AUDIO BURSTWeb Radio Today   

Burst 15.1  08.07.20

Courage Conquers Fear

 

Courage Conquers Fear

by Skip Orem | Web Radio Today

TRANSCRIPT

15.1 BURST 08.21.20 TRANSCRIPT

Skip Orem (00:12):

All of the 15 episodes of the Web Radio Today podcast since last May, have been recorded in the middle of this COVID-19 pandemic. While the main focus of this podcast is health, and fitness, and faith, I’ve kind of stayed away from talking about COVID-19, well, because

everything about it right now seems to have some kind of political underpinning, but I’ve decided to finally talk about it on the podcast because I’m confused. Well, I’m confused by the fear that this whole COVID situation is causing right now, and how that fear alone can actually impact our health, and I’m going to come at this from the basis of my faith.

Skip Orem (01:00):

As I mentioned at the top of the podcast, if you don’t want to listen to this part of the episode, after all, many people are just sick and tired of this whole COVID thing, just hit the stop   button right now. You won’t miss anything else on the podcast, and we’ll talk again next week on episode 16.

Skip Orem (01:40):

I came across an article a few weeks ago. Actually, it’s an article that has been discussed on a couple of other podcasts that I listened to, and I did mention the article briefly on episode 13. It appeared in the National Catholic Register in mid-July, and I’ll link to it again in the show notes for this episode at webradiotoday.com. It’s written by Monsignor Charles Pope, and it’s titled Coronavirus Stalks in the Darkness, But Do Not Be Afraid.

Skip Orem (02:18):

I’m going to quote and paraphrase very liberally from the article, but I encourage you to read it. Psalms 91:5-6 says, “You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, not the plague that destroys at midday.”

Skip Orem (03:16):

We all know this coronavirus, it’s a serious medical problem, but it’s not the first time that we’ve dealt with this kind of stuff. What’s different today, as Monsignor Pope says, is the collective paralysis that’s brought about by our fear of COVID. As Christians, we don’t need to be afraid. Hebrews 2:14-15, “Now since the children of God have flesh and blood in common, Jesus also shared these, so that through His death, He might destroy the one who was holding the power of death, that is the devil.”

Skip Orem (03:57):

Then, verse 15, that’s so important, “And free those who were held in slavery all their lives by the fear of death.” We are so afraid of this disease, that it really is holding us in slavery because of our fear. Many people have made a decision that they’re not going to go on living their normal lives until there’s a vaccine. We’ve lost our courage.

Skip Orem (04:55):

Some folks are just cowering in fear, afraid to go to the store, afraid to go back to school, afraid to go back to work.

Skip Orem (05:05):

The Web Radio Today Podcast is all about faith and health, and our listeners, in our 60’s and 70’s and beyond, we’re older, and if we believe what the media is telling us, this COVID thing can be real serious, even cause death, when an older person gets it, so we have to be really careful. I wear a mask whenever I’m in contact with people in public. I keep my hands sanitize, and I don’t do anything stupid, but I’ll tell you this, I’m not afraid of other people. I don’t call them out for not wearing a mask. Human interaction, it’s a joyous and rewarding part of life.

Skip Orem (05:49):

Human interaction is important in staying healthy and fighting diseases. I go to the store, as I said. My wife and I, we’ve been out to restaurants several times. We went to Florida on vacation. I even had contact. I’m really brave, I even had contact with a couple of my grandchildren,

Skip Orem (06:24):

and I’m going back to church for the first time this weekend.

I don’t know about you, everybody, but I have to do these things to live my life. Monsignor Pope says in his article that he cannot imagine anything, anything more demonic than the fear of having contact with other people. Satan, he wants us to fear and even detest one another. Everybody, won’t you agree that there are other costs here? Don’t you think that there’s more to life than just the worry about catching COVID?

Skip Orem (07:04):

People, they’re losing their jobs, their savings, and it’ll take years before we even determine the damage that canceling schools may do to our children.

Skip Orem (07:31):

Suicides, abuse, other problems are being caused by our overreaction to this virus. How many people died or are dealing with more difficult cancer battles right now because tests, and biopsies, and surgeries were postponed? When this virus first hit, weddings, funerals, church gatherings, family get-togethers, reunions, they’ve all been canceled. Isn’t there a cost to that, even a health cost?

Skip Orem (08:17):

I find it strange, because we’ve all been through this stuff before without putting our lives on hold. Many of our listeners, if you’re my age of, the front part of the baby boomers, we went to school during the polio epidemic, and polio specifically attacked children. I had the Hong Kong flu in 1968, and I remember how terrible I felt for a few days. Total deaths, by the way, from the Hong Kong flu were close to the COVID numbers, and also, just like COVID, in 1968 with the Hong Kong flu, older folks with medical conditions were at a higher risk. The thing though about 1968, and I’m pretty sure every other epidemic, pandemic, cholera, smallpox, tuberculosis, polio, was that everyone understood that life needed to go on.

Skip Orem (09:21):

My favorite quote from the Monsignor’s article, “It takes courage to live,” and people at that time had courage.

Skip Orem (09:40):

Isaiah 41:10, “Fear not, for I am with you. Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, and I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”

Skip Orem (10:16):

I fought cancer this year. That verse gave me strength and I was never afraid. Let me repeat, Isaiah 41:10, “Fear not, for I am with you.”

“Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.” You know what, everybody? I can’t, you can’t, we can’t even utter the phrase, “Do not be afraid.” We can’t say that today, but we’ll be called out for being insensitive or irresponsible, so right now, I guess, we just need to follow the recommended precautions.

Skip Orem (11:00):

In most cases, we don’t have any choice. Much of the stuff, it’s being mandated, and again, quoting directly from Monsignor Pope’s article, “Some will call me insensitive for even mentioning this truth, but our parents, our grandparents, our more distant ancestors went forth daily into a world that was far more dangerous than anything we’ve ever experienced. They lived life, accepting both its blows and its blessings. What about us today? Is God no longer with us?”

Skip Orem (11:41):

“Are sickness and death the worst fate, or is crippling fear a far more painful and dehumanizing sentence? Isn’t there more to life than just not dying?” I think fear is a far more serious ailment than COVID-19. I understand the fear of dying. As Christians though, we have eternal life ahead of us. This life though, here on earth, created by God, it’s pretty special too, and I’m in no hurry to leave everything on earth, every individual created by God, every tree, the sky, the ocean, the way we interact with each other.

Skip Orem (12:31):

With joy we have with those who are especially close to us, it’s all such a blessing. God gave us this life, and there is more to living than just not dying. For the Web Radio Today Podcast, I’m Skip Orem. Bye, everybody.

REFERENCED ARTICLE: “Coronavirus Stalks in the Darkness, But Do Not Be Afraid”, by Msgr. Charles Pope