musing..."do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more." -luke 12:4"prayer leads us to the knowledge that 'all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.'" - julian of norwichlast week i was living in the house of fear. every day it was a battle to keep my browser off of nytimes.com and to control my rising panic regarding the stock market. at present, i have precious little money in the market, but my development job is closely attuned to movements within the market. hence my fear.on wednesday, in the middle of that dark week, i hurried onto an orange line train at wellington, captured one of the last remaining seats, dug out jesus for president and started to read.
or at least i meant to read.almost immediately my attention was drawn to the black swiss army briefcase which abutted my leg. on top of the briefcase i noticed multi-colored cards, adorned with beautiful arabic script, that were were being pondered one at a time.i wanted to focus on my book and harbor the illusion that i am without prejudice. but i couldn't help myself.eventually, after five long seconds of inner turmoil, i glanced at the keeper of the cards and noticed that he was middle eastern. i wish i could say that he was arabic, persian or egyptian, but i didn't want to stare.sullivan square was coming up and i had a decision to make. should i trust that this man's intentions were as earnest as my own as i sat there reading jesus for president? or should i save myself from the minute possibility of being victimized by another
madrid, another london?i got off the train. i sat in shame.waiting for the next orange line train to forest hills.in the days that followed i dug into the scriptures. i sought a fear of God that would strengthen me to serve. i confessed my idolatry of the dollar and my failure to love my brother, prayer partner, image bearer. i preached, with tears in my eyes, looking for the house of love.