BREAKTHROUGH: Problems Precede Progress by Donnell Jones, Pastor, Grace Covenant Church DC www.GraceCovDC.org
“ Problems usually precede progress!!!”
2020 is the year in history we will never forget. We will tell our children, grandchildren and generations to come this is the year few if anyone ever imagined. Think for just a moment if in the summer of 2019, someone told you next year there is going to be a global pandemic that will pretty much shut the world down! In the US alone, hundreds of thousands of people will die from a deadly virus. Everyone will have to stay in their homes except for emergency or essential reasons. When we get to go outside our homes, everyone will have to wash their hands continuously, wear a mask in public and maintain a minimum of 6ft physical distance. Zoom virtual connections and meetings will be the norm for everybody. Things like bottled water, toilet paper and paper towels will be in high demand and short supply. Oh, there’s more. There will be an outcry of racial injustice due to the senseless death of a black man followed by massive protests all over the world. There will be an economic fallout that will result in millions of Americans losing their jobs. There will be no collegiate or pro sports. Both High School and College students will miss their graduations. Weddings will be postponed or worse cancelled. Like stop for a moment and think about all that. That’s not some movie or tv drama mini-series. That is actually what happened this year and you would not believe it except that we find ourselves living in what is so real and surreal at the same time. It’s so overwhelming. People are struggling with mental, emotional, physical and financial health. Fear has seized the hearts of so many people. When or how will this all end?
In the face of so much despair and discouragement, we are not without hope. Every one of us knows what it is to experience personal trials and challenges. Hope views the situation as the prequel to Breakthrough. I don’t mean it in some cheesy kind of fictional movie kind of way. What I am saying is that we have in the biggest crises of our lifetime the biggest opportunity of our lifetime. The pressure we have all experienced globally, nationally and personally, unfortunately for many leads to breakdown. For those persons, we need to do our best to assist them in whatever way we can; a phone call, food, rent among other things. A little can make a difference especially since what the person receives in addition to the kindness you extend is a transfer of care. Someone caring for another in the midst of the struggle sustains them. On the other hand, Problems usually precede progress!!! For others, this moment is about breakthrough. Some of the most challenging moments in our lives that nearly crushed us actually served to catapult us into an awareness, a focus and an intentionality with resolve and humility to live from a new perspective and a different vantage point. No one, me, you or anyone else wanted what 2020 has brought. But now that it’s here, now that we are in it, let’s embrace this moment in faith; the kind that says what intended to crush us and break us down will serve by the grace of God to catapult us toward BREAKING THROUGH to a version of us we have never seen. Pastor Donnell Jones is pastor of Grace Covenant Church in Washington, D.C., Character Coach for the Maryland Terrapins and Chaplain of the NABC.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the NABC.
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