Weekly e-News September 15, 2017
Hey, everyone!
Hope you’re having an awesome, praise-filled, fright-free day! That’s what I hope for you! And as Paul says, “I think I have the mind of the Lord!” I mean, I think that’s what He wants for you too! I think He doesn’t really want us to be afraid all day! It ain’t good for us!
I can remember three years ago when I was at home by myself while Tina was off in Africa and I went out to the barn “to feed them chickens” and I opened up the huge garbage can we kept the chicken food in and up rose a gigantic terrifying…SNAKE!! It was all shiny and “strike-y” (in my opinion) and I almost had “the big one”! I clutched my chest, slammed the lid back on, and tried to think of the next thing to do…A hoe! “I’ll get a hoe and whack it!” So I armed myself and slowly lifted the lid with the handle and…THERE IT STILL WAS!! A SNAKE IN THE CHICKEN FEED!!
“Is this 911 appropriate?” I pondered.
And then I decided to dump the whole bin over, snake and all…which I did. And which solved nothing! But it forced a crisis confrontation which I was not prepared for emotionally or mentally. Anyway, to make a stupid story short, it ended with a lot of wiggling, wriggling, and shaking. And that was just me!
After the shock and terror calmed down, I decided to figure out what kind of snake it was…
“The king black snake is your best friend. It eats mice, rodents, and poisonous snakes. If you see one, leave it in peace as it is one of your best helpers around the farm…”
Dang it!
I read the other day an old resident of the Smokies talking about the “old days” when he was a kid, and about his friend, Sam who was really freaked out by all snakes. As they walked into the barn to milk the cow, the black snake who lived there (they’d named it “Snidely”) was basking on the hay in a ray of sun beaming thru the slats in the barn. Sam screamed and dropped the pail HARD on his foot!
“I yelled, ‘Sam! It’s a black snake! It won’t hurt you!’
He yelled back, ’Yeah, maybe so, but it can make you hurt yourself!’ ”
Y’know, I was noticing the other day how “fear-filled” the news we watch or read is!
It always seems so…
“what-you-need-to-know-to-be-safe”…
“hair-on-fire”!…
“breaking-overnight”…
semi-panic mode.
Just today, looking around, I saw these news reports…
“Fanged demon fish washes up on shore in Texas…What does it mean for you?” (Nothing?)
"If you sit more than 12.5 hours a day, you have a higher chance of dying from ANY cause, a new study finds.…” (Except a heart attack during your marathon race!)
“A line of thunder storms is crossing America. 137 million are at risk!!…” (Of getting wet?)
There are studies that show that sometimes the news might even be intentionally presented to try to scare you so that you get dependent of them for warnings, heads-ups, and any “this-just-ins” you need to be alerted about. As they say, “if it bleeds, it leads”
Most of the scary stuff you read about doesn’t have anything to do with you in any way and isn’t going to harm you at all. Except…if it gets you all nervous, sweaty, and panicked! Research shows that the fear evoked by too much news causes you to be in a state of constant “fight or flight” which “deregulates your immune system… keeps your body in a state of chronic stress…impairs digestion, and causes nervousness and susceptibility to infections…”
Or as Sam put it, even if it can’t hurt you, it can make you hurt yourself!
This is what I read this morning before I checked the day’s news (which I ain’t doi’n much these days…)
“Let the beloved of the Lord rest secure in him, for he shields him all day long!” (Deuteronomy 33:12)…Ahhh! Deep breathe!
Before I read that tho’ I read this from a book I have and read everyday. It’s a book of the letters written by John Newton, author of “Amazing Grace”…Check this
“I will tell you then, though you know it, the Lord reigns! He who once bore our sins, and carried our sorrows — is seated upon a throne of glory, and exercises all power in heaven and on earth! Thrones, principalities, and powers, bow before Him. Every being and event are under His rule. His providence pervades and manages the whole, and is as minutely attentive to every part — as if there were only that single object in His view.
From the tallest archangel, to the meanest ant or fly — all depend on Him for their being, their preservation, and their powers! He directs the sparrows where to build their nests, and to find their food. He overrules the rise and fall of nations; and bends, with an invincible energy and unerring wisdom — all events! … He restrains with a mighty hand, the still more formidable efforts of the powers of darkness; and Satan, with all his hosts, cannot exert their malice a hair's breadth beyond the limits of His permission. Satan may rage — but he is a chained enemy!
(Clip and save!)
Wow!
If you believe that, you don’t ever have to be afraid again!
So don’t worry about thunder storms or fanged demon fish in the news! They can’t hurt you! They can just make you hurt yourself!