Today the U.S.A. has surpassed China and Italy in total numbers of individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 and the statistical charts indicate our numbers will continue to climb exponentially for some time before they begin to level off and decline. Social media this morning is full of encouraging words from the Psalms, prayers, humor–oh, how we need a good laugh–and even word that the World Evangelical Council out of Deerfield, IL has called for a World Day of Prayer and Fasting for Sunday, March 29, 2020 (https://covid19.worldea.org/global-day-of-prayer-fasting/). As I contemplate helping lead on-line worship tomorrow (https://asburymadison.com/livestream) I am drawn once again to Horatio Spafford’s hymn When Peace Like a River.

I’ve always found great comfort in the words and melody of this hymn. My appreciation of this hymn only grew a few years ago when I learned of the inspiring story behind Mr. Spafford and how he came to write this hymn. Such stories are available with a quick search of the Internet with some variations among them but all of them inspiring. Here is one recommended source: https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/history-of-hymns-it-is-well-with-my-soul.

Suffice it to say that Horatio Spafford, a wealthy real-estate financier and attorney in Chicago first suffered the death of his son, then lost his real estate investment in the Great Chicago Fire. But that was not the end of tragedy in his life. He subsequently lost his four daughters to the depths of the Atlantic when their ship collided with another and went down in twelve minutes. He sought to join his grief stricken wife who survived by following across in another ship and as it was near where his daughter’s ship had gone down, penned the words to this great hymn.

This coronavirus pandemic has and will yet visit death to many families here in America and around the globe. I doubt the world will be quite the same when this is over. If there ever was a time for International peace and unity it is now. Our knees should be tender from the extensive time we are on them in prayer for ourselves, our families, our neighbors, nation and for the world. As citizens of the Kingdom of God, fear is not our focus but our one-characteristic must be our peace in the abiding, comforting presence of our Lord, who has promised to never abandon us but to be right beside us eternally. That’s why I like the words of this modern day Psalm.

My prayer is these words will also speak to your soul today and forever. God bless.