God's not dead, no! He's Alive

God’s not dead, No! He is alive
God’s not dead, No! He is alive
God’s not dead, No! He is alive.
I feel it in my hands
I feel it in my feet
I can feel it all over me!
 
As I write this blog on the cusp of Easter weekend, the above words of an action chorus from Sunday School days are firmly lodged in my mind. It’s Maundy Thursday today, the day just before Good Friday. I grew up in a church where Maundy Thursday was observed with a somber evening service to commemorate the Incarnate Christ’s final night on earth – which Jesus spent with his disciples over a last supper, was sold off to the religious authorities by one of them, sweated blood while wrestling to surrender his will to that of his Heavenly Father, and was dragged off like a criminal, placed before a kangaroo court, and unjustly tortured.  
 
The dark proceedings would crescendo and climax the following day with the Lord hoisted on a wooden cross atop a skull-shaped hill known as Golgotha, outside Jerusalem. The disciples would then endure a torrid twilight zone-like Saturday, not quite knowing what to expect, before the life of God exploded with resurrection power on Sunday, to the tune of “God’s not dead, no! He’s alive!”
 
Whether by choice or circumstance, many folks unfortunately remain stuck in that long weekend – dark Thursday, not-so-good Friday, and hopeless Saturday – and completely miss out on resurrection Sunday, the arrival of the spiritual spring. For them, God either stayed dead or has been completely out of sight and mind. I get the sneaky suspicion that for many people, this prolonged season of pandemic – along with economic privation, racial prejudice, and divisive politics – has felt exactly like that: an extended time of pain, depression, and suffering where God seemed nowhere to be found. “God is asleep at the wheel, and humanity is locked in the trunk,” as a character from Grey’s Anatomy, the ABC primetime medical drama, once put it. 
 
For me, it’s been the exact opposite! True, the pandemic has been horrendous, along with the economic hardship and the racial and political divisiveness that have brought so much hurt and grief to many. It’s been a difficult year for international student ministry; it’s been a tough year, period. And yet in the midst of all of that, we have seen God moving and working mightily! I’m reminded of the Lord’s assurance to us from Isaiah 43:18-19:
 
“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”
 
God has been birthing new things, like facilitating ISI’s turn to digital/online platforms for reaching and connecting with not only international students here in the States, but also with returnees around the world! Despite their trying circumstances, these students and returnees are pressing into God rather than running from him! Instead of being in a hard place financially, God has kept ISI solvent through the timely gifts given by the amazing partners and supporters of the ministry! When our tried-and-tested ways of conducting ministry got stymied by nationwide lockdowns, God led us by ways we had not known and guided us along unfamiliar paths (Isaiah 42:16). God’s not dead but very much alive, and I feel him through the loving kindness demonstrated by and through the Body of Christ. 
 
Indeed, the pandemic has led me to ponder that last part of Isaiah 43:19, I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.  In other words, how can we see God making a way in the wilderness and creating streams in the wasteland unless we are in those arid places? 
Difficult as the year has been, God did not make a wrong turn, but he placed us exactly where he wanted us. And so, like the jackals and owls (in Isaiah 43:20-21), we honor the LORD and proclaim his praise for having kept us safe, secure, and flourishing!
 
God’s not dead, No! He’s alive!