Howard Cosell was the most iconic sportscaster of my early
years. His work on Monday Night Football alongside “Dandy” Don
Meredith and Frank Cosell was must-see TV. His interviews with Muhammad Ali
were the stuff of legend.

Now his sportscaster grandson is making headlines in a
remarkable way.

Colin Cosell is the public address announcer for the New
York Mets. He’s used to announcing, “the first baseman, No. 20, Pete
Alonso!” to the thump of Led Zeppelin’s “The Ocean.” Since
baseball games are on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic, he’s been turning
his unique skills in a unique direction.

Working from home, Cosell will record an audio clip for anyone who asks, making them “as personalized and customized as possible.” He has recorded nearly six hundred introductions since he began a month ago. They’re about thirty seconds long and all are done for free.

Fans reach Cosell through Twitter at #CallMeUpColin and
provide their information as well as a musical choice—Alicia Keys, Stevie
Wonder, and a tune from “The Little Mermaid” are among the favorites,
along with the “Meet the Mets” theme song.

Recently, Cosell noticed calls that were coming from a
certain group. “I was starting to hear from a lot of medical workers and
first responders. That’s when it began to hit home,” he said. “They
said these thirty seconds take them away from the maelstrom of being a hospital
worker during a pandemic.”

Many use his call-up recordings for their phone ringtones or
outgoing messages. “Thanks for adding a little joy while in
quarantine,” a person posted on Twitter in response. “Colin, you’re a
saint for doing this,” another person said.

“A few stories have brought tears to my eyes,”
Cosell noted. “I heard from someone working in an ER who said it was
pretty tough in there,…

Selma Esther Ryan died last week from coronavirus at an assisted living facility in Austin, Texas. She was ninety-six years old. Her older sister, Esther, died at the age of five from the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic.

The deaths of two sisters from two pandemics are just one of the unusual aspects of this tragedy. Another is the timing of Selma’s death.

The Associated Press reports: “For a generation, mid-April has delivered some of America’s most cataclysmic moments.” The article points to the Oklahoma City bombing, the Columbine High School shootings, the Branch Davidian raid in Waco, the Virginia Tech shooting, the explosion of BP’s Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling rig, and the Boston Marathon Bombing.

There is good news in the news as well.

According to the Associated Press, a “flood of new research suggests that far more people have had the coronavirus without any symptoms.” These reports fuel hope that the virus will turn out to be much less lethal than was originally feared.

However, the more asymptomatic people there are, the harder it is to know who around us is contagious. This complicates decisions about returning to work, school, and normal life.

How atheists misinterpret the world

In these fearful days, it is tempting to look for hope in the wrong places.

The psalmist declared, “Great are the works of the Lord, studied by all who delight in them” (Psalm 111:2). Those who “delight” in the creation of God are obviously moved to study his “works,” from Aristotle to Charles Darwin to atheistic scientists today like Richard Dawkins.

But studying the works of God apart from a relationship with him is inherently…

Selma Esther Ryan died last week from coronavirus at an assisted living facility in Austin, Texas. She was ninety-six years old. Her older sister, Esther, died at the age of five from the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic.

The deaths of two sisters from two pandemics are just one of the unusual aspects of this tragedy. Another is the timing of Selma’s death.

The Associated Press reports: “For a generation, mid-April has delivered some of America’s most cataclysmic moments.” The article points to the Oklahoma City bombing, the Columbine High School shootings, the Branch Davidian raid in Waco, the Virginia Tech shooting, the explosion of BP’s Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling rig, and the Boston Marathon Bombing.

There is good news in the news as well.

According to the Associated Press, a “flood of new research suggests that far more people have had the coronavirus without any symptoms.” These reports fuel hope that the virus will turn out to be much less lethal than was originally feared.

However, the more asymptomatic people there are, the harder it is to know who around us is contagious. This complicates decisions about returning to work, school, and normal life.

How atheists misinterpret the world

In these fearful days, it is tempting to look for hope in the wrong places.

The psalmist declared, “Great are the works of the Lord, studied by all who delight in them” (Psalm 111:2). Those who “delight” in the creation of God are obviously moved to study his “works,” from Aristotle to Charles Darwin to atheistic scientists today like Richard Dawkins.

But studying the works of God apart from a relationship with him is inherently…

Tom Brady won six Super Bowls for the New England Patriots
and has now become the quarterback of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. However, as
excited as Tampa Bay fans might be, Brady’s iconic status didn’t earn him
special treatment in one of their parks.

Tampa’s mayor, Jane Castor, broke the story during a news
briefing yesterday. It seems Brady was working out in a downtown park that had
been closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. A member of the parks staff
spotted him and cited him.

CNN notes that it has reached out to the Buccaneers for a comment from the team or Brady but has not heard back yet.

SARS-CoV-2 pays no attention to Super Bowl victories or
mayoral status. It is afflicting celebrities like Tom Hanks and hospital
workers who care for them. Its ubiquitous danger reminds us of our shared
humanity and shared need for help beyond ourselves.

God often works through people the world ignores

In a culture dominated by sports figures and celebrities, we
are learning that all humans are mortal. Even when treatments and a vaccine for
coronavirus are developed, other deadly diseases will be just as deadly.
Tornadoes and other natural disasters will still plague our broken world.

But when we look to our Maker, we find in him the help and
hope we can find nowhere else.

The psalmist declared: “Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in his commandments!” (Psalm 112:1). He adds: “Light dawns in the darkness for the upright; he is gracious, merciful, and righteous” (v. 4). Such a person “is not afraid of bad news; his heart is firm, trusting in the Lord. His heart is steady; he will not be afraid” (vv. 7–­8).

When we fear the Lord, we need not fear anyone else.

In fact, God often works in our world not…

There is paradoxical good news in the news today.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo says that according to the latest coronavirus numbers, his state is on a downward descent from the curve. Unfortunately, he explained the good news this way: “The number is down because we brought the number down. God did not do that. Faith did not do that. Destiny did not do that. A lot of pain and suffering did that” (his emphasis).

Another paradoxical story: the final five hundred landmines at a historic baptism site on the Jordan River have been exploded and removed. The UK-based demining specialist HALO Trust group did the work at Qasr al-Yahud in preparation for Easter. 

I have been to the site many times, but we always had to be very careful to stay on the one road, as mines remaining from earlier conflicts riddled the fields around us. Now they have been removed and churches can build and minister here far more effectively. 

Unfortunately, COVID-19 is now decimating travel to the Holy Land. I had to cancel trips to Israel planned for April and May. Closing the borders to tourism may cost $1.7 billion. 

Joy in a jail cell

One of the paradoxes of the Christian faith is that believers often find the greatest joy in the most difficult circumstances. This is because joy is one of the “fruit of the Spirit” independent from any and all circumstances (Galatians 5:22). We find the joy of the Lord not in our lives but in our Lord.

Consider three examples from the life of Paul. 

One: After he and Silas were arrested in Philippi and the magistrates “had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison” (Acts 16:23). But two verses later we read, “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them” (v. 25). Their joy was not in their jail cell but in their Lord. 

Two: When the Lord refused to remove Paul’s “thorn in the…