Today is the one-year anniversary of the pandemic shut down. So many emotional things happened to me during this time. I was recovering from hip surgery. We struggled with the schools being shut down. Zoom was the only face-to-face contact that I had with others. I couldn’t have my wrestling pay-per-view parties. Restaurants were closed. Face mask became all the range by city and state ordinance. Crazy stuff was happening!

My family moved to Sumter, SC last June. A pandemic move is not fun. However, we did have people willing to help us load our truck masked up, which was difficult when you are lifting heavy things. We moved in with my parents so that we could take care of them. Because of this, most of our belongings had to be stored. We had to deal with the dynamics of two families living together.

We moved without me having a job. However, God provided a job at the right time. I started working at Walmart on July 1st. I struggled with this just because I haven’t worked a job with physical labor in 24 years. While working at Walmart, I got sick one day and I had to follow their COVID protocol. I couldn’t afford to be off from work for a week, or so much so, two weeks. I did not have COVID but it took a week to get my results back. I panicked during this time however, God provided. A close friend of mine reached out to several people. Before I knew it, people sent food and money to our house. What a blessing that was. I even had a church that I served at as a Jr. high pastor sent my family a check. God provided in so many ways.

During this time, I began talking to the pastor at Grace Baptist church. Their youth pastor was about to leave and they where searching for new one. While working at Walmart, I interviewed with Westside Christian Academy. In August, I got a call from WCA to offer me the job of being their computer science teacher. I immediately accepted and I resign from Walmart. It was only a part-time gig. I had to find something else to help me supplement my income. I started working for DoorDash delivering food. To my surprise it supplemented enough money for us.

While all of this was going on, I was in serious talk with Grace Baptist. In December they hired me! Praise God for that because youth ministry is in my blood and I was hungry to get back in the saddle again. I mean, I’ll be celebrating my 24th year in youth ministry this coming September.

Moving on to this year. Thing are going great. I did have a little scare. I acquired a blood clot in my leg. Because I previously was hospitalized with a pulmonary embolism in December 2019, they rushed me to get a CT scan. Praise God that I didn’t have one. It was just a superficial clot. But they did discover that, as a result of a fall that I had previously, I cracked my 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th rib. Yay, me. I go all out when I do something.

So why am I writing all of this? I first handily experience the sovereignty and love of God. He looked over me. He provided for my family. He guided our steps. And He showed up at the right time! You may say “there is no God” but you can never say that I didn’t experience this amazing love that God showed.

This is my testimony of how God rescued us and held us during this pandemic. He kept us safe from it. Even while I was working out in public, both Walmart, school, and church, we’ve been safe and COVID free. Praise the Lord that I’ve been vaccinated. My wife gets hers in a few weeks. So, we’ve almost have made it to the finish line, and by finish line, I mean getting vaccinated. My parents have had there’s. We’re still struggling with the school part of this pandemic. But God is faithful and will oversee that. Whatever happens, happens. God is sovereign and there is a reason for that. That’s my story for the last year. May it bless you and encourage you!