Today, I sent my eldest kiddo off to school, sanitizer in her backpack and a handmade mask from Grandma on her face. Normally, we’re worried about getting to school on time, whether she’s brushed her hair or if she has forgotten her lunch. However, this school year, we have a few other things on our minds.

“I’m sort of scared, but I’m also excited,” she said last night. “Do you know the feeling I mean?”

Absolutely, kiddo — I absolutely do because I feel it, too.

I worry about all the school things you normally worry about — but now, add COVID-19 on top of it and it’s even worse. Will she keep her mask on? Will she trade masks with another friend? What do the classrooms look like now?

However, my kiddo didn’t let the fears and doubts stop her. She put on her mask, put on her fancy new clothes this morning and stood by the door waiting to go — no trace of fear in her eyes. She was facing the unknown, excited to see her friends again and diving straight in to what has often been referred to as an unprecedented time.

While the virus might be unprecedented, crises of various shapes and sizes have been rather common throughout history. Humanity has faced many widespread challenges such as plagues, racism, genocides, and more.

While the devastation, pain and loss that these challenges left behind was indeed great, what strikes me most is the way that human beings reacted. Granted, not everyone is a hero. Not everyone is courageous. However, those that were in times of need were extraordinary. You could even say their reactions were unprecedented.

We can find this type of unbridled courage and dedication in many places in the Bible. Take, for example, the story of David. David was destined to become a great king — although he was almost passed over when Samuel came to look at the sons of Jesse for a candidate to rule. When the oldest sons who were strong and promising passed by Samuel to be examined — the Lord rejected them.

“But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart,” the Lord said in 1 Samuel 16:7.

The youngest son, David, was then called before Samuel and the Lord revealed him as the chosen king. Israel was granted a king who started out as a Shepherd.

However, that is not the only unlikely circumstance that David would overcome. Later on, young David would go on to face a mountain of a man with only a sling shot and a stone. He did not wear armor, he did not wield a javelin — instead he was armed with an unsophisticated weapon and the faith he had in his God.

To the world, David looked foolish — a young man holding a sling shot and a stone against the largest and most competent soldier the Philistines could find. Yet, he stood strong in his convictions and had absolute faith.

“Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied,” he said to Goliath in 1 Samuel 17:45.

David was certain that Goliath would be given into his hand and the Philistines would lose that day. He knew that the battle was the Lord’s. So, he took up his stone and his sling shot and met Goliath on the battle field, shooting the stone through the air and hitting Goliath directly in the forehead, killing him instantly.

While many would say the instance in which he threw the stone and killed the giant was the most miraculous part — I would say the fact that he stood up to the giant in the first place is what is most inspiring.

We all have our David moments. We have the opportunity to take up the tools that we have and do the work the Lord puts in front of us. And miraculous things can happen — but we have to stand up and be willing to do them first. That, my friends, is what is often unprecedented. The action of taking on whatever might plague us, whatever inspires fear, whatever might haunt our hearts — but putting those feelings aside to take on the challenge and believe that God is with us.

This morning, for my daughter, her David moment was putting on her mask, lacing up her shoes and marching into unknown territory with a smile. For some of us, it may be doing the right thing even when it makes us uncomfortable or could put us in a bad spot. For others, it may be obeying the Lord and his command that we love others as we love ourselves in the truest sense of the phrase. We are indeed living in the midst of an unprecedented time. Perhaps it’s our time to live unprecedented lives.