I think I want to start wearing a medical mask – you know, the kind of mask doctors and nurses wear when they do surgery.

There are lots of people who wear these masks outside the hospital. In some countries it’s as common for people to wear them on subways, transit and on crowded streets as it is not to. 

There’s a part of me, however, that doesn’t like them at all. It always seems like people are hiding something. When you can’t see someone’s face, you wonder what they are thinking or what they are hiding behind that mask.

But now I’m having a change of thought on the matter.

Traveling can wreak havoc on your health: you stay in hotels, your schedule is not conducive to getting the proper rest, and you are around a lot of other people in close proximity. 

If you get a little run down and someone has a bug, you’re bound to get it too.

At the beginning of the conference we attended, I noticed a few people who were coughing and sniffling. But as the conference went on, there were more and more of them.

During one meeting, I sat in front of a guy who I thought was coughing up a lung. I didn’t want to look; I just put my collar up and moved at the break. 

By the end of our time, it was very noticeable the number of sickies. Then as we moved on from the conference for a week of traveling, my wife, Lily, started to show symptoms.

We flew from Greece to Italy and on the plane there were about five people who were wearing those medical masks. 

For the first time, I was a little envious of them. I thought about asking one of them if they had a spare they could lend me for the flight, but I resisted.

I started thinking about how many people on the plane might be sick and all those germs being filtered around and around in the cabin of the plane.

Lily and I weren’t sitting in the same row so I knew I wasn’t going to get sick from her. But the combined germs of everyone on the plane was really getting to me.

I wished I had a neck scarf that I could put up over my nose … but then I thought that might make me look like some kind of a criminal threat on the plane. 

Maybe it was just as well that I didn’t have one. 

I’ve visited people in the hospital and, at times, have had to put a mask on, either for my sake or theirs. So I know what it’s like to wear them.  

They are uncomfortable and, as you breathe and talk, a little condensation develops under them. Even your voice is muffled. It’s not a nice experience. 

But on this trip, I’d do almost anything to keep from getting sick … even sleeping on the far edge of the bed from my sick wife.

Here’s the thing: When we fear something, we take measures and do things to alleviate our fear. God is loving and has provided salvation for us, but He is also to be feared. Often we don’t fear God as we should; we just take advantage of His love. Maybe it’s because we don’t visually see the results of not fearing Him. But make no mistake – we will all face Him one day … that fact should motivate us to take measures so that on that day we will have nothing to fear.

That’s Life! 

Paul

Question: What do you fear right now and what measures are you taking? Leave your comments below.