Lockdown 131

Lockdown Day 131 - 4 August 2020

Today we were supposed to go on a week breakaway to the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. We would have spent tonight in Upington. But, as you know, inter-provincial leisure travel is banned plus the National Parks are still closed and have canceled all their bookings. We need to reschedule for 2021. 

So tomorrow, I shall re-book, not knowing what will happen in 2021, but having faith for the seemingly possible. Faith that we can at last plan a well deserved getaway and actually be able to go! 

Regaining some form of control over our lives is something many people have set their minds to. Just look at the black market trade of cigarettes and alcohol. 

Everybody knows about it, but nobody speaks out against it, because the gazillion little rules have made the people of South Africa lose all respect, as Winston Churchill has said, “If you have ten thousand regulations you destroy all respect for the law.” He also said, "A state of society where men may not speak their minds cannot long endure."

The world is fighting a virus. So, essentially we are in a war. And although I am so totally not a politically-inclined person, I find myself consulting the Churchill files to try and understand the things of war. There may not be guns and physical fighting, and apart from the disease itself there is hunger, hopelessness and riots happening all over the entire world.  World leaders find themselves in a place they have not been before, not realising they aren't the masters anymore, but rather slaves because of their respective countries' demise in the wake of this abominable virus.

Winston Churchill was a statesman known for his unconventional approach to war. And today I tend to believe these fundamental words of war when he said, “Never, never, never believe any war will be smooth and easy, or that anyone who embarks on the strange voyage can measure the tides and hurricanes he will encounter. The statesman who yields to war fever must realize that once the signal is given, he is no longer the master of policy but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events.”  

Wow. 

This rings undeniably true for our country. Mr Prez is now the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable  events, caused by his own people, because he yielded to their war fever (I suddenly feel better, knowing he also doesn't have all the control he wants). 

Now more than ever, Churchill's words, “Healthy citizens are the greatest asset any country can have” are true.

So tonight I retract into my very very right-brained world, knowing to pray for Mr Prez. For my closest and my own. For the whole wide world. For healthy people. Because all of us are in the same boat. Because we need each other to get through this.  

Because you and I (and yes, Mr Prez too) need all the help we can get from God. He does not yield to war fever, but is the Master of all. He is the only One who can calm the storm and tell the sun to stand still. Faith in Him is what should be our driving force. Because He's really got this.