We are now in a wartime footing in most of the country. Most of us have no idea how to live life there. The things that worked before no longer work. COVID-19 is changing everything.

In peacetime, Dwayne Black lost his son Steve a few weeks ago. Steve was out in the cold Colorado winter at night by himself. He slipped, hit his head, apparently blacked out, and froze to death.

Dwayne is 81 and takes care of a couple of special needs grandchildren on a fixed income. In the last several years not only did Dwayne lose his son, but his wife and daughter. Life has been cruel.

Dwayne was a leader in the community. You'd think that he'd have lots of people helping him pick up the pieces of his life. But that hasn't happened.

The nation is shut down. The virus is doubling every three days. It's wartime and we are trying to be prudent. But in a time like this, so many people need more than prudence, they need courageous love. We as a church are called to that by Jesus. But what does that look like for Dwayne today in Colorado?

We need examples. Examples like David Reyes whose small missional community in town decided to adopt Dwayne and help him to care for his grandchildren. Yesterday they went to Costco and bought them groceries.

Yes, we must be prudent. If we don't self-isolate, the virus will kill so many more. But that's not enough - we need courage as well. We have been schooled in isolation - that comes naturally in America. We know how to hunker down and protect ourselves.

But courage is something many of us know little of. We think it's pointing out flaws in others or standing up for our rights. Jesus spelled out his program for courageous action when he said, "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." (Matt. 5)

His program looks unlike anything we've ever seen. It tells us to press into pain - to touch it and heal it. We don't see that in enough of our churches. We teach our young people to be consumers and then are disappointed when they look at life through that lens.

We are going to get through this and we are going to beat the virus. But it is giving us the opportunity to learn lessons that we need. It can teach us what it means to love courageously.

May we be good students. There will be many more challenges in the years ahead. We need to meet them with courageous love.