It finally happened: I got COVID. Or maybe more accurately, COVID got me. Even experiencing COVID, I experienced God in so many ways and hope you sense God’s hidden leading towards new life in Christ and love of God and neighbors.
It’s hard to tell where the wrong place at the wrong time will be. One of our daughters worked this summer in places where people tested positive. Our other daughter worked in a more controlled environment and almost never went out, except a couple of times the first weekend in August. Guess which one caught COVID? Yeah, the one that almost never went out.
Masks do help. I wear a mask outside the house. Over the last 2 ½ years, I’ve been in several very contagious settings and didn’t catch the bug. I give credit to masking. That makes the house the vulnerable point. My daughter didn’t have symptoms and I sat a couple nights unmasked next to her on the couch watching a TV show.
Denial is powerful (until it fails). I started to feel fatigue on Friday but found ways to explain it away. I was so tired before dinner that I laid down to nap, but I had exerted myself a bit in the sun, that’s why. On Saturday, when I started to get a headache and sore throat, I excused it as allergies. When I was leaving the Saturday service, however, I thought I may have a fever. And my denial melted.
Staying home with symptoms out of concern for others. I didn’t test positive, even with the fever, but called Vicar Cogan and started to make preparations to miss Sunday services and activities. I have missed only about 3 Sundays in 25 years because of illness. I don’t like to miss services, even for vacation. But it would be worse if I infected someone else and they became sick or developed long COVID because I was stubborn. So, I stayed home even with a negative test. (After services on Sunday, I tested positive.)
Everybody’s experience is different. My daughter and wife both got COVID and experienced barely two days of mild cold symptoms. Quarantine was the toughest part for them! I ended up in bed for four days with a fever, cough, and a raw throat that felt and looked like freshly ground hamburger. A week later, I still have a sore throat, headache and mild phlegmy cough.
Isolation sucks. And leads to grief. I spent a week in my bedroom separated from my family, mostly so our uninfected daughter wouldn’t get it (she didn’t! Praise God!). This was also the last week that both daughters were home before going back to college. So, rather than spending time with them, I was in bed and isolated. I was extremely sad about it. I thought about many of you, with whom I had plans, visits, conversations that were cancelled or postponed, opportunities missed. And I was extremely sad about those too. I thought about the millions who have died of COVID, including our loved ones like Gladys Thurston. They and their families grieve more than just a few missed opportunities.
God works through prayer. I spent a lot of time praying for relief, for you, for St. John’s, for the Church, and the World. In prayer, I felt God’s love and a connection with you that helped me through sleepless nights of discomfort and coughing.
Gratitude overflows my heart! The week in COVID quarantine so fills me with gratitude for God and for many. Gratitude to Vicar Cogan for saying yes and stepping in with enthusiasm and ability. Gratitude to many who responded to extra calls to pitch in. Gratitude for texts and phone calls of concern and assurance of prayers. Gratitude for sleep that finally does come, healing that slowly dawns like the rosy fingers of dawn.
Maybe that’s what I experienced most: gratitude for people and relationships. Gratitude that simple things like masks and staying home do help. Gratitude for doctors, nurses, and scientists who devote their lives to helping others and unraveling these mysteries. Gratitude that Jesus leads us through this moment, COVID and all, to love God and love our neighbors.
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Peter
Denial is powerful (until it fails). I started to feel fatigue on Friday but found ways to explain it away. I was so tired before dinner that I laid down to nap, but I had exerted myself a bit in the sun, that’s why. On Saturday, when I started to get a headache and sore throat, I excused it as allergies. When I was leaving the Saturday service, however, I thought I may have a fever. And my denial melted.
Staying home with symptoms out of concern for others. I didn’t test positive, even with the fever, but called Vicar Cogan and started to make preparations to miss Sunday services and activities. I have missed only about 3 Sundays in 25 years because of illness. I don’t like to miss services, even for vacation. But it would be worse if I infected someone else and they became sick or developed long COVID because I was stubborn. So, I stayed home even with a negative test. (After services on Sunday, I tested positive.)
Everybody’s experience is different. My daughter and wife both got COVID and experienced barely two days of mild cold symptoms. Quarantine was the toughest part for them! I ended up in bed for four days with a fever, cough, and a raw throat that felt and looked like freshly ground hamburger. A week later, I still have a sore throat, headache and mild phlegmy cough.
Isolation sucks. And leads to grief. I spent a week in my bedroom separated from my family, mostly so our uninfected daughter wouldn’t get it (she didn’t! Praise God!). This was also the last week that both daughters were home before going back to college. So, rather than spending time with them, I was in bed and isolated. I was extremely sad about it. I thought about many of you, with whom I had plans, visits, conversations that were cancelled or postponed, opportunities missed. And I was extremely sad about those too. I thought about the millions who have died of COVID, including our loved ones like Gladys Thurston. They and their families grieve more than just a few missed opportunities.
God works through prayer. I spent a lot of time praying for relief, for you, for St. John’s, for the Church, and the World. In prayer, I felt God’s love and a connection with you that helped me through sleepless nights of discomfort and coughing.
Gratitude overflows my heart! The week in COVID quarantine so fills me with gratitude for God and for many. Gratitude to Vicar Cogan for saying yes and stepping in with enthusiasm and ability. Gratitude to many who responded to extra calls to pitch in. Gratitude for texts and phone calls of concern and assurance of prayers. Gratitude for sleep that finally does come, healing that slowly dawns like the rosy fingers of dawn.
Maybe that’s what I experienced most: gratitude for people and relationships. Gratitude that simple things like masks and staying home do help. Gratitude for doctors, nurses, and scientists who devote their lives to helping others and unraveling these mysteries. Gratitude that Jesus leads us through this moment, COVID and all, to love God and love our neighbors.
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Peter
