Another week has quickly past with more of what we could never have imagined becoming the norm. On Monday the country was put into 'lockdown'. Everyone must stay at home. Only essential journeys and work are allowed. You can go out for one form of exercise per day.
Sunny weather has been helpful giving opportunity to spend time out in the garden and not feel so restricted.
Last Sunday was difficult, my eyes kept overflowing contemplating the new routine of Sundays alone but with periods of online connection. The service worked well on Zoom and there were other live sermons to listen to in the evening. It is good we have the technology to be able to join together. We used it for Tuesday evening prayer meeting and a social time on Thursday evening.
We've been continuing with work but just telephone consultations now. I got a laptop on Friday to be able to work from home. The service is being reorganised as the physio department will soon be made in to a ward and many staff need to go out to rehab people in the community and get them out of the hospital.
Lots more people are coming down with the virus. It feels close when you actually know people with the virus and some key public figures such as Boris Johnson and Prince Charles have got the virus. Deaths and number of cases are rising quite rapidly now. The government is building large temporary hospitals in London, Birmingham and Manchester.
America has had a rapid rise of cases this week and Italy and Spain are still seeing many more deaths. The virus is affecting all the world. I think the stats this week were that a quarter of the world is in lockdown - Surely this is the hand of God.
The supermarkets are still very busy with restricted numbers entering at a time. This leads to long queues outside all spaced out by 2m. I queued for 25 minutes to get into Tesco at 6am yesterday!
It's amazing how quickly we adapt, getting used to online Sunday school and church and speaking with friends and relatives virtually. It's a good second best but never as good as being present in the same room or face to face.
I've been enjoying having time to put my 'house in order' by tidying up paperwork in the office. Somehow with so many deaths expected it makes me feel like I need to be organised if anyone was left to deal with my estate.
I've been reading a book by Martin Lloyd Jones on Psalm 73 called Faith on Trial which is very helpful. I personally feel challenged to truly make the Lord the priority in my life and to value those things I have neglected - prayer, the gathering of the church, hearing the word preached, opportunities to serve. Praying that the Lord will save many through this and bring glory to his name.
I was thinking this morning that apart from the eseentials how little work will be going on today, the Lord's day - it will be more of a day of rest around the world than it has been for many years. May that cause many to hear the word preached and be saved.
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