If we learned anything from 2020, it is that we can be going along our way, and suddenly without warning, hardships, suffering, and pain can hit us. This was certainly the case for me as well. No, I didn’t get covid-19, but I did have a bad upper respiratory illness that sidelined me for a considerable amount of time. The remnants of this ailment bled into 2021. In fact, even as I write these words, I still have lingering pain.
Furthermore, it was on 3/16/20, when the Chick-fil-A store
that I work for closed on the inside. It
has been strange to work in this new paradigm of drive-through orders only. As it has been almost a year, I wanted to
take some time to present a few lessons I have learned since last March.
#1: Fear not
This is a big one. I’ve learned that fear, anxiety, and worry can
grip my heart and make me act in a way that isn’t consistent with who I really
am. As I was putting all of this together,
I saw an example of someone living in fear.
Even though it was a fictional character, it was plausible and helpful
for me to watch it. So I wanted to share
it with you today.
In the 3rd season of the fine animated TV show “Ultimate Spider-Man”, our friendly
neighborhood Spider-Man chases his arch-enemy, the Green Goblin, across
parallel universes. It’s such an epic saga
it takes 4 parts for the story to be told in full. In one of the installments, Spidey comes
across a Spider-Man – known as Spider-Man Noir – who has pushed everyone he
ever loved away. This turned him into a
hardened, but equally lonely man. Why
did he do this? He did it out of the
intense fear that someone would get hurt or killed. Ultimate Spider-Man implores Spider-Man Noir
to let others in because he will be the better for it. And in the end, Noir does so, and he thanks
his counterpart for his influence and help.
The quote that grabbed my attention was when the Mary
Jane Watson of that universe asked Spider-Man Noir why he pushed her away in
the first place. After he explained his
reasoning, she answered: “You can’t live in fear of what might happen.” It’s so true.
Yet how often are we – how often am I – guilty of the very same
thing? We fear rejection, being alone,
loss of health, death, and whatever else you want to put in this sentence.
The only way to live a life without agonizing fear is to
turn these issues over to a trustworthy God.
This is a lesson I’ve learned this year, and I continue to remind myself
of it every day. Trust and irrational fear can’t coexist in a heart. The Bible encourages the child of God not to
be anxious, but rather to present these concerns to God in prayer, and when
this is done, His peace will come rushing in (Philippians 4:6-7). I’ve experienced this phenomenon in my own
life. But it’s a daily battle to remind
myself to turn to my faithful Heavenly Father, and not worry about the “what
ifs”.
I’m still mourning the death of Christian singer Carman
Licciardello, best known as just Carman.
What a voice for the Lord! In his
album called “The Champion” there is
a song that has become an anthem for me.
It is titled “Fear Not My Child.” In the chorus, it is presented as if God
Himself sings these words: “Fear not, my child. I’m with you always. I feel every pain; and every tear I see. Fear not, my child. I’m with you always. I know how to care for what belongs to me.”
To conclude, let me confess that today’s blog took a different
shape than I originally envisioned. I
didn’t intend to camp out on the subject of fear, but it is such an issue that
is of massive importance in the world today; I trust that this is the form that
God wanted it to take. I pray He uses these words for His glory and our good.
Kevin
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