COVID-19: Lessons Learned 4

If you are not learning through the COVID-19 pandemic, you are missing out! You are missing out on what God wants you to learn.

As a Christian, I believe in God's sovereignty and that everything happens for a reason, for God's reason. God especially uses difficult times to teach us important lessons. However, you need to be attentive to learn the lesson ... if you don't pay attention you might miss what God wants you to learn. 

This is true in the pandemic that we are experiencing currently. 

During the last few months I've tried to be intentional and reflective on what I should be learning during this unusual time. In this mini-series of blogs on COVID-19, I wanted to document lessons that I've learned.

Before finishing this mini-series, I want to point back to some of the topics I've covered previously, and I encourage you to re-read some of these and reflect on your own learning during COVID-19.

• Lessons Learned 1 -- Loving, Pivoting, Persevering
• Lessons Learned 2 -- Lead with Humility, Use Data to Make Decisions, Lead with Confidence
• Lessons Learned 3 -- People Need People, Serve Where You are Stuck

The fourth and final blog in this mini-series will look at 1) Obeying Authorities, 2) Positively Problem-Solve, and 3) Leading Out of a Crisis. 

Obeying Authorities

One of the more challenging lessons to learn is to obey authorities during the pandemic. In our politically divisive country as we deal with a novel pandemic, criticism of authority figures and health organizations is rampant. It seems like every social media platform is filled with individuals ranting about how one politician's decision was wrong and how they would do it different (and better). Unfortunately, our trust in our authority figures has deteriorated. While I am sure that each governor is receiving advice from the top medical professionals in the state health department and making his/her decisions based on that advice, six-pack Joe knows better because he saw an article on social media.

Unfortunately, conservative Christians have led many of the objections to the quarantine regulations. It is quite clear from scripture that we (especially those who believe in the Bible) should obey our God-ordained authorities ... re-read Romans 13. Of course, the exception comes when an authority figure requires us to do something that goes against one of God's commands (e.g. worshiping an idol, like Daniel and his friends in Daniel 3); however, I don't think wearing a mask falls under that category.  Christians, especially, should be leading the way in obeying the regulations set in place and praying for our authority figures (I Timothy 2:1-3). Sadly, that is not happening.

I lament the low level of respect that our society has for our leaders, but when adults are modeling to their children a disregard for a leader's decision, I am convinced respect for leaders will continue to decline over the next generation. What a difference if a parent were to say (in word and action) to their children, "I disagree with the the governor's decision, but I respect the authority that he/she has been given by God, so I am going to comply with this regulation." AND what a different message we would be communicating to the next generation if they saw us praying for our leaders more often than complaining about our leaders. This is difficult for me, but it is more God-honoring than my usual response.

                                            

Positively Problem-Solve

There are two types of people in a pandemic ... those who complain and those who work on a solution.  Essentially, this blog mini-series is an attempt to keep us positive and looking for a silver lining. What can we learn from this pandemic? How can we grow through this experience? 

There are two types of people in life ... those who complain and those who stay positive and problem solve. The majority of people are naturally bent toward the negative, and those are the people who are going to struggle the most through difficulties in life. I am guilty of this ... it is so easy to complain and criticize, and it is so difficult to work on solving a problem. However, if you can positively problem-solve, you are going to "win" in the future.

A 21st Century skill is problem SOLVING not problem IDENTIFYING. It doesn't take much effort to point out a problem, but the real work goes into solving it. Our ever-changing world presents us with a new "problem" every single day, and we have a choice: we can complain and quit or we can positively problem-solve. During a situation like the pandemic, true leaders will step up, present a solution, and work to implement it. These are the ones who will lead out of a crisis.

Leading Out of a Crisis

During the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent quarantine, examples of those problem-solving and leading out of the crisis were prevalent and easily distinguishable. Some school districts / schools / teachers completely shut down because it was too hard and the problem seemed insurmountable; other schools pivoted to e-learning quickly, trained teachers in online platforms/online teaching, and solved access problems by delivering laptops to students in need. Some restaurants completely shut down as they were not able to see a different way to serve food; other restaurants shifted to online orders, delivery systems, and drive-through options (I think Chick-Fil-A is busier than ever ... without a dining room option). Costco, Wal-Mart, Dollar Store, and Dominoes were adding employees during the pandemic, with Amazon hiring over 100,000 new employees, while many of their competitors were furloughing employees or shuttering their doors during the pandemic (see article). I understand that there are many factors for this and these companies have institutional strength to sustain their businesses during a pandemic, but they also addressed the problem head-on. The companies that problem-solved quickly were able to re-think how to do their work in a new normal and survived (even thrived) while those who didn't change are closing their doors. Many of the companies that adjusted will look differently after the pandemic subsides, and they will lead their respective industries.

Let me share specifically about my school, Denver Christian School, and how we are leading out of a crisis. Not only did our school shift quickly to e-learning, distributed laptops to increase access to those students/families in need, train teachers on Zoom / online teaching, and continue to tweak and adjust through this new mode of education, we invested in order to lead out of this crisis. We quickly looked at ways to deliver our excellent education in a responsive way to whatever our future holds. During the spring, we invested in document cameras for our teachers to enhance their e-learning experience and will be able to utilize these tools in the fall. This summer, we are upgrading to a more robust learning management system (LMS) to help students learn better both in a classroom setting and remotely (Canvas). We added robotic cameras into our classrooms (Swivl) to live-stream classroom lessons for students who are sick and/or need to miss school. Finally, we further developed our relationships with online schools to expand our class offerings, even in the midst of uncertainty. In addition to improving how we "do school," we developed multiple extensive plans to re-open in the fall no matter what restrictions are placed on us. All of these improvements were possible because of our staff (led by an administrative team) with a growth mindset and an entrepreneurial spirit. We will look differently as a school in the future, but I am confident that we will  remain on the leading edge of education in our metro area and state.

Although I think that this 4-part mini-series is done, I'm sure that I will continue to learn as our communities and country puts COVID-19 in our rear-view mirror. However, one thing is certain, something on the horizon will "rock our world."  It is my hope that you continue to learn through whatever life experiences that you face.