-It's a shock, isn't it, and a little frightening?
I think, like a lot of people, different situations in life,
it's like driving along the highway.
You can go where you like, turn where you like,
and then, suddenly, you're transported
onto this small, dark, narrow side road,
where you've got no choice.
You just have to go down it.
There's no turning right or left, and it's very restricted.
And so, suddenly, I find myself in a small,
15-by-15-foot, quiet room for three weeks.
And I just had to get on with it like everybody else.
So you're just waiting for your body
to either get better or get worse.
And mine seemed to take a long time to make up its mind
which way it was going to go.
So, it felt like a long time.
But I had a great -- great deal of strength around me,
and lots of people who were praying for me.
When I was very sick, I was kind of protected
from contact from outside, to some extent.
But I was in regular contact with my senior warden
and that team that did such an amazing job
guiding the church through the whole pandemic crisis.
I never really felt any guilt,
because I didn't even pick it up in Washington, DC.
I picked it up in a conference in Kentucky, I think.
So I didn't really feel responsible in that sense,
but I felt --
of course, I felt a lot of concern for my congregation --
in particular those that contracted the virus.
And I phoned them as soon as I could and talked to them.
So, yeah, I've been concerned about the congregation,
but I've been so encouraged by how they have managed
and what they're done
and how strong a community they already are
and how much stronger they're becoming.
Physically, I feel good,
but I've got a long way to go to heal all the damage done.
But mentally and spiritually, I feel 100 times better.
Coming out of the hospital after 21 days,
and out into the Georgetown sunshine
and seeing it blossom and everything,
it was really like stepping
from a black-and-white movie into a full-color one,
and just a wonderful, overwhelming experience.
It will pass, you know?
It's -- You just have to keep going each day at a time.
I was an army chaplain for 20 years,
and that was the trick the soldiers had to play every time,
because they had no control over where they were
or what they were doing.
And they could get stuck in some pretty awful places.
And they had no control,
but they did have a little bit of control.
They could control the little bit of dirt they'd been given,
to look after and defend.
And I felt a little bit like that in the hospital,
and there was an awful lot I couldn't control.
But I could control a little bit.
I could control that I said my prayers,
that I tried to get up and get shaved and washed
and as much as I could.
So, I suppose my advice is, you know,
just do the things that you can do,
and trust God will bring you through.
And trust your friends and the people that love you,
to stand beside you and to be a strength to you.