Running After Me

It's that time of year again. The haunted houses are full of paying customers, waiting to be chased with chainsaws and thrilled with jump scares when they least expect it. I had a childhood fear of walking outside to take the trash to the swale in the dark. I ran back inside, almost tripping over my own feet because I was convinced that something was lurking in the shadows waiting to give chase. Even in a reasonably insulated Christian summer camp, legends were whispered by candlelight and bathrooms were full of screaming girls who couldn't look in the mirror lest they be confronted by Bloody Mary herself. Childhood campfires require a good ghost story and a mouth full of s'mores.

Although I was never allowed to watch horror movies, childhood bullies tormented me. In church. At school. In my neighborhood. The seventies and eighties were synonymous with "figure it out" and "grow thicker skin." Flying fists and takedowns were a normal rite of passage in my middle school and fear developed a stronghold in my heart. There are the common fears of ghosts, monsters, gators, heights, and darkness. But then there are the more insidious and unspoken fears of abandonment and even change itself. As benign as my precious dog Bessie may be, neighbors have scurried to the other side of the street because of a prior experience with an unprovoked attack.

As of the writing of this blog, Hurricane Ian (one of the most devastating storms on record in Florida) has left its mark. Do you ever feel like storms are chasing you faster than you can evacuate? Take a cue from my book, Storm Chasers, and flip the script. Chase your storm and refuse the victim mentality because alignment comes after agitation. On a practical level, overworked parents may hide in the bathroom or closet because they are desperate for a moment of peace before tiny feet chase them down with endless demands! Have you ever hidden from that "one manager" because a never-ending stack of projects was about to take a detour to your desk? Toxic work environments often require an escape plan.

Human nature is a funny thing. We tend to dismiss the good things in life as expected and we focus our attention on the negative. A professor once asked students what they saw when looking at a piece of paper with an ink dot in the center. Every single person identified the small dot, but no one focused on the ample clean white space for writing. How often do we focus on seasons of sickness without acknowledging the blessing of physical health? Maybe the recent barrage of bad news has conditioned you to believe that disaster is lurking at your door. Dark proclamations from decrepit portals of our lives still echo through halls that have already been renovated with words of destiny.

My brother, Stephen, believed in a God who was faithful and true. Even though my brother fought a nightmarish battle with ALS, we would listen to the song, "Goodness of God" together on the fifth-floor room of Cleveland Clinic. Once He tasted of The Lord, his life was forever changed, and his circumstances no longer defined him. The lyrics describe a God who is literally chasing us down with His goodness. This God loves like a hurricane--so you can accept the love and bend underneath His breath (like a palm tree) or evacuate and take cover elsewhere. Either way, He is relentless and active in our lives. He is not a passive force. He would send out a search party for one lost sheep because YOU MATTER.

I grew up in a home where rules often trumped relationships. I assumed that God was the same way, but here is what I learned: His mercy and forgiveness outrun my failures every time. When divine goodness flows down, nothing can stop it any more than you can stop the force of gravity! This is the time of year when fear is celebrated, and darkness takes center stage. What better time is there to allow His light to shine into every area of our lives? Fear and faith can't coexist, so this is an intentional choice. Why not allow His presence to take over as the new tenant in your life? As soon as you wave the white flag of surrender, you can bask in relentless waves of God's favor. It's October. Start running towards your destiny.

Psalm 63:1 (KJV)

O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;