Unprecedented to Unwavering

‘These are unprecedented times,’ is the theme of the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic.  ‘Unprecedented’ belongs in front of ‘profit’ and ‘blessing’ and ‘excellence,’ not ‘need’ and ‘loss’ and certainly not ‘pandemic,’ right?  

Unprecedented means there’s no model (literally ‘without something before’). In this context, that means a global pandemic at the speed and scale of which only the prophets have foretold.  There is no legal model nor financial tool nor contingency plan that account for this.  

Admiral Thad Allen was the Commander of the U.S. Coast Guard during Hurricane Katrina and led the government’s response. Years after, I heard Admiral Allen give a speech at a conference I attended.  In his keynote, he shared that early in the response, the government chose the ‘hurricane’ model for its response and responded as it should have, but it wasn’t working.  Once on the ground, Admiral Allen saw a landscape of destruction, despite its cause of water and not bombs, so the strategy shifted to the ‘weapons of mass destruction’ model response and the effort began to change. 

As people, we look for a model for our experience. Models provide an example of what we’re supposed to do and reassurance that we’re not alone; that someone has come before us.  But what do we do when there is no model?  What do we do when there is no precedence? 

And I wonder what it matters.  I mean it matters a lot, but like initial response to Hurricane Katrina, what if we’re looking for the wrong model. What if the questions we’re asking have unknowable answers? 

What if our search for ‘precedence’ shifted to ‘assurance?’  ‘Unprecedented’ is unknowable. Yet, we do know a lot.  I know a lot.

I know my wife and kids love me.

I know the face of death and his friends. 

I know days of plenty and days without. 

I know that whenever this ends, things will never be ‘back to normal.’

I know that this was foretold in the front half of the Scriptures.

I know that the back half of Scripture tells us how all of this ends. 

I know that, in the face of ‘unprecedented,’ I have unwavering assurance in what I do know, in Whom I know.