2020 Autumn Newsletter #2

What is God’s “new normal”?

Motomichi Harada
TMP Staff member overseeing Samurai Projects research and development

On Saturday, July 4, 2020, our second child was born and a new life joined our family. Just as we experienced with our first child, the birth and growth of a new baby is breathtaking and my mind is filled with the greatness of our God the Creator. However this time round, there was one thing that was very different from the birth of our first child: the global Coronavirus pandemic! Suddenly, what we have taken for granted in the past is no longer the norm. The world is now struggling with this “new normal”, and so are Obstetricians. As you can imagine, they try to take every precaution to prevent the mother and newborn baby from becoming infected with Coronavirus. As a result, only the mother is allowed to enter the hospital. And so from the time when I took my wife to the hospital at the start of labor pains, and throughout her stay even after giving birth, none of the family members including her parents, relatives friends, spouse nor kids were able to enter the hospital building. So the first time I met my baby child was through a photo on social media. The first time I heard my baby crying was also through a video call on social media. It was five days after birth, on the day my wife was discharged from the hospital, that I was finally able to actually hold my baby and see her face. You may say this is the “new normal, but somewhere in the back of my mind, it feels anything but normal. What kind of “new normal” does God our Creator want us to experience at this time? We continue to pray and seek His will day by day.