Finding a Peaceful Place to Land

Sounds like I’m looking for a Peace Island – worry-free, troubles-free, people-who-disagree-with-me free, chaos-free, hatred-free, discord-and-distrust free. Peace Island is all peace and calm and comfort. Another name for this Peace Island is Fantasy Island – because, well – we won’t find any place on this earth where peace reigns supreme.

Our Lord guaranteed it. Straight from our Lord are His words from John 16: 33 “In the world you will have trouble!” I have my fingers in my ears because I don’t want to hear about troubles. “No, Lord! I don’t want troubles. With all due respect, that’s not Peace Island!” And the Lord replies ever so tenderly: “Oh, yes, daughter, it is – “IN ME you will have peace because I have overcome the world.” That’s the rest of John 16:33.

My lightning fast mind gets it now. No need to book a flight to a far-off island to find peace, because it’s not a “that” or an “it” place. It’s a “He” place. We find that peace in His presence. It is the only place of peace that we can obtain beyond our thoughts and feelings. It is the peace that comes with Divine awareness AND the Gospel truth where we find goodness, mercy, joy, hope and peace. BUT, we must intentionally and purposefully go there. We must refuse to live in turmoil and confusion. We must protect ourselves from the gloom and despair that outside sources pander to us. Mentally speaking, we must choose to take the pathways, hallways, byways and highways to get to Peace Island.

Jesus promised we could have Peace Island in our everyday routines of work, play and sleep -- in good and bad times. Here are Jesus’ words from John 14:27 "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."

Let’s go to Peace Island, but not alone. Let’s be promoters of peace. The antidote to opposition and evil is to walk in the opposite spirit -- being peace promoters. We can promote peace with our words of truth, kindness, gentleness and with our actions – reflecting the peace walk and talk of Jesus. Others will see something distinctly different about those who live in AND on "Peace Island" daily. We are the ones wo trust that God will use even the worst things that we face in life, for good (Romans 8:28) -- so we might as well choose PEACE! We pray for that peace – peace for ourselves and others. Lord, let there be peace on earth, and let it begin in me.

An Old Story That Can Bring Us Hope

It’s in almost every conversation. We can’t help it. The effects of the coronavirus are certainly beyond any plague or disease pandemic that I have seen or heard of in my life. I mean – a pandemic that is causing businesses to send their people home to work virtually; causing schools to shut down and children being homeschooled; causing families to store up extra food and supplies – just in case. In fact, in my own world, a group of 38 women are having to meet through teleconferencing. At the hospital where I volunteer, they’ve suspended volunteering until this crisis is over. In my morning text to my kids, I apprised them that the news says “the elderly (70 and above) should be checked on regularly to be sure we’re okay”. My reply to that is “Watch me defy the odds”. I have no fear.

This pandemic is nothing to make jokes about. People are alarmed and are filled with anxiety. Again, I look at scripture that shows us how to deal with the fear of impending danger. This is the perfect time for us to refresh our memory on how Scripture navigates perils, plagues and pandemics. My mind rushes back to serving at Vacation Bible School last summer.

The whole theme was around the exodus of God’s people from Egypt. But before the exodus, ten plagues were inflicted on Egypt by God to force wicked Pharaoh to let His people, the Israelites, go and be freed from slavery. I loved watching the VBS children acting out the various plagues. God answered Pharaoh’s taunts by saying “The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord.” (Exodus 7:5) Eventually, the Israelites were released and started walking towards the Red Sea. If you saw “The Ten Commandments” movie, the scene that stands out the most is Charlton Heston as Moses, lifting his rod over the waters commanding them to open up. And open up, they did, enabling millions of Israelites to cross over on dry land – but closing up over the Egyptians and killing them all. God provided a way of escape. And He has a way of escape in mind for us in this crisis – those who are professed children of God who know Christ as our Lord and Savior.

What we can easily miss are the details of this story. What is it like to pack up everything you own – your children, your possessions, your livestock to go to an unknown land? What’s it like to wonder if you might lose it all? Sounds like a good parallel to this virus that is seeping across the world and has reached our shores, and we don’t know how treacherous it’s going to be. God is calling us to continue marching forward with a diligence of conquering and overcoming while being very health-smart – following all the rules of washing our hands and staying away from crowds as much as possible.

Waiting well in the face of our anxiety about a coming danger means taking seriously the reality of the danger. Our God takes our lives and our sufferings very seriously, and “He does not willingly bring affliction or grief to anyone” because He cares for us and for the things we care for and He shows compassion – so great is His unfailing love (Lamentations 3:32-33).

In the midst of the clamor, may we pour out our anxieties to our Father in Heaven. May we not allow our hearts to panic over school closings, travel plans, economic downturns, or the potentially infected surfaces we’ve touched! When we are afraid, we turn to Him. We cast our anxieties on Him, because He cares for us. In fact, we can allow handwashing or rubbing on hand sanitizer to become a moment we consciously entrust ourselves and the future of everyone we care about into His hands.

So we do wash our hands, and do what is wise about working from home, or calling our doctor. But we don’t let ourselves forget where our true safety lies. We don’t know what tomorrow will bring, but we do know the One Who parts raging seas and blocks its flow with His blood-soaked cross!

John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you;my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.“

(Thank you, CCEF -- Christian Counseling Educational Foundation for some of your excerpts included in this blog.)