When this pandemic started and we were told to stay six feet apart, I figured at least the days of having grocery carts rammed painfully into the back of my ankles were over. But I was wrong. I thought every shopper would stay on their dot, but they do not. Of course, there are those militant shoppers who make it their business to enforce the six foot rule—making everyone else scramble guiltily back into place. 

I especially notice the struggle to stay six feet apart at work. We tell the passengers before we land that we’re going to give them special instructions about our new deplaning process. After we taxi to the gate and the seatbelt sign is turned off, we tell them to please stay seated until the row ahead of them has retrieved their belongings and are six feet in front of them. That’s what we say, but evidently this is what they hear: “Everyone, please arise immediately! Quickly grab your luggage even if it means reaching over people ahead of you. Bunch together as closely as possible. If the deplaning process slows down, crane your neck to see who’s to blame and then sigh loudly, blow out a big puff out of your germ filled lungs, and announce you "have a tight connection.”

Why are we so prone to drift off our dots and bunch together? Because were created to engage with one another and it’s nigh on impossible while wearing a mask and standing six feet apart. We were never meant to live in isolation. In San Francisco, three times as many people have died this year from drug overdoses than from Covid.

When my Papa was alive he was convinced Christ would return for us in his life time. He passionately studied his Bible and what it said about the Lord’s return. I hear his voice when I read the words, “For the Lord Himself will come down from heaven….and we will be caught up together in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And we will be with the Lord forever.” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17)  

Now, I’m convinced that Jesus will return in my lifetime. If I’m right, there couldn’t be a worse time to be isolated from each other…from even attending church together. Time is of the essence and we need to grasp every opportunity to point to Jesus, who humbly came down from glory as a babe in a manger, to save a weary world from suffering and sin... to rescue us from our fear-filled days and give comfort from within.

As we celebrate Jesus’ first coming, I’m praying for boldness to reach out to others. Jesus proclaimed He is, “The way the truth and the life.” (John 14:6) He’s the only way to eternal life and to not share that would be equivalent to having the cure for cancer and not sharing it. Jesus is the cure the whole world needs.

As we celebrate His birth today, I pray all of you will embrace the fearlessness that trusting in Him offers. Merry Christmas!