Mark 4:35-41
Many years ago when I was a young preacher, I noticed one day that a new family had moved into a neighborhood not far from my church. So I dropped by late one afternoon. I noticed that one car was parked in the carport. I went to the side door, the one opening onto the carport. I had rung the door bell only once when I heard a deep, bass growl that sounded like the rolling of thunder. It was coming from the back of the carport and it made the hair on the back of my neck stand straight up.
Advertisement
I glanced to my left and there, about 20 feet away in a crouched position, was a huge German Shepherd with glowing, malignant eyes and pearly-white teeth. I could tell he wanted some of me.
I began backing slowly away from that door, in the direction of my car, all the while speaking words of pastoral comfort to the dog. The dog eased in my direction, keeping that same 20 feet between me and him.
It must have been a Baptist dog; I never saw a dog in my life have such a problem with a Methodist preacher.
Finally I reached my car, jumped in quickly and slammed the door, and offered a quick prayer of thanks for heavenly protection.
I wasn't worth much good at work the rest of that day. Fear had stolen my energy. I went home. I did make one more phone call. I called my friend, the local Baptist preacher, and told him about this new family that had moved in, and that I was pretty sure they were Baptists.
Basil King, in his book The Conquest of Fear, points out that fear causes more misery than all the sin and sickness of our lives combined. He writes, “We are not sick all the time. We are not sinning all the time. But most people are afraid of something or somebody all the time."
Because fear and anxiety are so pervasive, my message for today is designed to help us overcome those problems.
I must first remind you that reasonable or normal fear is a good thing, a gift from God. Otherwise, when I'm visiting the zoo I might be tempted to crawl over the fence and pet the polar bear on the head. Fear holds me back. Most of us busy people might break the speeding laws more frequently if we didn't fear the man with the revolving blue light.
That reminds me. Several weeks ago I was driving through Piperton, Tennessee, just on the other side of Collierville, when one of those 40-mile-per-hour zones slipped up on me unnoticed. Suddenly those blue lights were flashing behind me. I must confess to you that I was so flustered that when the policeman asked for my driver’s license, I gave him my VISA card. Then I worried that he might think I was trying to bribe him.
The point I'm making is that reasonable or normal fear protects us from danger.