Finding Our Way Forward, Fully Vaccinated

Two weeks ago, I got my second COVID-19 vaccine shot.  I am now fully vaccinated.  A year ago, I couldn't have imagined that we could really roll out safe and effective vaccines in the timeline that we have.  

I realize that the world still faces severe challenges; the situation in India is ghastly, and it's probably not the last time we will see the disease spiral out of control in a country.  I think this disease is here to stay, and we will never eradicate it or even come close, the way we have with other diseases, which are still here, but which rarely infect us because of how we've vaccinated most of the babies in the world.

But today I am vaccinated, and as they are available, I will get booster shots to keep my immunity high.  I may keep wearing masks too.  Like many people, my spouse and I have not gotten any sort of cold in the past year.  We usually get one doozy of a cold per year, plus times when we're fighting off a smaller cold.  Since March of 2020, we've gotten nothing.

I started using the phrase "I am fully vaccinated" after I got the second shot.  When I took the church deposit to the bank, I asked the person at the ATM if he minded if I came beside him and used the overnight drop box; for the past 15 months, I've asked this question, and so far, no one has ever minded.  The Sunday after the 2nd vaccine shot, I told the older black man at the ATM that I was fully vaccinated, and he said, "I trust God to keep me safe."  At first, I thought he meant something else, and then he said, "Trust God; don't trust the vaccine!"  

As is always the case with faulty theology, I thought about having a conversation.  But we were strangers, paths not likely to cross again.  I decided not to talk about a God who keeps us safe by giving us brains and scientists and vaccines.

There are moments when I think about all the events that have transpired in the past 15 months, and I catch my breath.  Have we really been living through a global pandemic?  Have we really experienced this level of devastation and kept going?  

Yes, yes we have.

Last night, I got a phone call:  friends/former colleagues were taking their nightly drive in their convertible and in the neighborhood; could they come by?  They did, and we sat outside, even though we're all fully vaccinated.  It was a lovely time of catching up after not seeing them for a year.

In fact, it was exactly a year ago that I brought a textbook to her house, which I wrote about in this blog post.  At that time, we were still reeling from what was happening in terms of the pandemic.  Now, we're still reeling in some significant ways, but we're finding our way forward.

Finding our way forward, fully vaccinated:  that seems like a label for our time.