Ask RC- How should we respond to the impact of the Coronavirus?

I have no place to speak to the question about how to avoid the virus, or how to protect assets, or whether we ought to gather for public worship, whether this side or that side is minimizing or never letting a crisis go to waste. No, I’m afraid I have very little to offer in the way of practical advice. What I want to offer, however, are some thoughts on thoughtfulness.

1. Pay attention. Whether things get dramatically worse or not, this is a moment that will not soon be forgotten. Don’t let it slide by you without noticing it. Your grandchildren will surely ask you about it. These are strange times indeed. Remembering that will not only bless you and others in future strange times, but will do the same in more normal times.
2. Does your elderly neighbor need toilet paper? It seems to me that if the elderly are at the highest risk they are the ones who should be most careful to stay home. So, how can we help them? Some years ago a big snow, followed by a power outage in my old hometown of Ligonier, prompted one amazing man to offer, for free, to use his snowmobile to pick up prescriptions and deliver them to the housebound. What if we all did this for our neighbors in the name of Jesus?
3. Use this opportunity to remember, and encourage those under your care to remember that our God reigns. That doesn’t mean, of course, that no one we love will get sick or suffer hardship. It does mean that none of what any of us will go through is without meaning. Hardships are often gracious messages sent from God calling us to turn back to Him, to rest in Him, to tear down the idols that we trust in. CS Lewis said that suffering is God’s megaphone. What message is He sending? The same one He always sends- repent and believe the gospel.
4. Learn to be better prepared, without becoming a prepper. Don’t burn through your stockpile of toilet paper. Keep it, for whatever happens in the days to come. I pray that the next time we will all already have, in the immortal words of Elaine Benes, a square to spare. We can all get ourselves in the place where we can wait it out for things to get back to normal when things are not normal. Life on the edge is a great goad to learn to live with a little margin in our lives.
5. Devote yourself to prayer. That time you would normally spend watching last night’s basketball highlights is now open on your calendar. Why not commit it to deepening your relationship with your Maker, your Redeemer, your Friend? You know, on things that actually matter. To put it another way, when the lights go out, it’s always best to burn first your wood, hay and stubble.

That’s the sum of my counsel. I am laboring to take it myself.