As I sit writing this today, our county is in the middle of one of the worst flu outbreaks we’ve been in since we’ve lived here (18 years).  In fact, although Spring Break is next week, our schools closed today for the rest of the week because of so many sick children.  Absences since last week have ranged from 15% to 25% including the first two days of this week.  So quite wisely, the school system sent everyone home to recover and stop the spreading. Flu alerts are posted everywhere, hand washing signs have doubled in restrooms, and hand sanitizers are flying off the shelves.  Doctors offices and the hospital are overflowing with sick to very very sick people.  And yesterday at the drive through I had no less than 20 cars with at least one confirmed child with flu, if not two, just leaving the doctors and getting a treat on the way home.  I personally made at big dent in our hand sanitizer after serving each flu car!

And today, Robert and I had breakfast one county over and then went to his hearing aid store for servicing, and all the talk was about our flu outbreak!  People are stunned and amazed at the rapid pace of the flu spread, and have named it “flutopia” and “flupocalypse”.  It has really captured the attention of thousands, and many precautions are being taken everywhere.

So today, as we were driving to beeakfast, God began to speak to my heart about how this corresponds to the spiritual side of life.  All around me people are fighting back against an unseen enemy, a vicious foe, one who strikes anywhere it chooses.  And even though there are preventions..handwashing, etc..there is no cure..it is inevitable that thousands of people will be affected.  Particularly at risk are those with comprised immune systems, children, and the elderly.

So I thought about this:  what would happen if we all reacted to sin the same way? Can you imagine a community – just one – where every church became alarmed if attendance fell by 15-25% regularly? If we had people talking about that everywhere, including the next county over?  Based on today’s standards, that should happen tomorrow!  People are missing from every church, everywhere, every week, not just for an occasional vacation or sickness, but regularly.  And yet we shrug and say we miss them, but don’t do much about it.And take the efforts to care for the children and elderly.  Far more important than protecting our kids them from flu is protecting them from sin!  We quarantine them when they are sick, but how many are staying home and playing games, watching tv and listening to music that is corrupting their minds and exposing tbeir hearts to all kinds of temptations?  What good is it for them to miss a virus that can harm them physically without acknowledging that the “virus” of sin can ruin them for eternity?  Of course flu can cause even death, and children need to be protected at all costs to prevent that.  But sin causes SPIRITUAL death, which is even more devastating.

The same goes for the elderly.  As a very dear pastor friend told me years ago, gray hair does note mean a person is saved!  I can attest to that by the people I wait on every day.  Unsaved older people ARE at greater risk, too, because their hearts are hardened by years of sinful living.  And those with compromised immune systems..new Christians, those recently delivered from lives of sin, drugs, etc..have less ability to fight off the enemy’s devices because they haven’t grown yet.

So what should we do? A lot!  First, cover ourselves.  Continual handwashing (worship), using sanitizer (confessional prayer), and reading alerts and warnings (God’s Word) will all keep us safe.  Going to the doctor (Jesus) for prevention (regular checkups of our spiritual condition) will ensure even more protection.

And most importantly, we need to always check on the sick!  Going to church will keep us in the know about our brothers and sisters welfare, and will also provide great accountability for our own lives.  But nothing replaces evangelism..telling of God’s grace over and over and over again, to everyone we meet!  After all, if we are going to cheerfully and quickly share hand sanitizers with others (I have seen this everywhere!) then we should tell about Jesus the same way.  Period.  So may we all use this time of widespread illness to let God use us, and to constantly remind us of the world’s REAL sickness, and our duty to stop its spread!

Name (n): 1-a word or set of words by which a person is known; 2-a word or phrase that constitutes the distinctive designation of a person

I know a lot of people, especially at work where hundreds of people come through the drive thru each day.  Unfortunately, I know more of them by face than by name..mostly because the transactions are so fast that we don’t get to that level.  However, we have a new system at our Chickfila now..the Ipad outside ordering..and we ask for a name for each order to help ensure accuracy in handing out food at the window.  The results have been fascinating for me.  I now, of course, know so many more people by name and it does make their visits a lot more fun and personal.  The other revelation has been how many people we have in Moultrie with the same first name!  And I am not talking about John or Mary, names that you would expect to find multiples of.  I am talking at least 12 Hollys…at least 20 Jennifers..and way more Paytons than I could think of!  Dylans rule in the guys category, along with Tylers and Bo/Beaus.

So I became curious and did some research and found out more about names in the United States. Going by first name only, there are 5,117,915 men with the first name John!  Yep, over 5 million!  However, if you add a last name, like Smith, that number goes to 46,911, or roughly one half of the people in any football stadium.  Can you imagine trying to page John Smith in that crowd??  Or for my name, there are 178,439 people named Beth…how many do you know?  It just so happens that I now know about 12 of them, mostly through work, when before I had known one or two at most.  Supposing that 1/3 of the Beths in the USA have blonde hair, I am still one of 59,475.  Still a lot.  Add in brown eye color (the most common) and it lowers slightly to around 45,000. At this point, if you have an issue where you sometimes feel insignificant or invisible, this is NOT good news for you!  Knowing that so many other people share at least your first name, and possibly your last, your hair color, and your eye color, can make you feel lost and unimportant.

So what’s the point?  The point is just this: in today’s world, there are approximately 2.1 billion Christians.  Not over 2.1 billion true followers of Christ, who believe in the Biblical Jesus, but who call themselves Christian.  In real numbers, that is 2,100,000,000.  Of which I am ONE.  Just one.  If you delete those who are probably Christian in name only, even if you took away half, that would still leave 1,050,000,000…does that make my 1 seem any bigger?  Probably not.  So to call yourself Christian doesn’t really, on the surface of worldwide population, seem that amazing.  After all, there are so many other people going by the same name!  And tons of them live in the USA, like me, and a lot live in Georgia, like me, and a lot are Southern Baptist – again like me.  Is there any hope in God’s Kingdom for me to feel special??

The answer is a resounding YES!  Although I may be overwhelmed by the number of people who have my name, or who are also Christians, GOD isn’t!  He is more than capable of knowing each of His children personally and intimately. He never gets one child confused with another, nor does He occasionally lose track of one of us. Even though there are 178,439 people in the country named Beth, He knows ME as the one named Beth W. Tilson, born 1/24/61, who is married to Robert, and lives in Moultrie, Georgia, has blonde hair, who accepted Him at age 8,who works for ChickFilA and is a member of Temple Baptist Church!  Not only that, He knows when I cry, when I am hurt, when I am victorious, and when I am ready to give up.  And although there are 46,911 John Smiths in our country, for each one that knows Him as Lord and Savior, He knows the same about them.

In other words, God knows each follower of His, and He has created each one for a specific purpose and ministry.  He assures us of this in Luke 12:7, where He says, “But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.”  And again in Psalms 139, the psalmist David speaks of God’s incredible presence with us no matter where we go or what we do, and that He has known us since we were in our mother’s wombs.  Because He created us, and then sent His Son to die on a cross for our salvation, so that we could live with Him eternally, we should be constantly assured and comforted that we will NEVER be “just a name” in a sea of thousands of people.  God will never leave or forsake those who have believed in Him, accepted His Son’s death as payment for their sins, and who have entered into a holy relationship with Him.  NEVER.

One final note:  as I searched for how  many people in the USA are named Beth Tilson, I found something startling – there are only TWO.  Me, and one other person. Seriously, you can look it up for yourself (howmanyofme.com).  I was floored.  So there’s not a lot of stress for me in being mistaken for anyone else, except one.  BUT….even if we were side by side in the presence of Jesus, He would STILL know me as my own, unique self.  Isn’t that amazing?  Next time you struggle with insignificance, or unimportance, remember this post…and thank God that He knows you for who you really are!