It is sunny and 63^° degrees here in North Texas. We are on our way to the mid-70s. Now that my non-Starbucks coffee is at my side….

Pastors and worship leaders are still telling their congregations worshiping remotely to stand, sit, raise their hands, clap their hands, and greet their neighbors. But they had no way to verify that: a problem now addressed by this innovative congregation. Grace Church of the Foothills released a fleet of surveillance drones Sunday morning to make sure families worshiping at home were sitting, standing, and raising hands when they were instructed to. The church also found that they were able to verify that everyone was both wearing their Sunday best and taking attentive sermon notes. (Catholic churches, in particular, may benefit from this new method as they tell you to stand and sit an average of 4,273 times per service.)

“Let’s all raise our hands together, church!” shouted worship leader Jim “Headbang” Mollison. Then, the tech team checked the footage coming back from the drones to make sure everyone was doing it. “Looks like the Johnsons aren’t raising their hands in Sector 4,” tech guy Wayne Peterson muttered. “Deploy countermeasures.” The drone then fired a warning shot into the air, causing the Johnsons to scramble to raise their hands as instructed. “That’s right. Dance, monkeys, dance!”

I could not help sharing the above parody from the BabylonBee.com. You have to admit, at first some of you were thinking, “What the h*ll?!” We live in that kind of culture right now. Everyone seems to be watching what everyone else is doing:

“Can you believe she’s not wearing a mask?”

“Why are they wearing a mask? That’s stupid!”

“All over the world, public health and safety officials are employing drones to monitor public spaces and enforce social distancing rules, to help slow the spread of coronavirus.” (CBSNews.com, 04-27-2020)

“Elizabeth, New Jersey, are already deploying drones with automated voice messages reminding people to keep their distance.” (ABC7NY.com, 04-15-2020)

“… drones integrate cameras, data services to monitor medical care and sensors to check an individual’s temperature and heart and breathing rate from a distance. They have also designed algorithms that make it possible to interpret human actions like coughing or sneezing in a context of epidemiological monitoring.” (BBVA.com, 04-16-2020)

“Authorities everywhere are using smartphones to track the coronavirus, and it’s part of a massive increase in global surveillance.” (BusinessInsider.com, 04-14-2020)

At Cold Dead Hands religions and governments do not define us, Jesus Christ does. If we are not careful, religion and government can manipulate, shackle, and enslave us. As “Christ-followers,” we believe our identities lie in our relationship with Jesus Christ and the tenant’s Christ laid out in both the Old and New Testaments. We would never claim perfection, but we do know the forgiveness that runs through Christ and His cross. Like our founder, Patrick James is fond of saying: “Being a follower of Christ isn’t about being perfect… I’m just an imperfect guy, living in an imperfect world, trying to serve a Perfect Christ. It’s not easy… but it makes a difference in my life. It helps highlight truths… and it helps me to be a better person tomorrow than I was today.”

Quite honestly, people, governments, and religion have probably been surveilling us for a long time. When it seems like we cannot escape the peeping-tom eyes our nation or the world around us, and it appears we are on the brink of destruction, be made strong by these words from King David of the Bible and Jesus Christ:

“I have already run for dear life straight to the arms of God. So why would I run away now when you say, ‘Run to the mountains; the evil bows are bent, the wicked arrows aimed to shoot under cover of darkness at every heart open to God. The bottom has dropped out of the country; good people do not have a chance’? But God has not moved to the mountains; His holy address has not changed. He is totally and completely in charge, as always, His eyes taking everything in, His eyelids unblinking, examining Adam’s unruly brood inside and out, not missing a thing.” [King David, Psalm 11:1-6 (MSG)]

“Do not let your heart be troubled or afraid or distressed or agitated, or cowardly. Believe confidently in God and trust in Him, have faith, hold on to it, rely on it, keep going, and believe also in Me, Jesus Christ… Peace I leave with you; My perfect peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let My perfect peace calm you in every circumstance and give you courage and strength for every challenge.” [Jesus Christ, John 14:1, 27 (AMP)]

Be extreme.