There is no other way to describe it.
Think of it like a basketball Game. There are four quarters in a basketball game, just like there are four years that I plan to spend in university. You have made it through the first three quarters and have built up a a comfortable lead. There are just 3 minutes left in the fourth quarter, the ball is in your hands, you know you only need a couple more points and you you will be able to cost in to a win.
All of a sudden, the whistle blows.What you are hearing you can hardly believe, but it must be true.
YOU HAVE TO FINISH THE GAME FROM HOME.
This is what it felt like to get the news that because of the COVID-19 virus the rest of the semester, my last semester in college, would be completed through the internet from our homes. It's not like it is impossible, but has definitely been difficult. I expected to be able to see my teachers face to face, everything was going to carry on as planned. Until it wasn't.
I imagine this is how the disciples felt when Jesus started talking about how He wasn't going to be around for ever. There would come a time when they could no longer talk to him face to face, they would have to shift the way the learned, how they interacted with each other and with God. They assumed that everything would continue as usual, but Jesus new that there was a great disruption coming for them and so he gave this instruction in John 14,
"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid." - John 14:27
This message rings true in my disruption as well. Jesus reminds me that He has given me something I cannot get from social media, from friends, from basketball, or anything else that is in this world. Jesus promises a peace that surpasses all understanding, a peace that allows all my fear to be drowned out by the love of God. So even when the anxiety, when fear, when difficult times come, I know I can rest in the promise that Jesus got me.
