I Skeered

 The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the defense of my life; whom shall I dread?

(Psalm 27:1)

I remember growing up and often being scared of the dark, scared of dark woods, shadows, monsters under the bed, in the closet, outside the window, and most of all the monsters that I brought on myself...yes the reason I was scared most all the time when I was young, was because I brought the fear on myself. Here are a few examples. 

Once I went to a friend's house who lived behind us, just on the other side of a small patch of woods, which I had to walk through, down a narrow path to get there. While over there one evening he talked me into staying to watch an educational film...the first Halloween movie. They had HBO, we did not, so this was something I thought was great, I sat and watched it. I was scared to death by the time they finally killed Michael Myers....or did they? 

The wild thing was, that coming over there was easy, it was daylight...but coming home at nine at night, through the woods....AHHHHHHH!!!! What was I thinking?? watching Halloween!!! Was I stupid? I had to walk home down that dark dimly moonlit path. I couldn't call my dad to come get me, he would wonder why I couldn't just walk home, I had done it a million times. I couldn't tell him that I watched that movie...he would have killed me!! So I toughed it out. I reluctantly entered the woods hearing things I have never heard before, feeling faint, clammy, my stomach was really rolling. But as fast as I entered those woods I left those woods, like a gazelle I ran, jumping over vines, juking limbs, if anyone would have grabbed me it would have ripped their arms off. I learned quick that scary movies were not my thing....& still are not today. Heck i don't do good with Criminal Minds. 

Another time I had  purchased a large poster from my school's book fair...funny, I don't ever remember buying books at those things. I got home with that poster and quickly grabbed some thumb tacks and hung it up where it was visible from every area of the room. It was an awesome poster. A graveyard scene. Tombstones, large, old tree with no leaves, a light fog covering the ground and a full moon in the sky. But that wasn't all. There were different classic monsters on this poster, Frankenstein with outstretched arms, the wolfman looking out from behind the tree, Dracula creeping toward you, the mummy rising up from a grave and the Creature from the Black Lagoon coming out of the small pond in the right corner....oooohhh yea that was a scary poster. 

It hung there all day and then that night it was time for bed, so I cut off my light, and running from my bedroom door, I leaped from about three feet away, onto my bed...SAFE!!! Don't laugh you did it too, didn't want the monster under the bed to grab my feet while I was getting in.  I was just getting comfortable when to my utter terror, I noticed something that had slipped my mind...the monsters on the poster...GLOWED IN THE DARK!!!! What was I, a goodun? Why did I hang that stupid poster? I was terrified...I had to sleep under the covers for protection  till morning when I could take it down. We all know that the thin sheets of a childs bed wards off monsters.  

Yea, I was a scared little kid growing up, but why? Like I said above, I usually brought it on myself, watching things I shouldn't and tampering with scary stuff. God doesn't want us to fear...He want's us to take comfort in Him, knowing that He will protect us. 

Psalm 27:1 says "The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the defense of my life; whom shall I dread?" With God as our protector, we have no one to fear. God also tells us in 2 Timothy 1:7, that He doesn't give us fear, "For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control." So when you feel scared, remember who that comes from, then turn to God and allow Him to take it away. 

But also stay away from those things that are meant to bring fear into your life. Philippians 4:8 tells us to concentrate on what is good, "Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things." Now that's how to keep unwanted fear out of your life, dwell on good things not bad. 

Vern