With the national news cycle like it was, last week, I believe many mothers were like me and thinking a lot about their children's safety in this evil world, which never ceases to amaze us with its mushrooming depravity. This past weekend and not too far from where we live, there was an armed robbery that took two innocent lives at a gas station. A young clerk and a father pumping gas, while his family was in the car. The tragedy has been at the forefront of conversation everywhere I've been since then. I've heard a lot of comments like, "What is the world coming to?" and "You're just not safe anywhere anymore." Seems like no matter if you live in New York City, a farming community in Iowa, or a little tucked away place in Mississippi, you just can't hide from evil.

There's a verse in Psalm that says, "The Lord is my helper and I will not fear what man shall do unto me."  I do admire the unknown psalmist, but if we were all being real honest here, um, not many of us could really say that last part with too much sincerity. There are some things, which man could doeth unto to me and mine, that I feareth very much.

Recently, I met Blair at about the halfway point between us. We spent a few hours shopping and eating with some people we love before it was time to go our separate ways again. She mentioned that she needed to fill up with gas before getting back on the road to head home, so I told her I'd follow her to the gas station. Yes, she's a grown woman.Yes, she travels extensively on a daily basis. Yes, she fills up her car without my assistance all the time. But, yes, this was one trip to a gas station that I could go with her and I did. Really, I'm not an overly protective mother and that's not something I'd normally do, but I did that day.

I pulled in behind her and sat in the car, while she pumped the gas...knowing I had my 38 special in the glove box should we need it. I was like the secret service only without an ear piece. My very sensitive maternal radar coupled with my mind, saturated by the recent violence in news, spotted a guy, who drove up, pulled off to the side of the parking lot, and just sat in his car. He rolled his windows down and was looking around. Of course, my overzealous mother instincts told me he was looking at my daughter. I waited for her to get done and I got out and we hugged and said goodbye. I quietly called her attention to the guy in the car and told her to make sure he didn't pull out behind her.

We got in our vehicles and both turned out onto the main road together as my eyes were peeled in the rearview mirror making sure his car wasn't moving..... and it wasn't. Quickly, we got to the point in the road, where she turned one way and I turned the other....leaving the guy still sitting in the parking lot as he was probably just a missionary home on furlough, who'd just finished his shift at a soup kitchen, and was meeting his grandmother there to pump her gas for her before he had to head to the hospital to donate his bone marrow to save a sick orphan child.

The news will do that to you, you know. My family would tell you I keep the news on all the time, but, even if you aren't a news watcher, you'd have to totally disconnect from social media and the world wide web altogether to escape the constant barrage of disturbing information. We hear so much bad stuff that we can get to the point where we don't trust anyone. We might start to see everyone as having menacing motives for everything they do. Even just sitting in a parking lot.

So, how do we handle the overdose of alarming information and keep things in perspective?

If we let it, I guess it can be kind of like me at bedtime, last Saturday night. I wasn't feeling the greatest. I'd had a terrible crick in my neck all day and my allergies were acting up with ragweed starting to do whatever it does, this time of year. I was so ready to crash when bedtime rolled around. I took an ibuprofen. I washed my face with lavender soap and turned on my bedside diffuser filled with lavender oil. (I'm not really an essential oil fanatic, but I do love the smell of pure lavender.) I turned the thermostat down to 71 and cranked up our white noise machine. Our sheets were fresh and crisp and the sleep environment was just perfect.

I crawled into bed and got my firm pillow just right. I pulled the covers up and stuck my feet out to maintain just the right body temperature and was ready for the Sandman. Just about the time I was getting drowsy, a cricket started chirping right outside the window closest to my side of the bed. It was so loud. Almost like he was on a PA system out there. I tried to ignore him and concentrate on the white noise, but he had this rhythmic thing going. It was something like chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp...…..chiiiirp, chiiiiirp, chiiiiirp.....and then he'd wait about 7 seconds and repeat. On and on and on. I'm not sure if he was singing one of those praise choruses that repeats a lot or what, but it was definitely something he was feeling passionate about.

There, I had everything I needed for rest and peace.....my lavender, my cool temps, my crisp sheets, my white noise, my ibuprofen, my extra firm pillow, and all I could think about was the cricket. Of all the things that were calling me to rest, my mind couldn't block out that blasted insect.

I thought that's how we get with all the scary events around us and the 24 hour information bombardment. There's so much that's good surrounding us and we have everything we need in Jesus to live in peace and calm, but, sometimes, we can't help but concentrate on the constant chirping of evil. Over and over and over again, we hear the approaching sound of evil stepping over lines, reaching into new territory, coming out of the darkness, and gaining boldness by leaps and bounds. We pray for our kids and pray for our family's protection, but it's hard not to let our minds become captivated by the drumbeat of evil.

I haven't personally counted, but I've heard it said that God tells us "do not fear" about 80 times in the Bible. That command was nestled in a lot of verses, which covered many different life experiences and situations and yet He stuck with the same advice over and over, "do not fear". I guess that would suggest that we should not fear in any circumstance that life might bring. Fear is the opposite of faith, so if He's telling us not to fear, He's also asking us to live with faith. While we can be realistic and cautious about the fallen world around us, we're not to hide from it or be scared to live boldly in it. It's hard to be salt and light for a world from which we're hiding. "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind."  2 Timothy 1:7 

We know how the story ends. "...and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever." (Revelations 20:10) Until then, we can choose to live boldly in this world with faith and courage and the hope of ultimate victory over evil.

Never retreating.

Not even one step.


Have a great day, friends!
We'll talk later in the week.