Being Heaven Minded in A Downward Spiraling World

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHiJYtVbNWA

Eleven years ago, I went to a youth camp in Tennessee with my church from Louisiana. I was beyond nervous, had never been on any trip like that before, and was intent on being there to learn about God and worship Him only. Making friends and being sociable would only make things worse in my mind.

Yet, being at youth camp required more than just sitting and learning about God. It also required getting to interact with others. One day that week, all the middle schoolers were called out to the fields to play some relay games.

I did not want to do that of course, because as someone with a mental illness and two other disorders, I would not even stand a chance of looking good out on the field.

However, there was someone there who was determined to see me take a chance and have some fun. And she would not take “no” for an answer.

“Jacob, what are you doing?” said Mrs. Mary Fran, my Pre-K Sunday School teacher, as I sat on the grass, watching everyone walk to the games.

“Just sitting, I don’t want to play any of the games,” I said, looking down at the grass.

“Jacob, now you need to get out there and have a little fun. Or I’m gonna wear my bikini. Do you want me to wear my bikini?” said Mrs. Mary Fran as she laid her ultimatum out on the table.

“Uh, no m’aam,” I said rather quickly.

“Well, then run on out there.”

I did wind up playing in the relay games, and while I was not perfect, I ended up having a lot of fun, and getting more dirty than I had ever been in my entire life. I even made it into the video they showed during a later service at camp.

Just a year later, though, I would start a journey of having schizophrenia  which would require more than “bikini” threats for me to succeed.

Yet, in the almost ten years I have been diagnosed with a mental illness, I have learned one thing, forgotten one thing, and remembered it time and time again. God does not want us to live in fear, and as it says in 2 Timothy 1:7,  “God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”

In our world today, we live with threats of economic collapse, terrorist attacks, fears of the “end of the world,” and even of persecution. Each of these since the day I was diagnosed has led me down paths of unceasing fears and anxieties.

Yet, in the midst of all this, I believe God is beckoning us to the field of this chaotic world, is telling us we have nothing to fear, and that “Because He lives, we can face tomorrow” and that “life is worth the living/ just because He lives.”

It is time to stop drawing strength primarily from those around us and from the temporary “treasures of this earth.” It is time to “listen” to the “Holy Spirit within.”

Until Next Time,

Jacobo