The Fight of our Lives
By Frank T. Shepke
President and CEO of Lutheran Homes of South Carolina
I was always taught and believe that our Lord never gives us more than we can handle and indeed this is a difficult time for all the people of the world with the devastating Novel Corona virus that is sweeping the planet. We are all anxious and scared as we’ve never faced anything quite like this before or hopefully ever again. I also want to tell you about the heroes of our generation who have stepped up to the plate to face this new threat head on. Most of us have not lived through a World War, a Great Depression or the Plagues that have devastated our good earth but this is our time of challenge and call.
As I walked through one of our nursing homes on a beautiful Saturday morning on our first nursing wing to have residents impacted by the COVID-19 devil, all was calm and life was still strong. Our Director of Nursing was there helping deliver meals to our residents and encouraging our team as if nothing was different except for our masks, gloves and other unfortunate changes that stem from this terrible virus. In our dietary department, our cooks and dietary aides were cheerful and upbeat making the meals to nourish us all with the attitude that we will make this work.
On our other units, our nurses, aides and support staff were resolved and confident providing comfort and care to our residents and doing the job that they were meant to do. Life changes with this virus but it does not mean the end and for those who may suffer and leave our good world we will continue to offer our prayers for salvation and eternal peace.
But for the rest of us, the time is here to fight. Like the medics in all of our wars that ran into battle to help the wounded without fear, without a weapon but just their desire to save, our entire team knew that we were here now to help others in their most dire time. The enemy this time doesn’t have bullets or bombs but is an invisible menace that we can and will beat back into to the ground.
I am asking you all to remember this time as not our darkest hour but as our finest hour; the hour when we all were called to fulfill our destiny of help and support to those in need when they needed us the most. I guarantee that if we fulfill this destiny, the reward will not only be that of this earth, but of our Kingdom to come. I am so proud of our team and I know we will all come together and rise above this as we are destined to do. We have had our internal task force preparing for this virus for many months now; please pray for all our staff, residents, families and our ministry. We so appreciate the support we have had and continue to need from all of you in waging this battle which we will win. May God bless and keep you all and let’s win this fight of our lives.
