Quarantine: Sacrificial Love, In Action, Before our Eyes

(This message by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, was written for Carl Chinn's weekend message, to his Faith Based Security Network: FBSNAmerica.com).

Quarantine: Sacrificial Love, In Action, Before our Eyes

By Lt. Col. Dave Grossman

We are in the midst of a pandemic. The mortality rate, for those infected, could be 1%. We pray it is less; it could well be more. 

In Luke 15:3-7, the Bible tells about the “Good Shepherd” who left 99 of his sheep, to rescue one. Jesus says, when he has found his lost sheep, “He carries it on his shoulders, rejoicing. When he comes home, he calls together his friends, his family and his neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’"

This is a powerful model for love. To set everything aside, to willingly sacrifice to save just one precious life! When the Good Shepherd rescues the lost sheep, he rejoices!

Today, 99% are sacrificing to save (perhaps) the 1%. This is love! This is the right thing to do; the Christian thing to do. This is sacrificial love in action, manifesting before our eyes! Indelibly establishing its place in history. We should rejoice for every life saved!

We can tell our grandchildren about the time our whole civilization worked together, setting everything aside, sacrificing to save a small fraction of our population!

Almost 40,000 die from car crashes each year, if nobody drove cars, we could cut that to zero too. No, somewhere along the line, we will say, “Enough” and that is OK! Americans value freedom, even with some cost, and we know suicides and other negative impacts will increase if quarantine goes too long. 

Right now though, something beautiful is happening, and the church should be at the forefront. 

Based on my background and credentials, people ask me what may be coming. One thing I know for sure, is that “preparation” will become much more common. People have become profoundly aware that bad things happen. The police and our government cannot protect us from all danger. More are understanding what the sheepdogs have always known: we must accept personal responsibility for our own safety, and the safety of our loved ones…for our flock and our precious lambs. 

More of our citizens will become "sheepdogs” even if they’ve never heard the term. They will be looking for guidance and training. And this means you, my fellow sheepdogs, are in a growth industry. The world desperately needs what you have to give.

FOOTNOTE: Dave Grossman’s next book, On Spiritual Combat can be preordered on Amazon now. Who knows when the actual print edition will be released, given current circumstances, but he prays that the e-version can be released very soon. He sent me an early manuscript which wraps up the book by saying something I’ve heard him say many times, “One day the sheepdog can finally rest at the feet of the Great Shepherd, and we yearn to hear those words, ‘Well done. thou good and faithful servant.'”