When in Texas

News blues

A thought-provoking article written by evangelical pastor

I don't believe in editing information from my daughters, from the churches where I served as an evangelical pastor, from my students or from my family and friends. I never understood when people were unwilling to engage with material that threatened their own point of view. Unfortunately for my fellow Christians, this is a major part of church history and the current Christian culture. This close-minded approach has been on full display during this pandemic of the unvaccinated.

Read “Evangelicals, science and the vaccine: Refusal is built on deep-seated fear” >> 

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Reporting from Texas on the Houston border with Galveston County, where rates of Covid infection are high, masks are invisible and unprotected people are everywhere. COVID-19 hospitalizations approach a peak in the US as Delta variant spreads. Patients are younger, and disparities across race and ethnicity persist as hospitalizations soar

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Despite last year’s lessons from the motorcycle rally in Sturgis, South Dakota, a repeat this year: “Sturgis Rally Is What a Vaccine-Era Coronavirus Superspreader Event Looks Like” 
(More below on Sturgis fallout….)

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Monkey see, monkey do.
I’m visiting family in Texas, and chagrined as I am to admit it, I’m following local protocol and not wearing a mask every time I venture into the community.
Friday night we went to dinner in a crowded, Texas-style restaurant – that is, large, crowded, full of parents and kids and a busy, crowded, outdoor play area for kids.
This morning, Sunday, we opted for an IHOP for breakfast. Smaller venue but still busy and full of unmasked patrons. Servers and staff wore chin covers rather than masks.
I feel embarrassed by my action – or lack of action. But I am “in touch” with my embarrassment, even have come to terms with it. It’s called “when in Texas do as Texans do”. I pray that I live to regret this attitude.
I plan to be tested for Covid when I return to work on Tuesday.
Testing. Better late than never? Or too late to do anything about it?
Yes, of course, I’m vaccinated, but that does not mean I’m not also one of the stupidly, willfully blind following the stupidly, willfully blind.

Heck, in South Africa, where snow is falling - an extraordinary though not unheard of event - even the snow-people wear masks. 

 Pray for this sinner in Texas (who knows better…)
I should have more compassion for a couple of people I know at the marina where I moor my houseboat. They schlepped their motorcycles to Sturgis to participate in the rally. (See link in News blues section.) I just got notice that they’ve come down with Covid and been abed for the past two weeks.
On the bright side, Hurricane Ida, in its headlong rush for Louisiana, passed by this area of Texas. Lots of lightning and thunder last night and power when down for about an hour in the early hours of the morning, but no further flooding or hurricane mayhem.
Pray for Louisiana, too.