Family Life

07.15.20 | Martha Manikas-Foster

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Everyone’s vulnerable to COVID-19. But the woman ahead of us at the ice cream stand could be especially at risk. So could the man in the grocery store aisle. That’s one of the reasons we’re asked to wear masks in public.

“We might just look like your neighbor or your friend, or your bagger at the grocery store,” says author and blogger Michelle Van Loon. “But we are everywhere.”

Van Loon is an author and blogger who is among those most vulnerable to COVID-19. Just a few years ago she learned that her immune system doesn’t work.

“I have no barrier to stop a germ from coming into my body. There’s no first line of defense.”

While the pandemic has limited all of our lives, the impact has been greatest for those most at-risk for developing severe illness. Van Loon knows that during these times everyone, especially those who follow Jesus, can show concern for “the least of these” scattered among us by the way we treat everyone.

“And if there’s one thing that this particular moment in time has shown us, it’s that there are vulnerable people everywhere,” she says. “They’re not just in nursing homes and hospitals. But they might be delivering your mail.”

Listen to our 18-minute podcast to hear how a focus on the Lord’s Prayer might help those who feel limited during the pandemic, reasons to connect with the most isolated, why Van Loon thinks she’ll never be asked to present a TED talk, and how God might develop us into more mature disciples through these difficult times.

You can listen by choosing the LISTEN or DOWNLOAD option above.

Learn more about Michelle Van Loon and her new book “Becoming Sage: Cultivating Maturity, Purpose, and Spirituality at Midlife.”