Panic and Peace are not Opposites

Panic and Peace are not Opposites

Jeff Lampl
April 1, 2016

How I learned to freak out differently from others who freak out.

Our daughter, Sarah, is on a semester abroad internship rehabilitating wildlife (including big cats and other big animals) in Namibia in southwest Africa.   By the middle of last week Kathy and I had not heard from her for 5 days.   While I had begun to become concerned, Kathy had begun to panic, like freak out kind of panic.   We tried calling, texting, email, etc, and  . . .nothing!   As Kathy panicked I learned that panic is contagious.

Meanwhile I was preaching and teaching and blogging on peace, how peace doesn’t mean the removal of problems rather it is found in the midst of them.

As my fear, worry and panic grew I did two things.   First I used logic.   I reasoned that if something were wrong we would have heard about it immediately either from Sarah or from her supervisors.   Sarah has never been one to shrink from expressing her need and responsible overseers would not have hesitated to contact us.   That kind of reasoning almost made not hearing from her tell me that she was safe.

But, frankly, I noticed that my emotions were not cooperating with my reason.  Have you ever noticed that reason and logic have the amazing capacity to have absolutely zero effect on your feelings?

Secondly, I was forced to practice what I preach.   I did two things.   I asked myself if there is something within me that has peace about this.   I discovered that there was and is.  

For years now my favorite thoughts about salvation, peace, and joy all revolve around this one statement, “salvation is confidence in God”.   Because Jesus is in charge of the world I actually do have a confidence that he setting the world right.    I was happy to discover this, that it’s not just a decision to trust, but an actual trust.   So, I can tell you that within me was and is the thought the God has “got Sarah’s back” so to speak. 

I have discovered that confidence in God does not remove or replace worry, fear and even panic, rather it’s just there in the midst of those things.   So, I’ve concluded, rightly or wrongly, that panic, fear and worry are simply normal, expected emotions of a loving parent for their child.    Just as we are told to grieve at loss, but to grieve differently from those who have no hope, it seems to me that although we may freak out, we can freak out differently from those who have no hope.

And yes, I'm fully aware that having confidence in God may mean that worst that can happen on earth might just be exactly what does happen. 

If the worst were to happen, I had to ask myself, would there still be a peace and confidence that God was turning this evil into something beautiful?  Well, the worst did not happen, Sarah was in the desert at a research facility with no phone or internet capacity.   Yet had the worst occurred there is something I know, which as of this writing I don’t believe can be removed from me.   I know about Easter.  I know about resurrection.   There is this thing inside of me that says “God’s got this”.  The worst thing in the world can’t not be made right.  

Follow on Twitter @jefflampl