Don’t Let Corona Knock You Out

No matter who you are, you are going to get hit with body shots. Keep your hands up and your feet moving or you may wind up on the canvas.

Did you know that former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson is about to get back into the ring at the age of 54? They used to call him Iron Mike and The Baddest Man on the Planet for good reasons.

Tyson is returning to face 51-year-old, former heavyweight champion Roy Jones Jr. in an eight-round exhibition, on 12 September at $49.99 pay per view.

Mike Tyson has been out of the ring for 15 years, but videos of the former champ in training are impressive.

Speaking of videos, I recently watched young Mike Tyson deliver an impressive array of knockout punches on YouTube. Of note, vicious blows to the body almost always preceded his knockout punches.

Punches to the body are called body shots. In life and boxing, body shots are designed to set you up for a knockout punch.

Outside of the ring, body shots come in the form of annoyances, disruptions, delays, denials, arguments, breakups, setbacks, incompetence, etc.

It does not matter your age, gender, race, tribe or creed, you are going to get hit with body shots. How many body shots have you taken recently? More than you realize I would venture to say.

We’ve been pummeled by COVID-19 for months. Don’t let Corona knock you out. Keep your hands up and keep your feet moving.

Like you, I have family and friends in the service industry. They tell me the people they serve are growing weary. Optimism is waning. Pessimism is setting in. Generally speaking, people are discouraged.

On 31 March, I began co-hosting virtual prayer meetings with Dave, my friend and prayer partner. Encouraging others is a central theme of our virtual Warrior prayer sessions.

Last Friday, we co-hosted Warrior#36. As always, we ask the Lord to strengthen and encourage others. Prayer combats the effects of body shots.

A week after launching the Warrior series, I started this blog. I hope you are encouraged by these articles because I receive encouragement writing them.

Encouraging others helps ward off the effects of body shots, but sometimes the blows will get to you. A word on that in a minute, but first a salute to some of the most essential persons (MEP’s) among us.

Great encouragers are MEP’s in the corona-era. My dentist is an MEP. The fact that he had to shut down his practice for four months due to the pandemic robbed many of his greatest attribute.

As good as he is as a dentist, his natural giftedness as an encourager was sorely missed. Dr. Epstein has been my dentist for over a decade. He always makes you laugh and puts a smile on your face.

He bounces off the walls with energy and tells these incredibly funny stories. Sometimes he tells stories that have his staff shaking their heads. They enjoy working with him and I can see why.

I had an appointment with him some years ago when business was not good.  He was low on energy and had no funny stories. While I was sensitive to his feelings, I had to make a point.

I said, “Doc…you can’t be discouraged. We all depend on you to be encouraged.” Thankfully, by my next appointment, he was bouncing off the walls like his old self.

Hang around MEP’s. Better still, be an MEP! MEP’s offset the effects of body shots. I should know.

Hurricane Isaias was a body shot that really weakened me. My family only suffered eight hours of power outage, but I was weakened by other blows before this one landed.

Thank God during the Warrior#36 prayer meeting, MEP’s in the group encouraged me and pushed me back into the ring.

Allow me to wrap this up with a great Christmas story.

There was a Christmas decorations contest at work one year. Some sections relished the competition, but my teammates and I were indifferent.

A few days before the awards ceremony, I received another in a series of non-selection notices for job applications I submitted. Each notice was a body shot.

The day came for the awards for Christmas decorations . They started with 4th place, 3rd place up to the grand prize. What I did not know was there was recognition for the section with the least amount of Christmas spirit. Oh Lord!!

They read this Scrooge-like narrative about how this sad section showed no Christmas spirit. Wouldn’t you know it; I was the only person in our section present for work that day.

I had to accept a piece of coal and the mocking jeers (mostly in fun) of our organization on behalf of my section-BODY SHOT!!

I headed to my office, coal in hand.  I had taken too many body shots. I was discouraged. I made it to the end of the day and headed to the parking lot.

Then something REALLY strange happened. I heard these words out of thin air, “accentuate the positive; eliminate the negative.” It sounded like a song, so I looked it up on my phone.

It turned out that a guy named Johnny Mercer wrote a song in 1945 with that title. I could not believe the lyrics:

You’ve got to accentuate the positive. Eliminate the negative. And latch on to the affirmative. Don’t mess with Mister In-Between

You’ve got to spread joy up to the maximum. Bring gloom down to the minimum. Have faith or pandemonium’s liable to walk upon the scene.

To illustrate my last remark. Jonah in the whale, Noah in the ark. What did they do just when everything looked so dark? Man, they said “We’d better accentuate the positive”

“Eliminate the negative” “And latch on to the affirmative” Don’t mess with Mister In-Between. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3jdbFOidds

I am certain that the Holy Spirit whispered that to me. If there is no one else around to encourage you, encourage yourself in the Lord! (1 Samuel 30:6)

Draw near to God! He will enable you to stand in the face of body shots. You will not fall victim to a knockout punch.

On the contrary, God will put your enemy on the canvas for good, and your hand will be raised in triumphant victory! God Bless! Press On!! Kevin

PS: Be an MEP to someone today and everyday!!