These past couple of months have been crazy. It has taken every single one of us on a rollercoaster that we did not want to ride on. Growing up, I never thought that I would live through a pandemic of this size. It is like a scene from a movie. Empty shelves in grocery stores, hospitals filled to the brim with sick patients, shut down movie theaters and sports arenas. There is almost an eeriness looming over when I take a walk around the neighborhood. A heaviness.

When all of this started, I wasn't worried. I wasn't afraid of my loved ones or of myself getting sick. I had a strong peace that everything was going to be okay. And then March rolled around. It seems that within the span of a few days, the world flipped upside down. I was pulled from the office and asked to work from home indefinitely, most entertainment venues temporarily closed, grocery stores looked like the apocalypse had come upon us, and the number of infected people and fatalities increased exponentially. It was almost hard to keep up with everything.

Suddenly, we found ourselves in the middle of a full blown pandemic. Something no one living has ever experienced before. And with this pandemic, came a wave of fear. Not necessarily my own, but the fear of others. People were and still are afraid. Afraid of the virus, yes, but more so afraid of the unknown and the uncertainty that surrounds our situation. It is difficult to navigate ourselves when there is so much that we do not know.

And that is where the church needs to shine. We need to become a beacon of light in the midst of chaos and darkness. And we are definitely in the middle of chaos and darkness. You can feel it when you step outside, even for a moment. Something feels wrong. And it is easy to fall into that same fear, that same chaos, that other people have. But we have to remember who we serve. We have to remember that we hold a light inside of us. And there is no better time than right now to let it shine. We need to allow this light to bleed right through our skin, and fall into others. We need to show them the peace and the hope that we have. Do not keep it hidden. Christ did not die for us to keep it to ourselves. We have the perfect opportunity to be the church, and to show Christ to everyone around us. Even if they are six feet apart. Light can shine brighter than any distance between us.