Today is usually one of my favorite days of the year. A new baseball season was suppose to open today, but has been delayed because of the virus. Opening day means the coming of spring. It means more sunshine and warmer temperatures. It means guys playing ball on freshly mown grass. It means sitting with friends, watching a game, eating a hot dog fresh off the grill.

One of my favorite ways to relax is watching a baseball game. I got started early. My mother said when I was about three months old my dad was watching the World Series and had me on his lap, facing the TV. Mom was doubtful I was actually watching the game but Dad insisted I was following the game and enjoying it. Baseball is about memories of watching games with my dad.

In some ways baseball is about hope. We made it through the cold dark days of winter. The opening of baseball season is a hopeful sign that spring with its promise of new growth is on its way.

Unfortunately today isn’t opening day, but that doesn’t mean hope has been delayed or canceled. The hope Jesus gives isn’t postponed by a virus. Nothing in all creation is able to cancel the hope of Christ. “… we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all” (I Timothy 4:10).

Our hope does not rest in government leaders or modern medicine. Our hope is in our Savior, the Lord Jesus, who died and rose again and lives forever. “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure” (Hebrews 6:19). Worry and fear has caused many to feel insecure and unsettled. The Lord gives a hope that remains solid and gives peace, no matter what is going on in the world. A virus may infect our body, but we have the sure hope that God is able to protect our body. No virus is too hard or complicated for God to deal with. We have the firm hope that, by faith in Christ, our soul is safe in God’s hands, both now and for all eternity.

Even though today is not baseball’s opening day, and even though there are viruses and dangers around us, today is still a day overflowing with hope. Every day opens with the good news that Jesus loves us and is watching over us. Jesus lives and Jesus is the Lord of all.

John Dyrnes attended both seminary and medical school before heading to Madagascar as a medical missionary in 1900. He worked at healing bodies from the many diseases found in that tropical climate and healing souls with the good news of Jesus. He served in Madagascar with the Lutheran Free Church mission until his death in 1943. During those 43 years he only had two furloughs when he made return visits to America. In 1906 he married Sarah Johnson, who was an aunt of Ruth Tollefson, the wife of our congregation’s former pastor, Hans Tollefson.

During his first year in Madagascar Dyrnes had the first of seven painful attacks of the often deadly blackwater fever. He recovered but soon after his house burned, taking with it his medical books, instruments and supplies. Eventually friends in the U.S. sent him replacement supplies. Often, however, Dyrnes had to learn to make do, improvise and make some of his own medical instruments.

One of Dyrnes’ blackwater attacks came in 1907. It caused him to lose for a time the ability to speak or move, but his sight and hearing was still fine and his mind was clear. He heard the ones who were caring for him say that it appeared the end was near. Dyrnes kept repeating to himself the words of Psalm 23: “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.” A profound sense of happiness and security came over him. He was content and confident that one of two things would happen to him: either he would live and get to continue the work he loved to do, or he would go and be with the Lord, which would be even better.

It is the coronavirus and not blackwater fever that is attacking bodies in our day. We face a different disease but we do so with the same faith and hope that Dr. Dyrnes had. We trust in the same mighty and loving God who is able to take care of His children. The Lord has promised: “He will cover you with his feathers,and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.You will not fear the terror of night,nor the arrow that flies by day,nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,nor the plague that destroys at midday” (Psalm 91:4-6).

Because God is good and gracious and in control, we don’t fear whatever terror or disease comes along. Sadly, we live in a world that is getting swept up in panic about what might happen. When fear takes control of a life all kinds of terrible things can result. People shy away from serving, get suspicious and relationships get damaged. It is so much better and more peaceful to rest in the truth that God is in control. In Isaiah 8:12 the Lord says, “Do not call conspiracy everything this people calls a conspiracy; do not fear what they fear, and do not dread it.”

The world is in great need of hearing the good news that we don’t have to live in fear. We live in grace and we rest in the love and power of God.