In a lot of ways, everything we do depends on trust. In school, you trust that your teachers are giving you information that’s both accurate and important. At home, you trust your parents in more ways than you can probably think of!
- Who can think of an example of ways you exercise trust on a daily basis? (Be prepared to give your own examples to help prompt discussion.)
Especially in a global pandemic, we have to exercise trust about a lot of things, such as trusting that people who are sick will stay home or trusting that public surfaces are disinfected.
- Does anyone you know trust or depend on you? (Answers will vary. Students may recognize that their parents trust them with tasks. They may discuss friends who have trusted them with secrets and teammates who depend on them during a sports event.)
Most of the trust we exhibit in our daily lives involves pretty ordinary things. Being trustworthy involves integrity, such as doing what we say we are going to do. Traveling in the midst of a global pandemic involves trusting that airline staff are following regulations and trusting that other passengers are healthy. But what happens when not everyone is trustworthy?
You may have heard a recent story of a man flying on a plane, even though he knowingly had COVID-19. This man, Mr. Hernandez, chose to travel in spite of being sick. Tragically, due to health complications at the high altitude of the plane, he passed away on the plane. Although this story is tragic, it illustrates real consequences of not being trustworthy. Because Mr. Hernandez chose to fly when he wasn’t healthy, he exposed staff and other passengers to the virus, experienced severe health complications, and even lost his life!
- If the man had been honest about his illness and chosen not to travel, what could have happened? (Possible answers: staying alive, no health complications from the altitude of the plane, keeping other passengers safe and healthy.)
Today’s lesson is about how someone trusted God in both ordinary and extraordinary ways. Let’s learn more.
Story source:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/22/us/united-airlines-covid-death-lax.html
