Proverbs 16:9 (New International Version) 
In their hearts, humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.  

Ever since the coronavirus crisis struck the United States in mid-March, the first impression I had felt was that all the plans we set up wouldn't be possible without God's permission. Even before this unprecedented situation, it was true that we prayed for good weather and other routine factors for every event we planned and for successful results. But now, with an international pandemic, we have experienced a very striking reality that we need to change our way of living from top to bottom. 

For me, I had to cancel one of my big projects of celebrating my full year of music ministry at Central with my church choir members, the whole church family, and many music lovers in our community with our first public concert on May 3rd.  It was a big disappointment to me, but I could not even feel the pain because I had to start working to carry on my duty in a new way as your director of music ministries in this unusual situation.  All of our staff are also in the same spirits as we have started working together to prepare our ministries in this new environment. We should be flexible, innovative, and humble before God. 

Matthew 18:20 (NIV)
For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them. 

During these challenging times, though, there have been lots of opportunities I have found to appreciate that I have not experienced much before. I appreciate that we have the technologies that make it possible for us to gather virtually. We have had our staff meetings, music committee meetings, and our Sunday services through this technology.  Of course, on-site meetings and worship services cannot be perfectly replaced by these online services. But, I couldn't imagine what we would do if we didn't have these alternatives. All of our on-line morning devotions have been shared with staff, choir members, and even someone who served at Central in the past. Now, we've extended our concept of gathering from physical to virtual meetings. Also, I have enjoyed more conversations with people through all phone calls, emails, and cards recently. Obviously, we missed each other more while meetings in person become much rare these days.  

Romans 8:28 (NIV)
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to this purpose. 

Our purpose is clear, we work together to glorify our God through our works for each other and all other people we can reach out to share God's abundant love and plans for all of us.  Our work can be varied: serving, praising, praying, and so on.  But as long as our goals and purpose are the same, we are one in body and spirit as the children of God and the disciples of our savior Jesus Christ.  Also, we know we will succeed in the end with God's help through this coronavirus crisis and anything else to come in the future.