Fear… what is it good for?

Fear…  what is it good for?   Absolutely nothing.    A twist on some song lyrics… but it’s my way of saying we all seem to live with fear these days…     and we need  to put faith over fear.

What is going on with the stock market today??   What is going on with the Russian connection on oil prices?  Why are stock values dropping so fast?

How bad is the coronavirus really?    Who can I believe?   Will more and more sports events and concerts be cancelled?  Will schools close?     Can the big cruise industry recover from this?    How long can cruise lines and airlines lose money before going under?    What other American businesses will feel the effect?   How long will it go on?  How can we keep calm during this time until it ends?

Another fear for many:  Will we have to live through 4 more years of the president we have?  Who, by the way, called the coronavirus tests ‘beautiful’?   What?    Ha       How out of touch is he to reality?   Who else will he fire?    What crazy thing will he tweet today?   What will happen as the presidential candidates move forward?    What new information will come out?   November seems so far away.

The current situation with coronavirus and all the effects from it happening, and the fear we have from it, is a big example of how we are ‘global’ and we can not live without care and concern for other countries.  A fast moving, highly contagious ‘flu’ knows no borders.  In these times especially.  Plagues and epidemics of the past were horrible, but easier to contain.  In today’s world we all travel much more, and we live and work with people from all over the globe.  An “America only” mentality is impossible.  “Make America Great Again” says it subtly….but, yes, it says to fear what America is today.   It also paints a false ‘beautiful’ picture about what it used to be.   The good old days always had troubles too.

We live at a time where our president likes to play on our fears, scaring us about illegals, and foreign countries out to get us.  He tells us we are being wronged. He speaks of injustice, especially to him.   He uses words to purposely make us nervous (and in need of our own defense) instead of speaking of coming together to get through tough times.

So, yes,  it Is a fearful time.   We are worried about our own health and our money.   We are worried that both will fail us.   We worry about our country’s economics.

These times are a reminder that we live in a world that will continue to have scary things happen, and often they are things beyond our control.  We live on a big planet that has natural and man-made catastrophes.

We need to turn to each other, not away from each other, when fear starts to make us nervous.   God said to love your neighbor.  Take care of each other. Pray for  each other.    In good times and bad.   God never said ‘every man for himself’ or arm yourself and fear others.

I am reading the book “Grace will Lead us Home” by Jennifer Berry Howes right now.  She was a Charleston Post & Currier newswriter when the horrific event happened at the Emmanuel AMC Church.   The book goes through the days and months after that shooting that took 9 lives as a Bible Study was ending.    The title says it all… about the gift of grace that the survivors and families found.  The book  also speaks of the sins of so many….first Dylan Roof, but then also those who tried to take donation money and misuse it for personal benefit.   Some left the church over it, and some had major divisions happen within families.   Fear seeped in.   Personal, individual worries took over.

So – we need to remember:   Grace over fear.    President Obama spoke of it at Reverend and State Sen. Pickney’s televised funeral, one of the Emanuel 9.   In fact, the president then started singing “Amazing Grace” and everyone in the arena joined in.   It was a moment of unity, and a belief that fear will never make us better.   God’s grace and love will conquer fear.

So, as we go through what is happening now with the coronavirus and the stock market, we can remember that grace will take away our fear.   Faith is stronger than fear.    What will happen in the coming months?   We don’t know.  We can be fearful about it, or we can look forward with hope… and with faith that we will get through. It might be a rough ride for a little while, but we can hold on together.

Don’t live in fear.   Don’t let fear control your actions.

Fear…. what is it good for?  Absolutely nothing.