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Have you ever been scared? Perhaps these who will be Baptized this morning are a wee bit scared. But how about you? Have you ever been scared? I mean really - REALLY scared?

I will never forget the walk down that long hall of the hospital. We were walking arm in arm my wife and I. There were tears streaming down my face and my body was trembling. At the other end of the hall was a room which was different from all the other rooms on that hall. The lights were on. Someone was in that room. Actually there were two people in that room. A doctor and his nurse. They were waiting in that room. Waiting for someone to enter the room. They were waiting on my wife and I. It was there that we were to hear the verdict handed down to us from the Department of Pathology at Forsyth Hospital in Winston Salem, North Carolina.

Have you ever been scared? I mean REALLY scared? That day marked for my family and myself a genesis of fears and questions about an uncertain future like we had never known before.

We are a segregated people. One person has said the "Church" is the most segregated place there is on Sunday morning. We erect barriers separating us from other people. Barriers come in all shapes and sizes. There are racial barriers, cultural barriers, denominational barriers, theological barriers, and the list continues into perpetuity. One thing that I have noticed is that while we are all a uniquely created product of the infinite wisdom of God, there are some characteristics that we all have in common. It is THOSE characteristics that breaks through the barriers that we have either consciously or unconsciously erected.

One of those characteristics is fear. In the past year, even in recent months and days we have all traveled in the fear zone. Our lives have been invaded by unwelcome occurrences. Unexpected deaths, unexpected illnesses, undeterminable hurricanes and tornadoes, unexpected financial disasters, family problems, and this list also continues into perpetuity.

When these things happen all of a sudden it doesn’t matter wither we are black, white, Hispanic, rich, poor, young, old, educated, uneducated, Baptist, United Methodist, or simply a lone lost duck in the desert, we enter the dreaded place I call the "fear zone."

The question that erupts from our mouths as lava from a volcano - "WHY??!!" It is then that the stuff we thought was so important becomes trivial and even non-existent. All we want is for someone to come and take this fear away from us.

I remember that at the age of seven I was standing beside my Grandfather’s bed. He was very sick and my Mother had come and asked me if I wanted to say "good-bye" to him before God took him away. As I stood there I became terrified as I witnessed his death.

As I grew my Mother was quite sick often requiring hospital stays. I remember to this day the fear I associated with each of her hospitalizations. Each time I would ask her "Mommy will you be okay? Mommy are you going to die like Grandpa?" What I really wanted my Mother to say was "I will be just fine Ray - I promise I will." I wanted her to take away my fear.

In his letter to the church in Corinth, the Apostle Paul write:

"When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things." (1 Cor 13:11 KJV)

I guess we all like to think that we’ve "grown up," that we are no longer children. My wife says that even at the age of 41 I still act like a child! But while I realize that I have put away many of the things of childhood, I also know that there are times in my life when I still become scared - REALLY scared.

I think the evidence that we have matured both as people and as Christians is found in how we interact with the tragedies of our lives. I can remember the fear I felt when I was a child and I am here to tell you that the "feeling" of fear has not changed one iota. What HAS changed is how I interact with that feeling of fear - to whom I turn to find my courage and take away my fears.

I like the psalmist David. We often have this wonderfully painted picture that all of the people who contributed to what we call "The Bible" were perfect people. If you study their lives you find that most of them were really very ordinary people and some of them were a far cry from being "saints." They were the man or woman next door. David had some wonderful times of great spirituality. He also arranged for a man’s murder so he could have his wife. David represents to me a person on a spiritual journey. He talks about fear a lot in the Psalms. In fact, the word "fear" appears over sixty times throughout the Psalms.

How did David interact with fear? What can I learn from the Psalmist that is relevant for us today just before the millennium?

"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." (Ps 23:4 KJV)

"The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?" (Ps 27:1 KJV)

"Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident." (Ps 27:3 KJV)

"For I have heard the slander of many: fear was on every side: while they took counsel together against me, they devised to take away my life. But I trusted in thee, O LORD: I said, Thou art my God." (Ps 31:13-14 KJV)

Then there is one of my favorites: The 46th Psalm:

"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.

There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early. The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted. The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.

Come, behold the works of the LORD, what desolations he hath made in the earth. He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire. Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah." (Ps 46 KJV)

I find comfort in the Psalmist’s words. But then again this man arranged for another’s death didn’t he? Can I trust his words? I think so for I think God used David then and continues to use David to minister to the hearts and needs of His people today.

But if we chose not to hear the words of such a man will we listen to the words from God?

"Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness." (Isaiah 41:10 KJV)

Sometimes as a result of bad dreams, my children wake up in the middle of the night crying. Stephanie or myself go stumbling up the stairs to find them sitting up in bed with tears running down their little cheeks. The first thing I do is sit down on the bed beside them, set them in my lap, wipe the tears from their cheeks, and gently, yet firmly enough to let them know they are secure, I wrap my arm around their back, kiss them on the cheek, and say "It’s okay honey - Daddy’s here. You don’t need to be scared - Daddy’s right here."

That’s what Jesus does for us when we are feeling scared. He does it every time - even when we don’t realize it. He wraps us securely in His arms, wipes the tears from our eyes and says: "It’s okay Ray - I’m right here. You don’t need to be afraid, It’s Jesus and I’m right here."

After all we have His promise:

"And remember, I am with you always,"

Amen.

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