[Darris McNeely] How's it been working out for you with the COVID shutdown and your relationships with your friends, your family, your co-workers? Are you still working from home? Have you begun to go back into the office? What's the communication like? What's going on there? I know where we work here in this building with Beyond Today, we're still, kind of, in a different type of culture that has evolved over the last 11 months or so as we have had to adjust to the realities of COVID. It has actually disrupted our culture. And we formed really a new culture that is focused around Zoom meetings, online meetings, team meetings, and coming and going only when we need to, in a sense, be together physically in the building. And it's probably a lot like you with your situation as well. We don't know when that's going to all change.

I thought about that, as so many have when it comes to the relationships we have that are based on trust, and confidence, and open communication when it comes to not only our work environment, but our church environment and our family environments. And all that has been severed and changed there. A scripture in the book of Malachi 3 came to my mind. And it is something that I've talked to a few others about in a sense that we focus on it so that we can all do our part to make sure that the bonds of trust, and openness, and understanding, and communication are still strong in whatever setting we find ourselves working and living. Malachi 3:16 says that, "Those who feared the Lord spoke to one another and heard them. And so a book of remembrance was written before them for those who fear the Lord and who meditate on His name. Those who feared the Lord," it says, "spoke to one another, and the Lord listened and heard them." And whatever that book of remembrance is God, in a sense, noted that, and it's something God is aware of.

Now, there are many different applications for this. But if I were to take that into just the practical day to day relationships that I've talked about with our work, our family, our church, and what has been disrupted with COVID shutdown, this Scripture I think helps us to just focus on the fact that we need to take care, to be sure that we keep the lines of communication open. And if it's an email, if it's a text, if it's a phone call, better yet, if it is a face to face, eyeball to eyeball, above the mask setting, to do what it takes to communicate in any way, love, care, concern, compassion, our thoughts, hopes, and prayers for people, we communicate that. And we communicate it with feeling, with heart, in writing, with the tone of our voice and with the inflection from our sight and showing people that we do actually care for them. Those are the things that I think we're going to have to work even harder as this goes along and continues to work out. This is a prophecy here out of the Bible that impacts the people of God.

Think about that in your life, and where you are right now, and coping with all that has taken place in the last year with this shutdown. And as we go forward, make sure that you speak often to one another. God notes that and that's very important.

That's BT Daily. Join us next time.