{"id":57,"date":"2015-04-15T09:21:50","date_gmt":"2015-04-15T14:21:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordsfromthehomefront.com\/?p=57"},"modified":"2016-08-23T09:25:53","modified_gmt":"2016-08-23T14:25:53","slug":"life-is-hard-dont-be-afraid-of-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordsfromthehomefront.com\/index.php\/2015\/04\/15\/life-is-hard-dont-be-afraid-of-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Life IS Hard. Don’t be Afraid of the World"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are times when I wake up and I start reading all the email {insert coffee here<\/em>} that came in overnight- well, truthfully reading essentials and trashing what I can and leaving some unopened for later when it\u2019s convenient to read. Then there are the times I wake up, start reading the email and it\u2019s just TMI {even with coffee<\/em>}.<\/p>\n

More than I can take in and process. It\u2019s not that I don\u2019t want to know what\u2019s on sale at my favorite shopping spots on the web; it\u2019s not that I don\u2019t want to read a friend\u2019s latest blog post; it\u2019s not that I don\u2019t want to know what\u2019s been dug up by archaeologists and how that relates to scripture and history repeating itself. It\u2019s just information overload. Those days I\u2019m doing good to be breathing and vertical.<\/span><\/p>\n

Those days I begin to think that having the slate wiped is not such a bad thing. All the way back to\u00a0Tabula Rasa<\/a>\u00a0–\u00a0the blank slate waiting to be written upon. For new things never thought before, never learned, never believed to be carved upon my heart and mind. \u00a0An in real life do-over. {how’s that for weird?<\/em>}<\/span><\/p>\n

However, can we un-have an experience, an emotion, a touch, a vision, an overheard conversation? Of course, we can\u2019t. So we bumble along, a jumble of thoughts, memories, emotions, beliefs, likes, dislikes hoping that we don\u2019t make a mess of it along the way.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet, we are here for a reason. \u00a0Jesus, in praying for the disciples and for future believers, says in\u00a0John 17:18<\/em>–<\/em>\u00a0“As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.”<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

We have been sent. Right into the thick of it. Scary thought. Right?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0He also tells us:\u00a0\u201cDo not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>John 14:27b.<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know about you, but when someone tells me not to be afraid or troubled that\u2019s about the time I start being troubled and afraid. Because, by the very way it is spoken, it implies that there are going to be troubling and fearful things we will encounter out there in the world.<\/span><\/p>\n

The truth of it is that some days we will shut down whether from TMI or from the things at hand. Life is hard. And it doesn\u2019t matter if you live in a pup-tent or a palace- the news of what\u2019s going on in the world can send us over the edge of reason.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The good news of it all is that Jesus told us that it will be hard, that we will suffer, that the world will hate us because it hates Him. He gave us fair warning of what we will face as His followers.\u00a0 He knew what we would be facing whether in first century Christianity or in twenty-first century. \u00a0We are not alone and we are not blank slates.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cBut the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>John 14:26<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

So, we open our email, we trash the irrelevant, we answer the important, we save the ones we want to read later. And, we get on with the day.\u00a0 We have much to learn about not being alone, troubled and afraid. He has much to teach us.<\/span><\/p>\n

May all we hear and see and read and reach today remind us that He is with us and this is a life lesson He is teaching us. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0Are you ready? School is about to start for another day.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dear reader, thanks for reading my early morning rambling thoughts today. \u00a0What’s rambling about in your corner of the world this morning?<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are times when I wake up and I start reading all the email {insert coffee here} that came in overnight- well, truthfully reading essentials and trashing what I can and leaving some unopened for later when it\u2019s convenient to read. Then there are the times I wake up, start reading the email and it\u2019s … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[45,42,41,11,44,43],"class_list":["post-57","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","tag-alone","tag-blank-slate","tag-holy-spirit","tag-jesus","tag-suffering","tag-tmi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordsfromthehomefront.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordsfromthehomefront.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordsfromthehomefront.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordsfromthehomefront.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordsfromthehomefront.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wordsfromthehomefront.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58,"href":"https:\/\/wordsfromthehomefront.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57\/revisions\/58"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordsfromthehomefront.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordsfromthehomefront.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordsfromthehomefront.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}