I went to get some tests last week. Wellness tests. I wanted to check on some areas that I know can be problems.

I was laying on my back in the middle of one of them, while a machine was inflating the cuff on one arm and then the other. The person running the test suddenly stepped away and said, “Gail!” She was calling out. Her voice was a bit intense. 

When I read about these tests, I read that they will email the results. But they also say that if there is something concerning, they will make a recommendation right away, or even call for help. 

And, you need to know, part of the reason for the tests is that as a chaplain, I see awful things all the time. People who seem to be well suddenly end up in the Emergency Department. 

So when she called out “Gail”, I assumed that things looked really alarming. 

And then Gail showed up. To lay on the table on the other side of the curtain, with another set of the same equipment. 

Nothing was wrong. Nothing was alarming. 

But I was certainly not resting. 

Around us, we are always hearing alarming things.

We are told that we should be alarmed. We get used to feeling alarmed by politics, by economics, by weather. We anticipate the worst about illness and conversations. We think that this may be the worst time ever, that this may be the end of everything. 

And we wonder if God is alarmed. 

God’s not. 

In fact, when Jesus was talking to his friends, he told them that bad stuff is going to happen. Awful stuff. To everyone, even those that he cared about. 

But instead of panicking, Jesus says, rest in God. And. Paul writes, build your life resting in God. 

This week, we’re going to talk about how to do that. 

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Photo credit: Ben