Facemasks & Hiking at Picnic Point
Who would have guessed that someday, when we take a hike with friends, we would all need to cover our faces like we're about to rob a convenience store!? Ah, the innocent days before 2020 hit us all like a ton of reality bricks! With all seriousness, we are now navigating the uncharted social waters of if and when to wear masks, how close we can stand when talking with friends, how to respond when somebody offers a hug or handshake, and a million other ethical dilemmas we've never faced before. We had all just decided we didn't need to wear masks outdoors on this hike - if we would all just stay six feet apart - when another international family showed up with a baby, mother-in-law, and everyone in the family wearing facemasks. So, in order to not be a stumbling block to anyone else, the rest of us quickly followed suit and scrambled to put our masks on. We had a nice hike on UW property out to Picnic Point, a penninsula popular for picnics and hikes for hundreds of years (or thousands, claims one stone memorial on the trail). We had some great conversations with our international friends about the balance, and often struggle, between faith and science.
Please keep us all in prayer as we have some international friends who would like to resume face-to-face in-person Bible discussions and classes, and some internationals who are not comfortable with returning to in-person meetings at all, and who wish to continue everything by Zoom video-conferencing software via the internet. These are circumstances we've never had to figure out before, so please seek the Lord with us for guidance in these sensitive transitions.