He walked into the doors of the church and looked around, studying the congregation like a piece of art. He was holstering an all-black 9mm around his waist and covering it with a light black jacket. I saw the gun when he twisted his waist to maneuver himself into a small plastic chair next to an old lady. My mind started racing. Who was he and why was he carrying a gun into church? He pulled out his dark glasses to cover his deep sockets. When his hand went up to affix the glasses, I noticed that his hand was shaking and his left eye was bruised, not like someone who had been punched in the eye, but more like a bruise from being knocked on a wall. He positioned himself in his plastic chair and smiled sheepishly in my direction. I didnt smile back. My mind was racing through all kinds of scenarios. My brain was oscillating from fear that the man was going to shower the audience with bullets, to brevity of jumping at him and tackling him to the ground. I gathered my kids closer to me and shielded them from the man with my right shoulder which at this time felt too small. I looked around and noticed that my wife had stepped out. I try her cell to warn her to stay outside but she wasnt picking up. It was at this point that I regretted asking the congregation to silence their cell phones when I preached. The man kept his eyes on me and then began looking around my shoulder, eyeing my children. I became very uneasy. I grabbed my kids, one in each arm, holding them close to my chest, my back facing the gunman, and headed straight to the side door. I glanced behind me in the direction of the gunman and he was gone. Where was he? Was he following me? Many of us have never faced an intense situation like this one. May be in our dreams like in my dream above. When we are faced with extreme fear, sometimes we are even unable to respond, remaining half-brain-dead like in a medical comma. And when we try to respond, no option seems to make sense. Our brains could be flooding with an endless array of options but none seeming convincing enough that it will get us out alive. Fear grabs us and we become paralyzed. We become paralyzed because we feel inadequate, inexperienced and just straight out scared. Fear can make our brains dead. Fear can make us speechless. Fear can make us paralyzed. So where do we go when we are at the end of our wits? Personally I go to the promises of God. I have heard people say that the Bible says Fear Not 365 times, one time for each day of the year. I have never verified this occurrence and I dont need to. All I need to cure my fears is one verse, and I have one in Isaiah 41:10: So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. When you face fears in your life where do you run? To friends? To family? Those are not necessarily bad choices. But sometimes they are not enough. When you have a relationship with God you have the ultimate conqueror of fear by your side. If you dont have a relationship with God, you are going to constantly find yourself exhausting all your sources of comfort. If we put our trust in the one thats above the sum of all fears, then nothing will be able to intimidate us. And may be we should be running to him first before running to our disappointments. Happy trusting! Amon
Posted on: Mon, 29 Sep 2014 06:26:24 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015