Why COVID-19 Was Merely a Wake-Up Call
You’ve probably heard that the Chinese word for “crisis” also means “opportunity.” The word is 危机 (wēijī), and it’s made up of two parts:
- 危 (wēi) means danger or risk
- 机 (jī) means opportunity or chance
So, while 危机 literally combines “danger” and “opportunity,” it doesn’t mean the word itself directly translates as both. Instead, it’s more like a poetic reminder: in every crisis, there’s a chance for something good to happen.
Whether this is linguistic fact or popular wisdom, it’s a powerful way to think about challenges—and perfect for this blog. This sounds clever, and I’m running with it. Because life’s most chaotic moments often come disguised as backhanded blessings.
Take COVID-19 for instance. Yep, that global plot twist that had us baking banana bread, hoarding toilet paper, and sanitizing bananas. (Don’t lie—you probably did at least two of those.)
Personally, I’ve found that every crisis I’ve survived—and I’ve survived a few—ended up being a divine excuse to reroute my life. Less like GPS… and more like God hitting the “Recalculate” button on my messy existence.
Now, some folks actually profited from the pandemic. I’m not naming names, but let’s just say a few pharmaceutical CEOs now vacation on islands that didn’t exist before 2020. Some political careers went up; others nose-dived like a soap opera plot. But forget them for a moment.
Let’s talk about you, me, and our sudden global timeout.
You ever heard the saying “Man’s extremity is God’s opportunity”? It sounds old-school Bible-ish—and probably is. Even Daniel had to fast 21 days before his prayer made it past heavenly spam filters. And yet… he got an answer.
Fast forward to today: we don’t have lions, but we’ve got lockdowns. So here’s the question—what if, instead of bingeing 14 episodes of that show we “accidentally” started, we just prayed?
I mean, what would it cost us? A few minutes? A bit of ego? A sacrifice of screen time?
We’ve got 400 religions on this spinning rock. So statistically speaking, even if 399 miss the mark, maybe one will hit. (Let’s just hope it’s not number 400. That’d be awkward.)
While scientists, doctors, and leaders run around trying to fix this mess, maybe—just maybe—the rest of us could whisper something upward. Not because we’re holy, but because we’ve tried everything else and the banana bread isn’t working.
And if you’re still skeptical, ask yourself this:
When your president dies, don’t your plans pause?
When your grandma calls, don’t you pick up?
When life shuts down the world… maybe it’s not just a crisis.
Maybe it’s an opportunity.
Here’s a thought from my book Divine Matrix:
“Maybe the world isn’t falling apart. Maybe it’s falling into place—one divine interruption at a time.”
