“*If the Lord wills*, we will live and do this or that” (James 4:15). The Resurrection of Our Lord was curious for me this year… I had been instructing my five Iranian catechumens for months and we were looking forward to me baptizing them and also confirming another adult on Easter Sunday. As I was doing last-minute prep on Saturday afternoon, Lula and I heard one siren after another outside. We peered out of our 9th-floor living room window: the intersection down below had been blocked off. I counted at least 15 firetrucks, ambulances, and police cars surrounding an articulated public transit bus, its hazard lights flashing. Small groups of people were huddled together—hugging, and crying. A small gray tarp marked a spot on the pavement, to the right and rear of the bus. As we soon discovered on news websites, a family was about to cross the street when for some reason their seven-year-old darted ahead of them and was struck by the bus. A nightmare…I had already been feeling somewhat poorly for the past two days and slept restlessly that night, also thinking of the accident. On Sunday morning I took a Covid test, just to be on the safe side: positive. Oh no. I called my Finnish missionary colleague, Rev. Marko Turunen, who was as shocked as I was at this news, but who said he would gladly baptize our candidates and preach my sermon. As I write this, I am looking out of the window of our bedroom (now, an isolation ward). The flower memorial on the sidewalk is growing. I hope that boy was baptized. And yet, despite all this bad news, we can rejoice: because our Lord has defeated death and our catechumens are now part of God’s family. Even though I have been temporarily put on ice, the Church finished the job. And I am reminded of James’ words that we can make all the plans we want, but they will succeed *only* if the Lord wills. Therefore, let us take nothing for granted and be grateful for everything. (Image: our new Christians, Rev. Turunen).
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