It was the height of the London Blitz, air raids every night. My mother (she was to adopt me a decade and a half later) was giving birth under the glass roof on the top floor of a London hospital. Alone. The staff were in the air raid shelter many floors below. My sister was born safely.

Was this Christian lady afraid? Certainly, although she was made of tough stuff. Part of that tough stuff was a life-long and strong faith in Jesus.

Did being afraid mean she was not trusting Jesus? No – there are some situations where both human fear and supernatural faith will inhabit a person. Up there, looking up through that roof would have been one of them!

Just like today. Instead of the uncertainties of an air raid, we face first and second (and who knows maybe a third wave) not of bombers but of a virus.

But if we pause to take a breath we will remember that Christians have been in desperate situations more often than not.

As ordinary Christians we are in what seems to us to be extraordinary times.

There’s a thicket of worrying decisions to make. Being in a high risk group – should I go and teach scripture in the local primary school? Should I go to church which has cautiously re-opened in my state? And everyone seems to have a family member who has taken the test.

But if we pause to take a breath we will remember that Christians have been in desperate situations more often than not.

The diggers in World War One. The Great Depression. The fear of invasion in World War Two. (And some people copped all three of these). The people of Eyam Village who kept the plague to themselves. Luther writing about the plague – and the freedom of conscience about whether to flee. Richard Baxter, a puritan pastor, giving advice on whether to follow government instructions – yes, if it is about general safety. Way back to New Testament times.

For ordinary everyday Christians there’s always been challenges. Maybe we forgot this.

There are Scriptures that can be precious to us at this time. Some of mine are:

Colossians 1:15- 17, which reminds us that Jesus in is in charge of the created order: He is before all things and  In him all things hold together.

John 3:17, he wants to save not condemn: For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

1 John 3:1 nothing can change who we are: See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!