Yesterday my son, Tom, called from The University of Chicago asking if we were well. He had seen a Google map showing cases of swine flu and saw that there were a number of cases within ten miles of our home in two different directions. San Diego is very near  Mexico so we should not be surprised that swine flu is spilling over the border. We expect the very old and the weak to die of flu, but we feel under threat when a virus seems to attack healthy young adults. My initial instinct was to bring my son home from Chicago, buy lots of food, take my other children out of school and live an isolated but flu resistant life!  Instead of following the gut reaction resulting from too many maternal hormones, I decided to consider an alternative to panic: trusting God.

I believe that God is all powerful and He is the epitome of love.  He wants us to get to know Him because He alone can turn our lives around and secure us a place in Heaven, if we realize that we desperately need to be forgiven for our innate selfishness.

If we don’t even believe that God exists why would we ask Him to help us. If we think that life is easy and fun why would we bother to find out who Jesus is? Certainly in Southern California where the sun shines constantly and the beach and the mountains provide beautiful places to escape to, many people may think that they are already in  Heaven..

Today’s San Diego Tribune online described how many people had drifted away from faith:

Loss of faith attributed to spiritual drift

Study explores reasons people change religion
By Jacqueline L. Salmon
“More Americans have given up their faith or changed religions because of a gradual spiritual drift than switched because of a disillusionment over their churches’ policies, according to a study released yesterday.”

My hope is that the swine flu may halt that spiritual drift.  Drifting into a lifestyle where Jesus does not feature may seem a good idea when life is easy. It may be fun to spend the day at the beach or watching sport, but neither will really help us if our loved ones become fatally ill. If this threat of swine flu wakes us up spiritually and encourages us to trust Jesus, that would not only help us cope with the possibility of swine flu,  it would give us a reason to feel confident about future crises and the ultimate challenge: death.

Please do not panic about the threat of swine flu. Instead, I would like to encourage you to put your life and the lives of your loved ones in Jesus’  hands. A verse in the Bible tells us who He is: “He is the eternal King, the unseen one who never dies; He alone is God.” (1 Timothy: 1:17) Life has many challenges. Jesus is bigger than your problems. He rose from the dead and He is alive although we cannot see Him. I do hope that you will find out about Him in the Bible, find a good church or email me. Jesus is much bigger than swine flu.

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