What Does Panic Do To You?

     Today's falling story is Brittne’s favorite story of all the falling stories. Now this is probably because this is the only fall that she personally witnessed. So, Brittne this story is for you! The following story only happened for one reason; I panicked! It is easy to panic when you are teaching a child how to drive! Bryce was fourteen and was starting to prepare for his big driving test. In Montana, they get their license at 15 and their permit at fourteen. Teaching Bryce how to drive was a little harder than normal because I had a standard drive vehicle. Besides the normal driving rules, I had to teach him how to shift with the right timing and how to coordinate it with the clutch. One day, we were leaving a basketball game and Bryce started to plead with me to let him drive. We were going home just a few blocks away, so I agreed. The thing I had forgotten when I agreed to let him drive was that traffic was going to be bad with everyone leaving the ball game at once. As he was driving out of the parking lot, he stopped to look for oncoming traffic from both directions. It was then that my panic set in! He had stopped the car on a small incline. It is difficult to teach the skill of going forward after stopping and even harder to learn how to do that when you are on a hill. It is even harder with a large line of cars behind you waiting for you to figure it out! Bryce tried once or twice but each time he rolled too far back and now was almost kissing the car behind us. In shear panic, I declared the lesson over! Like a Chinese fire dill, I jumped out of the car and started to run around to the drivers seat to take over the control of the vehicle. As I ran around the back of the car (in front of all the cars lined up behind us) I wiped out on the gravel that was the remnants of the ice and snow I had slipped on only a few days earlier during the progressive dinner. My children were too humiliated to get out of the car; so I was lying on the ground trying to figure out how bad the road rash was on my knees. The gentlemen who had gotten a front row seat of this lovely performance, got out of his car to help me up. When I got to the driver's seat, my lovely children asked, "Oh, did you fall?" and then proceeded to crack up laughing!
     Panic has gotten the best of me many times! Not just in life but in my spiritual walk with God. Often I panic over the length of time God keeps me waiting and I decide to take action myself. This never works and I am doomed to fall on my face. Sometimes, I panic because of the situation I find myself in and instead of taking the time to think through the situation, I respond. It usually isn't pretty! These are usually the times I take a big spiritual fall in front of several observers or victims of my emotional fit-throwing behavior. The one thing I am sure of is that anytime I am controlled by panic, the odds are, I am going to take a spiritual fall.
     How do you respond to panic? Do you turn to the Lord and let him calm you and direct you, or do you react without thinking and let your emotions rule you? Any time we find our self in a state of panic it should be a warning to us that we need to grab the hand of the Lord before we slip and fall from our undisciplined thinking. The definition for panic is ‘a sudden fear which dominates or replaces thinking’. Fear is not from the Lord, it is from Satan. If we surrendered our life to the Lord then we should have surrendered our bodies. If we surrendered our body then we surrendered our mind. If our minds are surrendered, our thoughts should belong to him! They are not ours to give over to Satan and his fear tactics! Do you belong to God? Does your body belong to God? Does your mind belong to God? Lastly, do your thoughts belong to God? If your thoughts are the Lord’s, then it is time you protect them from Satan.

Be not afraid of sudden terror and panic, nor of the stormy blast or the storm and ruin of the wicked when it comes (for you will be guiltless).  For the lord shall be your confidence, firm and strong and shall keep your foot from being caught (in a trap or some hidden danger).

Proverbs 3:25-26