Flu

Musings, Monday Edition

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While it’s not H1N1, I do have a bad chest cold, so I was down all day Sunday.  I missed church, which meant that happened twice this month. Highly unusual.

So I kick off this Monday morning with a variety of musings, the first being health related…

Think Charlton Heston in The Omega Man: The federal government said they would have 120 million doses of H1N1 flu vaccine on hand. Turns out they only had 11 million. I don’t know about you, but that inspires no confidence at all. I mean, if the feds were publicly traded company that reported sales figures that were only 9 percent of what they claimed, the SEC would shut ’em down and send the principals to jail.

Where’s the holy water!?: H1N1 pretty much blew through my area like an Ebonite Gyro hurled by Mark Roth, knocking down kids like bowling pins (though it seems to have left adults over 40 largely unscathed). Yet for all its supposed intensity, most every parent I have heard from was startled by how mild this “pandemic to end all pandemic” viruses was. Its virulence was solely in its communicability, not in its punch. Meanwhile, we’re now hearing that the vaccine will not be available in any substantial amount in our area for another few weeks. By then, everyone will have had it. Oh well.

The undead walk among us: Todd Bentley of Lakeland “Revival” fame and his new best friend Rick Joyner held a coming out party for the latest Mrs. Bentley. Bene D posts the extraordinary (and worthy) fisking by Rick Hiebert under “Sorry about the Adultery. Please Send Us Money.” Anyone feeling the 28 Days Later restoration vibe on all this?

Dabbling in the malevolent arts: If anyone out there has had experience using CSS3, the “@font-face” command, OpenType fonts, and converting between OpenType and TrueType, drop me a line or leave a comment. And if you know of any WordPress themes that use CSS3, let me know.

Stake through the heart: Churches that die and the people who pastor them. (HT: Peyton)

Mesmerism: Anyone who actually understand the pluses and minuses of Ohio State Issue 2 and its possible impact on small. organic farms such as mine, please enlighten me. The scares from both sides have gotten out of control and left yours truly utterly confused.

Demonic feline devours deacon: The Toys R Us pre-Christmas catalog arrived in the mail this weekend, generating insatiable lust in the hearts of preteens everywhere. Notable for their excess were the $329 pink Cadillac Escalade and $649 dune buggy kid cars. I’m sorry, but considering the state of the world today, if you’re a Christian and you buy something like that for your kid this Christmas, that roaring lion you’ve been warned about just had you for a snack.

Land of the Giants : Speaking of snacks, wouldn’t it be great to open a packaged foodstuff and exclaim in all honesty, “Wow, they’re making them bigger than they used to”?

Dead, buried, and forgotten already: Saw the commentary of all commentaries at my local Kroger: a cart filled with closeout and heavily discounted Michael Jackson souvenirs. There’s s stark lesson there, folks.

Nature red in tooth and claw:  They were hiding the kiddies’ eyes in Paul Brown Stadium yesterday. What brutality! Bengals 45, Bears 10. Cedric Benson had 186 yards rushing against his former team. Even a guy like me who doesn’t follow sports will follow that human interest story.

The Pestilence That Stalks in Darkness

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He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler. You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You will only look with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked. Because you have made the LORD your dwelling place— the Most High, who is my refuge— no evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague come near your tent. For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion and the adder; the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot. “Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name. When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.”
—Psalms 91:1-16 ESV

With “bird flu” now in Romania and Turkey, knocking on the gates of Europe, the HN51 virus is poised to mutate into Tamiflu chemical compositionsomething far worse than the bird-to-human disease that it now is.

We should be praying, folks. This flu kills half the people it infects.

Should HN51 and its variant, HN52, turn into a human-to-human transmitted disease, a world of hurt could be coming our way. It’s fully resistant to two of the anti-virals that previously mitigated the disease slightly (amantadine and rimantadine) and is showing increasing resistance to oseltamivir, more commonly known as Tamiflu.

It surprises me that more Christians are not discussing this global threat. If we believe in the power of God through prayer, do we believe that God can halt this disease before any more people die, and especially before it makes a leap from bird-to-human to human-to-human transmission, as so many influenza strains typically do?

Why the silence? I believe that a lot of Christians don’t believe that God will protect us from disease if we abide in Him. Even if we did not believe that at some point, we better believe and be praying to that effect now.

Father God, we pray in the name of Jesus that you would show us mercy. By your great strength and supremacy over all that is, mitigate the effects of this influenza so that it does not result in a pandemic. We pray that you would not only halt its spread, but render it harmless to us as it mutates over generations. We lift Europe and Asia now to you, Lord, that you would watch over the people there and keep them safe in your arms. Your people are petitioning you now that You spare us this threat and the grief it would cause. Be our shield and our defender, Father. May all who put their trust in You be spared from the pestilence that comes in the darkness, now and in days to come. For your glory Lord, we pray these things. Amen.