A couple of weeks ago, just as school was starting back up for us, Andy Crouch commented on Twitter in a way that said we were all but nudged into the “little ice age” view of Covidtide.  Here’s how the folks at Praxis broke it down:

Blizzard: You can’t go out — zero visibility and hostile conditions. Need to shelter.

Winter: You can go out, but not for long. Wear protective clothing and check the forecast for storms. Need to survive.

Ice Age: Things don’t grow the way they used to — but we’re finding new ways to live and even to thrive. Need to adapt and rebuild.

It’s a sad and sobering thought, that it might be some time (some say 2022, some say 2024) before a return to something like pre-Covidtide.  There are differing views on how we are handling things, from how we are communicating cases to the necessary implications for day-to-day life.  Here on Oahu our case numbers took a leap (late July, I believe), and we’ve been on a certain kind of edge since.  Rumors are swirling about another lockdown/stay-at-home order, even as our beaches, bars, and parks have been shut down again.  I’m guessing that it will happen this coming weekend, but it could be earlier.  I’m praying that it won’t happen before Saturday evening/Sunday morning.

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I had planned on getting to this coming week’s chapel message (first of the year!) by the middle of last week.  Then things kept happening, meetings kept happening, and I find myself nowhere near the frame of mind to record anything.  I finally got to that place Friday afternoon.  And then I had technical issues.  So I inadvertently had two practice runs before the actual recording.  I had hoped to get home before dark.  I think I missed the mark by a bit.

There was, of course, one moment where I realized that I had told myself in June and in July that I wasn’t going to do this to myself again.  Not the chapel part, which is what it is, but the road to the finished product.  Granted, it’s an experience common to any pastor who has had to record his own sermons over the last few months, so I don’t think I’m in any particular need for pity.  But that coupled with other day-to-day realities reminded me that I need to get some (re)thinking done.

And so I’m really hoping that a stay-at-home order doesn’t kick in until Saturday evening because I really want to use this week to get caught up on some things and use this weekend to take a step back and gain some perspective.  Because, it turns out, no one is going to do it for you.

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So what have we learned . . . what have I learned . . . over the last five months?  Probably not as much as I would have liked, probably not as much as I should.  But I need to figure out some of those things before we get too far into the fall (for school, too far into lots of other areas, too).  I have no issue with the concept of the little ice age.  Even if I disagree with the way things are playing out across the state or country, those in charge seem to think we’re in one.  I’m thinking that it’s also revealing that “things haven’t been growing the way they used to” for some time now, for a good bit of time before Covidtide set in, and we’re really just now allowing ourselves to get a better sense of it.  Or we’re simply in denial.  But that’s no good in the long run or the short.  That’s something none of us can afford.