A New World Normal .. or abnormal?

Is today Saturday or Friday?  Wait, let me look at my calendar.
Yeah, a new normal. Days blending together, time structure pretty much out the window.
Sitting here at my bedroom table aka my new office on most days, on Day 19 of my at-first 14-day self quarantine/then shelter at home/ now isolation prison,  staring out at my backyard tropical landscaping... and the new normal is:  what else can I do, cut, prune, add to that landscaping jungle just to get outside!!???
My good friend, Doug, said out of the blue recently: you should blog about your isolation experience.
So,  here we go!
The past 19 days, really the last 30 days, have been to paraphrase pastor Craig Groeschel, emotionally disorienting.
As this viral pandemic quietly crept into the United States, I was across the world in paradise, in what other mortals call New Zealand, with my son, Kyle, enjoying the majesty of God’s creations.  My only concerns were about booking the next excursion and finding a functioning Wi-Fi hookup.  In our nine days in Kiwi land,  only a few masks, and very little if any talk about this Wuhan Virus.
Returning on March 15, I was not prepared for the level of hysteria, misinformation, fear and economic disruption I would encounter.
The first emotional blow: upon our return,  Kyle and I needed to self-quarantine (never thought in my lifetime I’d be saying that word so much as I have in the last 19 days!).  Self-what!?  Stay home, avoid all social interaction?  What? Don’t they know how much I thrive on being around people?  Putting together group plans to play golf, go drinking, go out to eat?
Ok, so we stay home. Cool.  Get to do more Yardwork. Cook at lot. Sleep later. Binge watch Netflix, HBO, etc, every night. Play some online Texas Holdem. Surf social media.  Drink some good bourbon (hope no one sees my purchase receipts on this ..don’t judge) Yeah, this won’t be so bad, right?
Well, all the fun n games slowly (or was it quickly?  Wait, what time is it again?) shifted to a blur of boredom, a daily mental gymnastics to not let the dulling routine, the fear, the panic, the negative, the unsettling uncertainty of what would news be tomorrow about this virus, overwhelm my mind.
Before this national shutdown, Social media was already a digital doorway to enter into other people’s worlds, peek into their minds, somewhat experience their feelings (even if the voyeurism was simply endless pictures of dogs, cats, babies)
But social media quickly (or was it slowly, dang I just can’t keep track...)  morphed into a universe of negative barking at positive,  pessimism battling optimism, faith wrestling with fear.
This glaring dicotomy brought up two of my deepest core beliefs, ones I have believed and tried to walk, ever since I accepted Jesus into my life. Two core beliefs that are inextricably intertwined:
Choices and Faith vs. Fear.
A revelation many years ago for me was what God said about faith, in two personally powerful scriptures:
Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. Hebrews 11:1
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. 2 Timothy 1:7
So,  I believe everyone in all things, not some: ALL, has a decision:  do I choose fear or do I choose faith?
Choices.  In ALL decisions, we must make choices.  And from that choice, you should be prepared to accept the consequences, both good and bad. (Yeah, accountability.. what a novel idea, huh?  And one lost in recent times.)
In this isolation prison, I never doubted my faith and fully believed (and voiced such too strongly, we’ll come back to this) this virus was a fear-monger’s wet dream.
After no-idea how many days, I had to severely limit my vocal attempts to discount misinformation and my strong feelings about the over-hyped hysteria and fear.  I gave up the daily statistical wars with friends, and online debates about validity of news sources.  Tough choice, but had to because so many are so filled with fear and other delicate emotions.
The daily mental and emotional pent-up frustrations and impatience weren’t healthy, so, basically, I chose to step off my social media soapbox, and try to only offer positive, faith-filled words.

And maybe this is the good part of his new normal (abnormal?)

We step away from emotional debates, and it’s ok to let people be right when they likely are wrong.
We just laugh at insanely long lines caused by social distancing at Lowe’s to get into garden section.
We thank everyday workers - store clerks, fast-food servers, janitors - more.
We appreciate and enjoy more our friendships.
We ask strangers more often, how are they doing.
We encourage everyone more, we love more.
We are more thankful in what we have and can do, then in what’s lost and can’t do.

Finally, we truly understand God is with you at all times, on the mountain and in the valley, in the isolation, in the fear...  He is with you at ALL times.

Cheers, love, and safety to you.