Let’s not lose sight of the impact of good corporate citizenship in the midst of all that is happening . . .

While cruise ships once seemed to be the epicenter of coronavirus in the US, we see now that Carnival Cruises is offering its ships to serve as temporary hospitals. “These temporary cruise ship hospital rooms can be quickly converted to install and connect remote patient monitoring devices over the ship’s high-speed network – providing cardiac, respiratory, oxygen saturation and video monitoring capabilities.” Who knew? Raise your hand if you ever considered the possibility of your ship becoming a hospital with those capabilities while on a pleasure cruise.

Scribd, an American e-book and audiobook subscription service that includes one million titles, has announced that with millions of people around the globe staying close to home to lessen the risk of spreading COVID-19, they will for the next month . . . be making Scribd’s library, which includes millions of e-books, audiobooks, magazine articles, and more, available to anyone, free for 30 days.

Grocery stores are holding special hours for the elderly and the infirmed. Some financial institutions have offered to work with customers who encounter cash shortages. Now, lest we come away as disingenuous, we recognize that there is some commercial goodwill in undertaking these measures. The motives may not be entirely pure. But we can recognize purity at the source of good corporate citizenship: “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows” (James 1:17, NIV). God is here — the same as He was before the first victim of COVID-19 was infected in Wuhan, the same as He will be when the last person is vaccinated and this virus is conquered. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is the God who sees us today and hears our prayers for help in this difficult time.

So, appreciate the good, and know where it comes from. Set your eyes on Him, and even all of today’s troubles will fade into insignificance. He can move mountains, and he can stir the heart of corporate America.

Psalm 46:1-3; 10-11 (NIV)

¹ God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
² Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
³ though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.

¹⁰ He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”

¹¹ The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.

– Jim Arnold