"We cannotcontinue all of our programs at the school…Because of the global economiccrisis."
It was summer2008. I can honestly remember rolling the pebbly fragments of an attemptedconcrete floor under my foot, wondering how on earth this man learned to saythat statement. We were in Naqu, Tibet, huddled around a yak dung burning stoveinside of the principal's administration quarters of the district's publicschools. There was no electricity or windows in that building. Over theprevious summer (through the help of EHC.ORG)SEAPC had sponsored the lifesaving care of 42 kids from that district as partof our Touching Hearts program. Now, in our "follow up" meeting withthe high school principal, we were rejoicing in the health of those kids but atthe same time learning from a very eager local leader how fast and far crisisbased news can travel.
Panic ensued inmany parts of the earth in 2008 bringing terrible loss and no real value to thepeople who embraced it. I can remember reading the reports of more than 10,000suicides that followed in the panic's terrible wake and contemplating how or ifthe world would ever recover from such a state. But panic is certainly not theonly action that follows crisis. One Chinese character for crisis is made oftwo fundamentally different words: danger and opportunity. It's true, in everycrisis situation there is both the dangerous realities of risk and potentialharm as well as the rewards of gained wisdom, expanded territory, and newrelationships. Panic is only one of the more frightening potential byproductsof crisis.
Panic growswithin us as we put our focus on the risk and potential harm of crisis.However, opportunity is always rooted in the hope we have for the future. The opportunitiesof crisis seem harder for us humans to embrace than the panic of potentialharm, but they are undoubtedly timeless in their historic power to overcome.The hope of gained wisdom, expanded territory, and new relationships have movedevery culture in time from crisis into newfound glory. 2008 was no different.In those days, the churches around the world swelled with people who were eagerto place their hope in Jesus Christ, abandoning panic and fear for the lovethey'd need to press into the future. Panic turned to glory and hope restoredthe nations.
I'm pretty surethat the Great Recession of 2008 had no known impact on the yak dung supplyused to heat Naqu's public schools, but I also know from a very real firsthandaccount that news of the widespread crisis reached the ends of the earth andmotivated even the most remote people to identify opportunity and take actionfor change. The man we met—oblivious to the cracking concrete underfoot, thedraft of high Tibetan plateau air rushing through his window frame, or theundeniable smell of poop burning on the stove—was focused only on the hope ofhis future and did not let rumors of panic keep him from taking action to makethe world around him better.
Today we face theworldwide COVID-19 pandemic. Its impact has already reached the ends of theearth. The crisis is real but in the crisis, I've embraced a great scripture ofhope to keep me focused on Jesus. The scripture reads, "And now we have run into his heart to hide ourselves in hisfaithfulness. This is where we find his strength and comfort, for he empowersus to seize what has already been established ahead of time—an unshakeablehope!" (Hebrews 6:18 TPT)
Thehope is also real. At SEAPC we have taken all necessary measures following therighteous leading of governmental decisions made in the nations we serve,shutting down schools, closing off children's homes, postponing anynon-critical travel or events.
Inthe meantime, we have maintained a truth that we have found more historic andunfailing than man's triumph in crisis: our God is a good God who answersprayer.
We are committed to prayer, and that commitment keeps our focus on the hopeful opportunities that crisis presents. We are confident that our God will provide everything we need to overcome crisis and further to pull wisdom, health, provision, and revelation in His love for us from the opportunities this hope ensures.
As wewalk these days out together, from your local community to places like Naqu,Tibet, let’s leave panic to its own devices and engage a hope in Jesus Christand look to God above for the opportunities this crisis brings to take actionin changing the world around us for good.
Ultimately, we helped that man in Naqu renovate his school. He put his hope in Jesus and his prayers were answered. In fact, SEAPC continues to serve the families in that community with health and education on a daily basis. He is part of the church now in Naqu undoubtedly reading the reports of the coronavirus today and joining with his friends in this community to unite their prayers to ours in hope for the future.
Pleaseknow that we are with you in this moment standing ready to pray together in theeverlasting hope of Jesus Christ.