Weekly Update – 17th September

Don’t be scared!

A Father and son were out for a walk in the woods. The Father wanted to help his son to learn to be a man so after a few hours, they stopped by a fallen tree and sat on it.

 

The Father said, “Right Son. What I want you to do is sit here on this log for the night on your own. You need to wear this blindfold and you mustn’t take it off or cry out for help if you get scared. Do you understand? Can you do this?” he asked.

 

The Son felt scared, but he wanted to be a man, so he said, “Yes Dad. I can do that”.

 

So, the Dad put a blindfold on his son and said “Goodbye son. I’ll see you in the morning”.

 

To start with it was ok as the son could feel the warmth of the sunlight on his face but as it got colder and darker, he began to feel afraid. The forest was full of strange noises and rustling and several times during the night he felt very frightened but remember what his Dad said so didn’t cry out or take off his blindfold.

 

Eventually he felt the warmth of the sun on his face again, and he knew it was morning and he remembered his Dad said he could take of the blindfold when it was morning.

 

So, the young man took off his blindfold and blinking in the sunlight, he was suddenly aware of someone sitting next to him on the log. His Dad had been there all-night keeping watch over him and making sure he didn’t come to any harm.

 

This story reminds us that even though we can’t always see him or feel Him or when we are scared, it feels like God isn’t there and we are alone. But our Heavenly Father tells us in Hebrews 13 verse 5

“Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you”. God is always there with you, His word promises us that, not just in Hebrews but throughout the Bible.

 

I have a colleague who is one of the biggest, hairiest yet kindest and most gentle of people that I know. One day whilst on duty with him, I found out what he was scared off. We were on a night shift and as I walked back to the car, the door of the car suddenly opened and he fell out of the vehicle backwards, frantically patting himself down as if trying to rub something out of his beard and hair. It looked very funny but as I ran towards him to laugh a bit more, I realised he was genuinely terrified of something.

 

As I got closer, he was shouting at me “Jax! Help me! Help me! Get it! Get it! Get the spider it’s in the car! It landed on me! Get it! Get it! JAX! GET IT!!!! It was hard not to laugh at the comedic value of his actions but in order for him to get back into the car with confidence, I had to do a full vehicle search. Sometimes fear of things seems a bit daft, but sometimes our fears are very real and God wants you to know that he is with you always, hears you, he sees you and the things you struggle with are important to Him.

 

God is saying to you this week to not be afraid and to trust Him with your fears because He says to you….    Never will I leave you or forsake you” Hebrews 13 vs 5

Have a blessful week.

Jackie