Bring a Speedy End to the Pandemic Shutdown

Some baby-boomers like me remember a stressful part of our childhood:  having to get a penicillin shot, or waiting in line for “the needle” for vaccinations.  I’m not sure which was worse, the anticipation or the needle prick itself.  But afterwards, my fear and pain were eased by a warm feeling that I was protected from becoming ill.  Today, the results affirm the success of antibiotics and vaccines.  The anxiety and pain were a small price for a good outcome.

But what if, in order to protect us and our nation from a mortal enemy, we were required to surrender freedoms that we hold dear?  Such a request or demand would have a much more pervasive affect on our lives than the requirement to stand in line for a vaccination? 

Our COVID-19 Conundrum – Looking Back
As you know, my “what if” became a reality on March 15 of this year—the day that 65 Coronavirus deaths were reported in the US.  On that date, Dr. Anthony Fauci and the White House Task Force instituted a 14-day “national shutdown” with “social distancing” and limitations on our coming and going.  The purpose was to “flatten the curve” of daily hospitalizations and viral infections so that hospitals would not be driven beyond capacity.  But 14 days of shutdown was gradually extended to 1 month.  By that time, many voices in the medical and epidemiological fields were questioning the wisdom of this policy.

With all due regard for any loss of life due to the Coronavirus, many of us asked whether the national shutdown was actually saving lives.  Or, was it simply flattening the curve of infections and hospitalizations and delaying inevitable exposures and infections with uncertain future consequences?   By mid-April it had caused thousands of small businesses to close, millions of people to be unemployed, delays in scheduling of medical procedures, disruption of church worship and other human social interactions, and resultant mental stresses and suicides due to social isolation. 

Because of my own personal skepticism, I began to research the science and statistics related to the COVID-19 pandemic and shutdown.  At the same time, I wanted to assess my own attitude and faith in response to the pandemic threat on my life and family.  About this time (April 17), after one month of national shutdown, the US was approaching 40,000 deaths almost half of which originated in New York state.  I wrote a blog article entitled “Considerations for Our COVID-19 Conundrum” which outlines how I was personally responding to the pandemic and shutdown.  [I believe this article still contains valuable recommendations for readers who want to maintain their “health” in body, mind, and spirit.]

One week later (April 24), I had posted another article on COVID-19, entitled  “COVID-19 Policies &  Outcomes: Learning Online.”  Here, I cited experts who were concerned that the indirect effects of social distancing and the economic shutdown were having more devastating long-term effects than the COVID-19 virus itself.  The primary goal of “flattening the curve” had been reached in most parts of the US.  So, the rationale for remaining locked down shifted to a seemingly trumped up fear based on questionable predictive models and a philosophy that we ought to remain shut down until a vaccination is developed.  Fortunately, in spite of these dire warnings, several state governors began to aggressively follow the phase-in plan offered by President Trump and the White House task force. 

It’s Time to End the Shutdown
During the next two weeks, it became more and more obvious to those who followed objective media sources that the economic, social, and even medical costs of prolonged partial lockdown were exceeding the benefits in saving of lives.  Everywhere, hospital capacity and equipment to treat COVID-19 patients were all much in excess of demand.  As I wrote in “COVID-19 Policy Ignores ‘Good Science’,” “some experts such as Dr. Dolores Cahill called the lockdown policy “anti-scientific” and “anti-nature” because it has ignored the importance of the human immune system and how we need to beef up our immunity through good nutrition and vitamins.”  [Dr. Cahill’s informed logic is featured in a video interview accessible in my article, “COVID-19 Policy Ignores ‘Good Science’.”]

Today, opposition to the lockdown from professionals is being joined by an increasing chorus of Americans who want to get back to work.  Dr. Scott Atlas, MD. and senior fellow and experienced policymaker of the Hoover Institute, argues that there is no reason not to move more quickly to reopen our society with proper precautions for the elderly and other at-risk individuals.  In his op ed article published May 18, in The Hill, Dr. Atlas wrote,

The total lockdown may have been justified at the start of this pandemic, but it must now end — smartly, without irrational, unnecessary requirements contrary to medical science, common sense and logic. The goal of the strict isolation was accomplished in the overwhelming majority of places. We have direct data on risk and extensive experience, individually and as a nation, with managing it, even as new cases arise. We know that gradually relaxing total isolation will lead to more infections, but that’s acceptable, given that we know whom to protect and this disease is not harmful to the vast majority of infected people.

What Do COVID-19 Data-by-State Suggest?
Yesterday, I devoted many hours to pouring over data from multiple sources.  I chose 15 states that represent 62% of the US population but which are responsible for approximately 85% of the COVID-19 deaths in the US to date (see Table).  The data by state is ranked according to “% Recovery” from lowest (top) to highest—i.e. the percentage of individuals who were “Reported Cases” who recovered and were not tallied in “Deaths.”  Note that Michigan currently has the lowest percent recovery at 90.5%.  All other states range above this percentage and reach as high as 98.3% recovery in Tennessee.

The 7 states that make up the upper-half of the table account for just over half (51%) of the total reported COVID-19 cases in the US to date but account for 67% of the total US deaths.   It is also noteworthy that nearly all of the 7 states in the upper half of the table have governors who have been slower in opening up their state than most of the 8 states in the lower half.  This suggests that governors who have been more aggressive in opening their state have not been unwise.  Both % recovery and mortality rates are lower in these more aggressive states.  More comments on my Data Table will come below as they relate to several claims by Dr. Atlas.

Supportive Data But Poor Communication
Dr. Atlas argues that neither policymakers nor the public have received several key messages that are both critical in alleviating public fear and valuable as a guide to safe reopening of society.  In his article Monday, in The Hill, Dr. Atlas lists four policy failures at the state level, each with scientific data from the CDC and other sources to support his claims.  The four policy failures he lists are as follows (emphasis mine):

1.  There has been a failure to remind everyone that the stated goal of the policy — total lockdown and whole-population isolation — has been accomplished in most of the United States, including the epicenter of New York.

2.  There has been a failure to reassure everyone that we fully anticipate more cases will occur, whether we test or not, with continuing relaxation of today’s isolation.

Many Americans are gripped in fear when they hear that more reported cases of COVID-19 are appearing daily with even more cases reported in some areas.   But remember, we are doing more testing—more testing means more reported cases!  But notice from my Data Table above that 90 to 98% of reported cases recover. 

3.  There has been a failure to educate the public that the overall fatality rate is not only far lower than previously thought but is extremely low in almost everyone other than the elderly.

Allow me to elaborate on failure #3 as it relates to the relatively large percentage of COVID-19 deaths among the elderly.  According a New York Times article, May 11, one-third of all US deaths to Coronavirus (est. 26,000, May 18) are from nursing home residents and workers.  Notice from my Data Table that nursing home deaths vary widely in percentage of total deaths by state.  

It is now believed that the large number of deaths of nursing home residents and workers in several states including NY, MA, and PA was due at least in part to the negligence or incompetence of state government officials and nursing home administrators.  The unfortunate higher number of nursing home deaths in some of these states is reflected in their higher “Mortality” rates (#Deaths/100K) (see Data Table).  The clear implication is that we dropped the ball in protecting our high-risk seniors while focusing instead on social isolation of the rest of us who are at low-risk.

4.  There has been a failure to clarify to parents the truth about the extremely low risk to children, and that has accompanied a gross failure to offer a rational medical perspective regarding schools reopening.

The #4 failure on Dr. Atlas’s list is the unfortunate lack of clear information provided to parents of young children—information which might have relieved much anxiety, and hopefully still can.  According to a Journal of the American Medical Association article cited by Dr. Atlas, “Of the critically ill children with COVID-19, more than 80% had significant long-term underlying medical conditions. Overall survival and outcomes from critical illness in infants and children with COVID-19 in this series was far better than reported for adult patients.  At the present time, our data indicate that children are at far greater risk of critical illness from influenza than from COVID-19.” 

Lack of good information and its dilution with misinformation threatens to drive school and college administrators to consider delaying reopening of classrooms in the fall of this year.  Dr. Robert Hamilton, pediatrician and founder Pacific Ocean Pediatrics, stated in an interview on The Ingraham Angle that only around 1.7% of people infected with Coronavirus are children up to age 18.  The majority of these are asymptomatic and don’t even realize they have a virus.  Meanwhile, we are learning about the negative impacts of school shutdown on adolescents and on their parents as they adjust to online courses while being deprived of spring sports and traditional commencement observances. 

Conclusion
Every human life is of great value to our Creator.  Therefore, policies dealing with the pandemic should be designed to do the greatest amount of good for the greatest number of people.  However, given that we live in a culture where the definition of “good” is so often rigorously debated, policymakers have a difficult time.  This is especially true when we allow our definition of “good” to selfishly dominate our political agendas to the point where we allow biased interpretation of data and media reporting to create an unreal world that is far from the truth.

While I have not escaped the world of pride, selfishness, error in computations, and bias, I have tried to deal accurately and honestly in compiling my Data Table and in presenting the arguments of notable scientists and policymakers.   Based on what I have gleaned from my study, I cast my small vote with those who recommend opening our culture as speedily as possible. 

Returning to my analogy of the anxiety I felt while waiting in line for my vaccination as a boy, I gladly remember that painful experience with no regrets.  However, I believe we will all have great regrets after our current painful pandemic if we don’t soon make it a priority to reopen and restore our economy, health services, family togetherness (especially with our beloved elderly), worship opportunities, education, and recreation.  Death from disease is a reality, but life and health depend on many aspects of our culture that have been restricted or ignored all too long.  As always, I welcome your “Comments.”

Acknowledgement:
This article is a joint effort between my wife, Alvadell ("Abby"), and I.  I thank her for her patience, helpful research, and critical suggestions in the writing.

Music: Comfort and Inspiration During Isolation

After singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives
                                                                 - Matthew 26: 30.

Today, we celebrate the Risen Christ.  But on that first Resurrection Sunday, Jesus’ disciples were still feeling the same confusion and fear they had experienced on that terrible Thursday night when He was taken from them.  On that night, in the “upper room” their anxieties and fears must have been calmed at least somewhat when they joined with Jesus in singing a hymn together before they all “went out” to the Garden of Eden (Matthew 26: 30).

Although we celebrate the Risen Christ today, much uncertainty and fear still hovers over us and people around the world as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to threaten our lives and way of life.  But once again in the midst of sadness and confusion, music can lift our souls. 

Recently, Stelios Kerasidis, a 7-year-old Greek musical prodigy applied his gift of music to relieve the anxiety from social distancing during the pandemic.  Please take a moment to enjoy his “Isolation Waltz.”

Far beyond its entertaining value, there is something about music that brings a calming, soothing effect to our souls.  It is interesting to imagine how we might have felt if we had been there with the men or women who broke bread, drank from the cup, and then sang with Jesus in that “upper room.” I wonder if Jesus sang along with His disciples.  How did His voice sound? 

As you imagine Jesus singing, we ought to realize that Jesus is the Divine Creator of the physical vibrations of sound and music.  In fact, do you realize that Jesus was present and working in the creation, likely singing along with the angels as an expression of His joy over His work?  In what may be the oldest book of the Bible, God speaks to Job with these words:

Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
     Tell Me, if you have understanding,
Who set its measurements?  Since you know.
     Or who stretched the line on it?
On what were its bases sunk?
     Or who laid its cornerstone,
When the morning stars sang together
     And all the angels shouted for joy?  - Job 38: 4-7

Even more amazing and assuring in times of trouble is the fact that God is a “Mighty Warrior” to protect His own from the enemy; and, He rejoices over His own with singing.  Zephaniah writes (3: 17),

The LORD your God is with you,
the Mighty Warrior who saves.
He will take great delight in you;
in his love he will no longer rebuke you,
but will rejoice over you with singing.

Likely, Jesus did sing with His disciples on that dark night as He anticipated His suffering and death.  How would it have been to experience those final hours Jesus spent with His disciples?
What expression was on His face?   Was it assuring to the disciples even though His heart was heavy?  Which if any of the psalms recorded in our Bibles might they have sung?  (Note that Psalms 113-118 were traditionally sung by the Jews during Passover.)  If they chose Psalm 118, who among them chose it?  Especially Psalm 118: 24 is meaningful for us to consider in light of why Jesus came and what He would be facing in the hours ahead: 

This is the day which the Lord has made;
Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

As we awaken each day, Psalm 118: 24 is a great verse of acknowledgement that God is giving us another day to live.  Even in the midst of pandemic, music from the Scriptures or from inspired writers and composers can lift our souls and give assurance of our faith in the Everlasting God.

Finally, an important part of God’s plan for His beloved human creatures is that we unite with others in a community of worshipers—i.e. disciples (willing learners and followers of Christ), mutual encouragers, and witnesses of God’s Gift of salvation.  Inviting the Word of God into our lives daily and making music together continues to be an integral part of the worship and service of dedicated Christ-followers.  Colossians 3: 16 instructs us (emphasis mine):

Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

What Do You Think?
Musicians among readers of this article are welcome to add insights from your understanding of music as God’s creation and gift.  Or, maybe one of you is inspired to imagine and express how you would have felt during the Last Supper with Jesus.  Just use the “Comment” link to add your thoughts.

I Hope You Will Take Time to meditate on the significance of this Easter Season, especially in light of the pandemic that is upon us.  If you feel anxious, you will find that the music and lyrics of great hymns and Gospel-based contemporary music will comfort your soul.   Maybe you will find comfort and blessing from a couple of my favorites for this Easter as follows:

Your Grace Finds Me by Matt Redman
Behold The Lamb (Communion Hymn) - Keith & Kristyn Getty
Power of the Cross - Keith & Kristyn Getty
Is He Worthy? – Chris Tomlin

The Psalms are a key part of the music and worship of Jewish people, and of the Christian faith that God has established through Jesus Christ.  Today, many are finding peace and assurance in the psalms.  I have found comfort and encouragement lately from Psalm 61-63, 73, 91, 139, and 130.

If you do not have a personal relationship with the God who created the universe, including music itself, you can come to “know Him” personally through repentance and faith in Jesus.   Acting by faith to surrender your life to Jesus as your Savior and Lord is necessary to find true peace.   See Steps to Peace with God."  Or, you may contact me at silviusj@cedarville.edu.

I Humbly Dedicate this article to four friends and former colleagues at Cedarville University whose lives and music have been a blessing to Abby and I for many years:  
Lyle Anderson, Senior Professor of Music
Chuck Clevenger, Senior Professor Emeritus of Music
Michael P. DiCuirci, Senior Professor Emeritus of Music
Mark Spenser, Associate Professor of Music

Persevering Prayer Points Us Closer to God

Jesus said, If you abide in Me (believe in Me and humbly yield to my purposes in your life), and My words abide in you (to guide how you think and pray), ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you (John 15: 7).

To me, this is an amazing promise from Jesus to His disciples (obedient, though imperfect Christ-followers).  This means He has entrusted spiritual and material resources to His sincere followers just as a master of an estate would entrust the affairs of the estate to his servants.  In turn, the requests made to the master by His loyal servants (or stewards) would only be in accordance with the interests of the master and His purposes. With this humble understanding, the stewards will also anticipate the master's responses to their requests and respond accordingly.

God’s plan is that every person would serve Him as a steward loyally serves his master.  When we respond by faith as repentant sinners to God’s plan of salvation through Christ (John 1: 12-14) we become His “adopted children (Romans 8: 15).”  So, when we pray, God wants us to ask as children who know and understand their “Daddy’s” wishes.  We bring our requests in a way consistent with what “Daddy” believes is best for us (Romans 8: 15).   Also, as both faithful stewards and as children of a loving Father, we ought to recognize and understand His answers to our prayers even if the answer is “wait” or “no.”

When our Master and Heavenly Father answers our prayers, we ought to be quick to thank Him and give glory to Him.  Like me, you may have experienced answers to prayer that have come, seemingly in spite of all odds.  But what about those prayers we have lifted to our Heavenly Father and continue to lift year after year without receiving an apparent answer?

This morning, I believe God provided me with a new insight; namely, that He is still my Master and loving Heavenly Father, even when He appears not to be answering me.  I had just finished expressed several of my “perennial prayer requests” to Him; requests that I’ve expressed many times according to God’s instructions on prayer:  (a) I asked in faith (James 1: 5-6; 4: 2), (b) in a way consistent with what I believe would be His purposes for the people and situations involved (John 14: 14), and (c) with a pure heart  and motives (Psalm 66: 18; James 4: 7-10).  Then, as if in an inaudible reply, God answered me something like this,

“Am I any less your Master and Loving Father if it appears to you that I am not answering? Though the way seems long and though My answer seems absent from the horizon, I am Almighty God.  In fact, if you will hold onto Me by faith, I will show you more of my sovereign purposes for you and for those persons and situations that concern you—and concern Me.  If you doubt, realize that is not a sin.  But instead, please cast your doubt and cares upon me because I care ever so much for you.  When you want to pray to Me in words but have only groans, let my Spirit carry your groanings to my throne (Romans 8: 26).  For there at my right hand, My Only Son, Jesus also prays for you (Romans 8: 34).  And I will hear Him!   After all, He is the One who offered to Me His loud groanings and tears while He suffered for you during His days on Earth (Hebrews 5: 7).  His suffering on the cross while being mocked by people and by the spiritual forces of darkness was a hellish and eternal suffering.  My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me, He said (Matthew 27: 46).  But His faith held strong, and now that you have died with Him and have been baptized into His death and raised to new life in Him, you too have the faith to wait upon Me (Romans 6: 3-4).  Your faith in Me and my Word will help you to keep looking up to Me while you wait.  Then, you will say as did My Son Jesus, ‘Not my will, but Your will be done (Luke 22: 42).’

Although I thank God for ‘speaking’ to me this morning in my time of prayer and through His Word, I am sure you would agree that we all still have many questions and struggles regarding our prayer life.  Kelly Kapic has written a book, Embodied Hope: A Theological Meditation on Pain and Suffering (InterVarsity Press, 2017).  I am encouraged by Kapic’s insights on how to pray in the face of seemingly inalterable situations like chronic illness or relational challenges.

In a brief excerpt from the book posted in the WORLD Saturday Series, Kapic cautions us against succumbing to “Enlightenment thinking” in our prayers—i.e  believing we can “understand transcendental realities in contemporary terms and sensible formulas.”  Instead, he points us to the psalms “which are full of struggle, [but] do not point us to answers and formulas…The psalms orient us to God. Our hope is in him who made and redeemed heaven and earth, not in our own intellectual acuity.”  Kapic instructs us to direct our prayers to God as did the psalmists and Job through their prayers of lamentation.  He writes,

In the third chapter of Job, for example, the sufferer responds to his situation with heartfelt lament. And his lament is not in isolation but in the context of his closest relationships, namely, with his wife and friends. In their presence he turns this lament toward God in a way that shows his ultimate trust in his Creator-Redeemer. The other laments we read in the Scriptures present this same combination of detailed realism regarding discomfort, pain, and complex fears, and the conviction that God is present, powerful, wise, and good… They see God not as removed from the earthly details of their lives but intimately and interestedly involved in them.

How About You?
May God help us to keep asking, seeking, and knocking (Matthew 7: 7).  And, in the process of praying and abiding in Him and His Word, may we recognize that our Loving Heavenly Father will always answer in either a “yes” or a “please wait” or a “no.”  How will God answer us?  And, more importantly, will we recognize the answer when it comes?  Will we use this time of delay and waiting to draw closer to God.  Will we offer our lamentations in fellowship with spiritual accountability partners who share our burdens (Galatians 6: 2)?  Will we ask God for eyes to see Him even more glorious and lifted up as the awesome God He is? 

Thank you for reading and reflecting with me on what it is to persevere in prayer and to keep trusting and pursuing the God who answers prayer.  Please feel free to “Comment” (below) from your own experience, or send me questions you have about prayer.  In conclusion, take time to pray and meditate over the following adorations of God, one from the psalms and the other from the Apostle Paul:

For the LORD God is a sun and shield;
The LORD gives grace and glory;
No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly.
                                                                                       -- Psalm 84: 11

Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!  For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, OR WHO BECAME HIS COUNSELOR?  Or WHO HAS FIRST GIVEN TO HIM THAT IT MIGHT BE PAID BACK TO HIM AGAIN? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.  -- Romans 11: 33-36

Looking Up from Our Work

Can you imagine a hotter job than repairing a roof on a hot summer day?   Our asphalt-shingled roof was especially toasty on this June day.  My task was to fasten down some flashing that had remained loose for a few months after a crew had replaced our shingles.   Working from a ladder with my face near the plane of the roof and gutter, I had a close-up exposure to the heat radiating from the hot shingles.

As I was finishing up the work, my thoughts began to graze in a cooler pasture where I was being refreshed by the many things for which I should be thankful.  A winsome wife who is beautiful inside and out; a woman who has stood by me “through thick and thin.” Indeed, this very day, she was standing by to hand up tools and fasteners while I worked.

View from my roof, looking up.

My thoughts also feasted upon the fact that I had been so blessed with good health and was still in possession of my mental capacity sufficient to plan and execute this roof repair.  I excused my partner to go inside and cool off while I stood on the ladder and inspected my completed work with satisfaction.  As I looked upward across the sloping, shingled plane of the roof toward the peak, my eyes caught a beautiful view of tall treetops waving in the breeze.  And, beyond the swaying branches was the blue sky graced with lacy white clouds.

The expansive blue sky impressed upon my vision, thoughts, and praise as if to swallow me up in an overwhelming sense of pure joy.  Looking up from my work had immediately caused me to see the Creator’s work, obviously much greater than mine in time, space, and significance.

From before the beginning of time, the design and purpose of creation was known to the Father Who, through His Son, eventually created … all things…both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible (Colossians 1: 16).   The expansiveness of creation in both time and space had impressed upon me how small, limited, and insignificant my work is compared to that of our Creator.  While I was simply using material coverings and fasteners to complete a job, all things have been created (ex nihilo) through Him and for Him (Col. 1:16b).  While I simply aimed to fasten my roof together, in Him all things hold together (Col. 1:17b).

Though I felt “swallowed up” as I stared up into the great blue sky, I was quickly touched by God’s presence and a sense that my “looking up from my work” with praise and adoration was not an insignificant response.  I was reminded that my Father actually seeks true worshipers [who] will worship the Father in spirit and truth… (John 4: 23).  My adoration of Him as my all-wise Creator was an appropriate response mediated through His Holy Spirit.  I sensed that my worship was pleasing to God.

Father in Heaven, thank You for speaking to me through the Scriptures. Thank you for affirming this special revelation of your wisdom, power, and purposes through the order in your creation.  Your works were completed in six days and then you rested and enjoyed what You saw as “good” (Genesis 1:31).  Continue to show me how to work hard and to rest well as a steward of your creation and of the manifold Grace of God.  Help me to “work the works of Him” (John 9:4) Who redeemed me.  May You find my work pleasing.  Help me to remember my need of You while I work; and then, remember to thank you when I “look up from my work.”    Amen.

Earth Day – Keeping the Earth with an Eternal Perspective

This month marked the 40th annual Earth Day, first scheduled in April, 1970. On that first Earth Day, my wife and I had just celebrated the birth of our son, Bradley. The Earth Day emphasis that year challenged me as a young father to consider ways to keep the beautiful “blue jewel in space” from slipping into an inhospitable future; and instead, provide a planet on which our son and his generation could thrive. On the 40th Earth Day, I was privileged to participate in planting a tree in memory of a friend.

As the annual Earth Day has come and gone each year since 1970, efforts toward “Earthkeeping” or creation care have been increasingly bolstered by a better developed science of ecology and a better developed theology of Christian environmental stewardship. Evangelical Christians, for over a decade following the first Earth Day, were suspicious of those who called for the church to take the lead in caring for the Earth. Indeed, many such as Lynn White, Jr. went so far as to blame the Judeo-Christian teachings and practice for the environmental crisis.

Today, increasing numbers of evangelical Christians are learning to integrate their worship with their daily walk with acts of love, care, and benevolence toward their neighbor and on behalf of God’s creation in accordance with the dominion stewardship responsibility. To illustrate this concept, let’s return to my earlier mention of planting tree in memory of a friend on Earth Day.

For approximately 15 years until his death in 2009, it was my privilege to know Dr. Michael Horton, a beloved veterinarian and conservationist in Fairborn, OH. His passion was to restore and enrich landscapes for the benefit of soil, water, and creature conservation. To accomplish this goal, Dr. Horton motivated many volunteers over the years, including student groups from Cedarville University, other local universities, and various citizen organizations. to plant trees suited for landscapes needing restoration – wetlands, hillsides, disturbed areas, an such like. This Spring, Fairborn and surrounding communities enjoy the budding and blooming of thousands of trees due to his efforts.

And so, on this Earth Day, we gathered on the Cedarville campus with his wife, Marcia, her brother, several dear friends, and students of the Pro Terra Forma creation care organization to plant a lovely, 20-foot red oak in honor of Dr. Horton. After a brief dedication, and the shared act of shoveling soil around the tree, we gathered in a circle around the tree to offer a prayer of dedication. At that moment, I realized that we had expressed our faith at once in multiple dimensions.

First, we had connected the tree roots to a specific “place” in the soil of Earth from which water, nutrients, and anchorage would be provided so that this tree could grow mightily with its limbs lifted like arms and hands in praise toward heaven. Second, our planting effort was an act of faith in the Providence of God Who alone can cause growth of the tree through His provision of the essential components from soil and atmosphere.

The human action of planting and nurturing the tree, combined with God’s Providential supply of sunlight and water from above, makes possible a divine-human cooperative that may enable this red oak to grow into a massive specimen over the next century or more. Meanwhile, it brings joy and gladness to those who will gather beneath its branches.

Finally, as this tree grows and shades the plaque placed in memory of Michael Horton, we will be reminded not only of a dear friend, but we will recognize our smallness and finiteness. Trees remind us to “number our days” because they may live for centuries after our lives on Earth have ended. Thus, tree planting can be an unselfish act when completed with the intention of serving future generations. Furthermore, trees serve the rest of creation through absorption of carbon dioxide, pollutants, dust, damaging winds, and unwanted sounds.

Acts of creation care take on eternal significance and become acts of worship and faith when combined with a servant spirit toward our friends, neighbors, and the Earth. And with the psalmist, we can exclaim:

Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice;
Let the sea roar, and all it contains;
Let the field exult, and all that is in it.
Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy
Before the LORD, for He is coming,
For He is coming to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness
And the peoples in His faithfulness. – Psalm 96:11-13