“Life is complicated and not for the timid.

It’s an experience that when it’s done, it will take us a while to get over it.”

Garrison Keillor from Leaving Home

When circumstances are happening fast, situations unfolding in real time, and decisions are being made without the full engagement of sufficient brain power, sometimes you can end up with the wrong wardrobe choices in your suitcase.

I didn’t realize until the morning after being on the road until near midnight that this was my reality for the next several days. But okay. You deal with the hand you’re dealt. The reality –the “hand”– was that I had five pairs of pants in my suitcase and one shirt. A pile of clothes that spoke to the state of mind of the packer. Hoo boy.

No matter how old your kid is, when she smashes her face going over the handle bars of her bike, you must get to her.

Even if she’s 20.

Even if she’s eight hours away (well, 7.25 if I’m driving).

Even if you know she’s got people there who care, love her, and are capable.

Even if you forget how to pack a suitcase.

With no thought to the hows and wherefores of our dashing out of town, we got on the road about mid afternoon. I would’ve hitchhiked if I had to, but thankfully there was a good husband with an actual car and a calm demeanor who knew what to do when I said, “Oh, we ARE going.”

Our youngest daughter, a college junior at Northwest Nazarene University in the fall of 2015, was engaged to be married that December to a terrifically great young man who was also a student at NNU. On a lovely September morning, they were on their bicycles going from one side of the campus to the other which they often did. We, her dad and I, were one state away doing what we often did on an autumn morning — we were at work. He was at church and I was at an elementary school for the very first day of the school year where I was enjoying a new assignment as a para professional and basking in less day-to-day stress than classroom teaching. My phone was off until my mid-morning break so I didn’t see the missed calls and messages until they’d been sitting there for the past two hours. So much for less stress . . .

I wish I still had the texting conversation immortalized somewhere to illustrate the various personality types involved. My husband, Captain Understatement, had left a couple of sentences regarding a bit of a bicycle mishap and barely mentioning “hospital” and “ambulance.” I, First Mate Splatter Reactor, dropped my banana after one bite and called him. Within minutes the decision was made that we would inform our jobs of our impending departure, wish them well, go home, pack (hahaha), and get on the road.

I must insert a bit of a caveat here. This particular kid was a hard one to not hover over and releasing her to this seemingly medium-sized situation without my presence seemed impossible. Her precious head had been operated on by a pediatric neurosurgeon twice during her high school years and I felt mighty protective of it. I needed to see for myself. And if I had to wear the same shirt for days on end, so be it.

Here she is after getting cleaned up and with some fantastic swelling settling in. The final injury list?

• Bilateral maxillary sinus fracture
• Nose fracture requiring septoplasty
• Right orbital “blow out” fracture
• Upper lip laceration requiring stitches (teeth went through it)
• Concussion

This is not a post about a bicycle accident. Or hovering mothers. Or poor packing skills. It’s about sudden crisis. Anxiety. Stress and strain. Fear. Worry.

And our reaction to all of that.

Honestly, I’d like to be better at it. And it’s humbling to admit that I’m not always the best.

Scripture is clear on this subject. It does not mince words. You may be familiar with some of the most well known verses like:

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

Philippians 4:6

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Matthew 6:34

When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy.

Psalm 94:19

Out of the many multiple locations in the Bible where you can find direction for dealing with fear and worry and anxiety, here’s my Go-To:

I sought the Lord , and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.

Psalm 34:4

In Psalm 34 David, whom scholars credit with writing this psalm, is relaying a scenario in which he was afraid. Justifiably afraid. King Saul was after him in earnest and David attempted to try an interesting (some commentators say “sinful”) tactic as he pretends to be insane so that legally he could not be killed. He’s hiding in a cave. A real cave, people. Not just a “cave” cave. And he survives. And he knows why. It’s not because of his semi-ridiculous performance as a crazy person. No. It’s because he “sought the Lord.”

In his commentary on Psalm 34, Scott Hoezee with the Center for Excellence in Preaching says this:

We can observe that for all its sunny promises, Psalm 34 is not the only type of [this kind of poem] within the Hebrew Psalter.  There are plenty of other laments that indicate not only that trouble can and often does come to even righteous people, but sometimes that trouble lingers for a good long while too.  We for sure need to know this and preach about this.  The one line of thought we should wish to banish from the church as much as any other is the one that says “When trouble comes, it’s because your faith is weak or you did something wrong or you did not pray hard enough or . . . .”  Or any number of things that you can read about in the Book of Job on the lips of Job’s miserable so-called friends.

Did you read that? Did you hear that? If not, please read it again. Trouble does not visit you because your faith is weak or because you did something wrong. Don’t let anybody tell you it does. Maybe your faith is weak. Or maybe you did do something wrong. But friends, trouble visits everyone. Everyone. Even David in a cave. Even my kid on a bicycle on a beautiful morning with her precious surgeried head. Even your loved ones. Even mine. Even me. Even you.

So here’s the kicker.

We have a choice in our reactions to trouble and trauma. It’s not wrong to have emotions. Certainly not. But if we’ve done work ahead of time — studied the Word and prayed in communion with the One who stills our trembling hearts — we can more peacefully deal with life this side of heaven (I’m preaching to myself. Make no mistake).

Can you say you “sought the Lord” the last time a situation arose? Honestly, I can think of some difficulties that have presented themselves in my own life that didn’t get taken to the Lord first and probably were much more traumatic and volatile than they needed to be. But that’s just me, First Mate Splatter Reactor. God is not finished with me yet.

Hopefully that doesn’t mean he’s going to make me live to be 114 or something like that until I get it right. Ugh.

One hundred days after that bicycle accident here’s our beautiful daughter and her wonderful husband, whom she almost traumatized to death that day in September. He and I had an emotional precious phone conversation that morning while he stepped out of her hospital room and I drove way too fast to get home to throw pants and a shirt into a suitcase. He’s a keeper. They will be celebrating their 10th anniversary this December.

Be encouraged, dear Ones. Find yourself a Bible and read Psalm 34 in several versions. Commit verse 4 to memory. And pull it out of your mental file first when your kid goes over the handlebars on her face.

Here’s a song I’ve shared before.

Much love,

MM