{"id":843,"date":"2020-05-19T07:00:36","date_gmt":"2020-05-19T14:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cox-net.com\/prayer_blog\/?p=843"},"modified":"2020-05-19T07:00:36","modified_gmt":"2020-05-19T14:00:36","slug":"covid-19-perspective-part-iii-social-distancing-and-discouragement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cox-net.com\/prayer_blog\/?p=843","title":{"rendered":"COVID-19 Perspective Part III: Social Distancing and Discouragement"},"content":{"rendered":"

I am discouraged with social distancing and quarantines. I have spent a good amount of time pondering if my discouragement is appropriate. In the grand scheme of things, I am very blessed. Many people have been able to keep supporting us through COVID-19. Donna has been transfered to the College of Engineering at the University of North Texas and is working in their recruiting office; so she still has a job. All but one of my kids has been able to keep working through COVID-19. We are all healthy. I have made some significant headway on a research project (more about this coming soon). There is much for which to be thankful.<\/p>\n

Had everything gone to plan, I would have returned home from teaching at Africa Theological Seminary in Kenya yesterday. I love teaching along with enjoying researching and writing. Although because of the way things worked out in 2017,1<\/a><\/sup> I only spend four months a year in Kenya teaching and eight months researching, writing and doing development work. When I miss two months of the thing I love and only get to do it four months out of the year,2<\/a><\/sup> in addition to having no idea when I will get back to Kenya, it is discouraging.<\/p>\n

Given I remain thankful for my blessings, I think it is OK to be discouraged about not being able to do what God has gifted me to do and what I love to do. So here’s to everyone discouraged with social distancing: May we remember our blessings and may the time of unrestricted reunions come quickly.<\/p>\n

Notes:<\/h2>\n

1<\/a><\/sup>In 2017 after waiting for 18 months, my Kenya work permit was not renewed and I moved back to the USA. For those who do not know this story the following blogs will help fill in the missing pieces:
\nWork Permit Update: https:\/\/www.cox-net.com\/prayer_blog\/?p=682<\/a>
\nUpdated: https:\/\/www.cox-net.com\/prayer_blog\/?p=686<\/a>
\nMoving to the USA: https:\/\/www.cox-net.com\/prayer_blog\/?p=691<\/a>
\nLetter from President of ICM about the Cox Family: https:\/\/www.cox-net.com\/prayer_blog\/?p=700<\/a><\/p>\n

2<\/a><\/sup> This is roughly speaking. I do teach a Sunday School class and have other opportunities here and there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am discouraged with social distancing and quarantines. I have spent a good amount of time pondering if my discouragement is appropriate. In the grand scheme of things, I am very blessed. Many people have been able to keep supporting us through COVID-19. Donna has been transfered to the College of Engineering at the University […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-prayer-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cox-net.com\/prayer_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cox-net.com\/prayer_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cox-net.com\/prayer_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cox-net.com\/prayer_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cox-net.com\/prayer_blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=843"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cox-net.com\/prayer_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":844,"href":"https:\/\/www.cox-net.com\/prayer_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843\/revisions\/844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cox-net.com\/prayer_blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cox-net.com\/prayer_blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cox-net.com\/prayer_blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}