is what I am trying to do with my new Blood Cancer Uncensored Blog. If you or anyone you know have a blood cancer or are related to someone who does it would be lovely to have you join us. Lets reach out with the love that Christ gives us, and without bashing people over the head, what better time is there to be an online Christian? And sorry but the reality is that despite the early hope that Patheos would develop into a dialogue between faiths that hasn’t happened much so far. Maybe one day. I do have all kinds of ideas about that too if any of our readers or fellow authors from other parts of the site would like to do something aimed at fostering mutual understanding of our various positions on faith. In particular I am fascinated by how people from other faith backgrounds or none handle life changing circumstances like blood cancer or even the recent coronavirus.
You might think this strange but I see some parallels between the current situation and what I have personally faced over the last three years with blood cancer. And one of them is the crucial need to have SOMETHING to hope for. In a series over on my new blog I am offering up the Oxford vaccine as something to dare to believe just might work. And it might work by September! Why this isn’t more of a focus in the mainstream media I do not know. During the war the Allies understood the need for propaganda and public morale. Now it just feels like an endless stream of negativity. Some people even criticised me for writing about reasons to be grateful for our government here in the UK. And even tho we have now overtaken most European countries in the death per million population stakes I am still grateful. Why shouldn’t I be? Do I really think that I would do any better?
Anyway here is the beginning of the first post in my new series. Soon I shall get back to the Jesus Commands series on here. So if you are interested in following the blood cancer stuff in its entirety do go over there and sign up for an email reminder. I may not link to every single post from this site.
$1 billion gamble? Or the miracle we are all waiting for?
We are in a war more deadly than anything else in most of our lifetimes. Arguably the effects of COVID19 have been even broader than the last World War. Certainly the economic consequences are dire and it looks like the corona-crunch will be more severe than any recession for hundreds of years. Nobody in affected countries has been untouched.
Blood cancer patients have been particularly badly effected by this crisis. For many patients it has been the first time they realised they have a cancer of the immune system. In the past when we were diagnosed we heard strange words like leukaemia and Lymphoma. Often the associated damage to our body’s ability to fight off disease was not even mentioned. Now in the UK at least we are all labeled as “extremely clinically vulnerable” and urged to stay in our own property to remove any chance of catching the disease.
But some of us with blood cancer feel we have had a bit of a head start on the rest of the world on what the corona-crunch looks like. Some of us can’t work and haven’t done for years. Suddenly now unemployment is sky rocketing and we don’t feel quite so alone . . . Some of us have had repeated infections so worrying about an infection now is not new. In fact for some of us removing altogether the risk of catching other peoples bugs has been secretly relieving . . .
Suddenly everyone is doing our previous “strange” and “obsessive” behaviour . . . I have had a mask for almost three years already, and used to wear it on the London Underground when I used to dare to go on it. What a trend setter it turns out I was . . . Many of us have already had to interrupt our lives in a way that most people could never have imagined before lockdowns were implemented. . .
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