If COVID-19 was a movie…

COVID-19. What seemed like a far off virus affecting Asia has suddenly become a real event. A moment in our lifetime. A pause on our everyday normal. It is the strangest thing not being in the same country as your friends and family during a crisis. It is the thing that movies are made of - you are a distant part of the crisis, floating above, watching it like a series of movie clips. Each text. News story. Post on social media. Each piece of information becomes one of those clips. We know the characters - Jacob and Emma Grace are playing lead parts. But we don’t really know what their days look like, how they feel, or what they are experiencing. We use our imaginations but that really isn’t the same as experiencing it. Living it with them. It as though the story is being told to us through a narrator and we are losing bits and pieces. The important pieces are removed.

We realize that it is inevitable that it will sweep through parts of the Dominican Republic. Thankfully, the Dominican President has acted quickly and closed the borders while public gathering spots are no longer open. We are sticking close to home. Playing games. Watching tv. Reading. Getting on each others’ nerves. But it is an environment that I feel I have some control over. However that is not the reality for the communities that we serve. Their homes are close together. It will be almost impossible to keep everyone inside and secluded because that is not how the homes or communities are designed. Once coronavirus hits one of these communities, it will most likely sweep through, affecting dozens if not hundreds. They are in environments that they cannot control.

We read stories of the number of places that have closed in the US and know the impact on workers’ ability to support their families. A reality that hits quickly and unexpectedly for so many. The Dominicans who are employed will not earn any money while the service industry is closed - they survive because of tourism, hotels, restaurants. Or they are day laborers. Whereas America and other developed countries will be able to provide financial support to their citizens to help during this time, our communities will have to depend on one another. Their neighbors and family are their support system. Our school, Makarios, feeds students two meals a day. For some of our students, it may be the only two consistent nutritious meals they will receive. Our staff quickly put together food packages for our families to try and help supplement their food supply. Will it be enough? It isn’t a simple thing to just go down to a local grocery store to buy supplies. Food will begin to run low at our local colmados (small stores in peoples’ homes) where much of the food buying happens. The nearest supermercado (grocery stores like we would have in the States) is in Puerto Plata and would require money to get there and the food costs are higher. We have a car so Scott is able to run to the store and buy groceries. We are good. Again, it is a situation that we have some control over right now, but others do not.

We are on an island that depends on goods being imported. What happens if there are no goods to import? When the shelves are empty, they will remain empty.

We send Jake and Emma Grace some money. Tell them to go buy some food but to be smart. When they get back, they say they couldn’t spend it all because there wasn’t much to buy. They will keep trying and checking. Emma Grace works for a restaurant managed by a sweet friend of ours. They closed the restaurant and had to give the prepared food away - Emma Grace was able to go home with lots of food which is such a huge blessing because she had such a hard time finding food. They are good. They really are, but it is a situation that I feel is so out of my control. Our 18 and 20 year old children are trying to figure out how to make sure they have enough food to last for… how long? And honestly, they are so mature and calm.

Emma Grace wanted to come to the Dominican Republic to be with us. She was waiting for her college to notify the students that they would be online for the rest of the semester. We knew the window was getting smaller and smaller until it would no longer be possible. We learned on a Tuesday night that the Dominican borders would be closed on Thursday morning. Emma Grace didn’t receive information from her college until Wednesday evening. The window shut. Perhaps we should have just flown her here knowing it was inevitable. We were just trying to do everything correctly and be good stewards of our money because if she flew here for a few weeks but school resumed as normal mid April, we would not be able to fly her here again this summer. Timing is a curious thing. Timing is something we don’t have control over.

It doesn’t matter how old your kids get, there is this desire to gather them and keep them in your home during a crisis. I want them with me. As always God demonstrates His kindness towards us with every message and phone call from friends and family telling us that Jake and Emma Grace have a place in their home. They will stand in for us when we cannot. When all else feels out of control, I am reminded that God is in control.

This morning I read that the death toll in Italy has surpassed China’s death toll. Numbers without faces makes it seem less real. But, I am reminded that each number is in fact someone’s daughter, son, wife, husband, mother, father, or child, Each number is a person with a history and a dream for a future. Oh friend, I have to stop thinking about each number because the weight is heavy and the burden is great. Did we, fellow believers, do our part to love them well? Share Jesus with them?

With each movie clip being created, I realize how many of these clips are things that our out of our control. Situations. Realities. I think that what I need to do is to add to this movie by creating clips with intentional actions and words. What if we could edit in clips of time spent with Scottie around the table putting a puzzle together. A clip of us introducing Zoey to a few movie classics (Sister Act, Three Men and a Baby) from the 80s while we eat popcorn. A clip of Facetime calls with Jake as he rants and raves about Bill O’Brien’s terrible decisions in regards to the Texans. A clip of the text messages with Emma Grace as we talk about Love is Blind, things people have said, or the important things of her heart. A clip of an in-home date night with Hubs after the girls are in bed - watching a movie (Knives Out). Being present.

We can add to the movie that is playing, so I will choose to be intentional and create positive moments. Moments to store away and replay later. I will remember that God is ultimately in control, but I have a choice in how I make the best of this moment. This choice starts with me.