Fear and the Way Forward

Since Jeanette stopped working at the church when Erica was born, we have been searching for a new church to attend. I guess, theoretically, we could go to FHBC, but I don't think it's really much of an option at this point for a number of reasons that this is neither the time nor the place to discuss. We have been visiting a local church called Grace.

The preacher is in the middle of a series on Exodus (I assume it's about Exodus because that's where we've been the last two Sundays that we attended.) This past Sunday, he preached from the passage about the parting of the Red Sea, and I did pretty much what I've done the other times I've visited which is zone out because I'm so tired. He talked being the people of Israel being taken from fear to faith as they are standing there with an army ready to take them back to slavery on one hand and a sea ready to drown them if they stepped in on the other. The preacher said lots of things that usually get said when talking about fear and faith: how God orchestrates events to lead us to faith and that events show off what's really going on in our hearts.

It was about here that I realized that this sermon had something to say to me right where I live. I'm a thinker and as a thinker, I think and think and think and sometimes drive myself crazy with fear and worry. I think the current financial situation has made a nation of fearful people, fearful for our jobs, our future, our children's future, even the future of our society. Unfortunately, fear usually leads to poor decisions instead of good ones, whether rashly made decisions or one's clouded by our own poor judgement. Faith is the place that one can say, "No matter what direction the economy, both national and personal, may go, no matter the future, God is still in control and in Him I will place my trust."

Psalm 32:7- You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance."

It's funny. I think this was easier for me when I was single. Now, being married with a kid, I'm not just trusting God for me, but for Jeanette and Erica, too.
Another funny thing, I'm reading a book about the doctrine of predestination during my hiatus from school. I'm not sure what means for these thoughts, but I'll be interested to see if the author addresses this at all.