Too Blessed to be Stressed, but in Great Need of Rest

Blessed is the one who considers the poor! In the day of trouble the LORD delivers him; the LORD protects him and keeps him alive; he is called blessed in the land; you do not give him up to the will of his enemies. The LORD sustains him on his sickbed; in his illness you restore him to full health.
—Psalm 41, 1-3. ESV

The Last Word
BY R.L. WITTER

The staff at The Positive Community was feeling Psalm 41, 1-3 this month. As we geared up to prepare this very issue of the magazine, it felt as if dark forces were gathering with the intention of keeping us from our mission of spreading “Good news from the church and community.”

It wasn’t one of the usual hiccups like an interview being postponed or canceled. While those scenarios did actually happen while putting together this issue, this time there was a tribulation much worse. As we were in the throes of preparing the issue for publishing, there was a cough. It was the cough heard and felt around the office as first our editor-in-chief tested positive for COVID-19, then our publisher, then our executive assistant, etc.

Of course, there’s no good time for anyone to ever get sick with COVID-19, but this was literally the worst possible time it could happen for us. As our team began suffering from the virus, the publishing calendar kept marking off the days until this issue would need to be at the printer. No mercy.

Making things worse was the fact that we here at The Positive Community (TPC) are family. No, really, we are! There are fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, aunts and nieces, cousins, brothers, and just about every other familial configuration you can devise in our office. If it wasn’t enough that the office was suffering, a family member not employed by TPC visited our offices and then proceeded to fly across the country, taking COVID-19 with him. And of course, he was visiting more family members to celebrate a birthday, so even more relatives contracted the virus.

When all was said and done, only two staff members were left standing. One who works entirely remotely, and the other who must have Jesus on the mainline and the blood of Jesus coursing through his veins to bolster his immune system. Nevertheless, while the infected and afflicted took to their beds to rest and recuperate, the Dynamic Duo continued the work necessary to keep things moving in the right direction.

As our team of family members began to recover, we were able to finish the issue and get the finished product to the printer in time for you to be reading this right now. The moral of the story, have faith and believe. Believe God can bring you through any challenge or difficulty and have faith He loves you enough to do it. Get vaccinated, keep your distance, or perhaps return to wearing a mask when interacting in groups or in small spaces. Oh—eat your veggies, get enough sleep, and call your mother, too.

Too Blessed to be Stressed, but in Great Need of Rest

Blessed is the one who considers the poor! In the day of trouble the LORD delivers him; the LORD protects him and keeps him alive; he is called blessed in the land; you do not give him up to the will of his enemies. The LORD sustains him on his sickbed; in his illness you restore him to full health.
—Psalm 41, 1-3. ESV

The staff at The Positive Community was feeling Psalm 41, 1-3 this month. As we geared up to prepare this very issue of the magazine, it felt as if dark forces were gathering with the intention of keeping us from our mission of spreading “Good news from the church and community.”

It wasn’t one of the usual hiccups like an interview being postponed or canceled. While those scenarios did actually happen while putting together this issue, this time there was a tribulation much worse. As we were in the throes of preparing the issue for publishing, there was a cough. It was the cough heard and felt around the office as first our editor-in-chief tested positive for COVID-19, then our publisher, then our executive assistant, etc.

Of course, there’s no good time for anyone to ever get sick with COVID-19, but this was literally the worst possible time it could happen for us. As our team began suffering from the virus, the publishing calendar kept marking off the days until this issue would need to be at the printer. No mercy.

Making things worse was the fact that we here at The Positive Community (TPC) are family. No, really, we are! There are fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, aunts and nieces, cousins, brothers, and just about every other familial configuration you can devise in our office. If it wasn’t enough that the office was suffering, a family member not employed by TPC visited our offices and then proceeded to fly across the country, taking COVID-19 with him. And of course, he was visiting more family members to celebrate a birthday, so even more relatives contracted the virus.

When all was said and done, only two staff members were left standing. One who works entirely remotely, and the other who must have Jesus on the mainline and the blood of Jesus coursing through his veins to bolster his immune system. Nevertheless, while the infected and afflicted took to their beds to rest and recuperate, the Dynamic Duo continued the work necessary to keep things moving in the right direction.

As our team of family members began to recover, we were able to finish the issue and get the finished product to the printer in time for you to be reading this right now. The moral of the story, have faith and believe. Believe God can bring you through any challenge or difficulty and have faith He loves you enough to do it. Get vaccinated, keep your distance, or perhaps return to wearing a mask when interacting in groups or in small spaces. Oh—eat your veggies, get enough sleep, and call your mother, too.