Swine Flu, Fear, the Future, and God.

I had a full-blown panic attack on Sunday afternoon, which lasted in varying degrees until this afternoon. All evening Sunday, and off-and-on all day Monday, I was paralyzed by fear. 

Fear is a funny thing. For me, the most recent Swine Flu scare was the tip of the iceberg - wrapped up in the fear of the Flu was my fear of death, the unknown, being completely out of control, and ultimately my fear the God will not be true to His word. I was sick to my stomach, literally, and my body refused to function normally. I spend about four hours on Sunday sitting on my porch dwelling on the fact that I have absolutely no control what happens to me tomorrow, whether I get swine flu or get nicked by a dirty needle by a tweaked out guy on Hastings. I simply do not have control.

Fear paralyzes, grips us, tortures us with unknown and only guessed-at consequences of imagined scenarios. But the Bible tells us that perfect Love (God) casts out fear; when we choose to put our trust in Him, rather than our own feeble understanding of a situation, things suddenly start looking a lot better. 

In The Shack, by William Young, the author writes about a fictitious encounter between God and a man, Mack. At one point in the story Jesus tells Mack to examine his thoughts  about the future. He explains that our human ideas about the future almost always contain a deadly flaw - we never imagine a future with God in it. We always imagine a future apart from God, as if He isn't going to be there any more. This is a lie.

Christ tells us to worry only about today, and that He, God, will take care of the future. We are not responsible for what happens tomorrow; we are only responsible for today. Today I made the choice to believe that, and to live it. I may die of Swine Flu. I may get sick on East Hastings. I may make mistakes, and everything may not work out as planned. But you know what? I'm ok with that, because God's plans are bigger and better than my plans. He holds the future, and Life is worth the living (Today) because He lives.

Comments

[Holly]

AMEN!!!! You are a remarkable human being Jordan...I'm glad we are related to you, and watching you grow up and now as a man helps me realize that my children will be just fine...they have wonderful mentors!!!! We'll be praying for you on your journey!!!!
Love you,
Holly and gang