Flight or Fight

Where I work I get to see all sorts of interesting situations.  Our patient population is a variety of disease processes and socioeconomic factors.  Our patients can be there for something as simple as cellulitis to a complex array of commodities.  Lately the population that has made an appearance on our floor is the confused elderly patient with a UTI.  If you do not know much about the elderly and infections this may sound as simple as just give them some medicine and send them home.  Well let me tell you something about these patients.  Your sweet little grandma who has never said a cuss word in her life can all the sudden develop the vocabulary of a sailor and the aggressiveness of Mike Tyson.  Or your hardworking grandpa who goes out of his way to support his whole family can become a raging ball of profanities and punches.

This makes no sense!  How can these normally sweet and unassuming people become threats to themselves and others so fast.  I can not tell you exactly why medically but I can tell you that the first sign of infection is not a fever or pain or the like, it is confusion.  So we bring them into the hospital because grandma is not acting normal.  Now we have these confused people in surroundings that they do not know, which then leads to fear; fear because they have no idea what is going on and they do not feel safe.  So like any normal person, the fight or flight instinct takes over, and they start doing the only thing they know to do: They start protecting themselves.  They try to leave and try to hit to protect themselves.  At rare times this fear gets so intense that they become combative and start hurting people around them.  Sometimes if all else fails we have to "restrain" a patient to keep the staff and the family and the patient safe.

Honestly it all makes perfect since if you step back and look at it.  What would you do if you had no idea what is going on and you feel like someone is interfering with your safety?  I am pretty sure that you already know the answer to that.  But I am also pretty sure you are picturing an actual threat to your well being.  But what about a perceived threat?  Something that gets you out of your comfort zone?  Something that puts you in a situation where your heart rate increase and your blood pressure increases.  Like confronting someone out of love?  Or telling your story about how Jesus changed your life.  Or going to a place that you do not have the comfort of your home, friends and family so that people can hear about Jesus.  Or even a major life change, new job, breaking off a relationship that does not honor God, or starting a relationship that is based solely on His grace and love.  And last but not least admitting and repenting for whatever sin has you chained to your old self.

All of these we often perceive as threats to our well being.  We get scared, we have no idea what God has planned so we start doing what we know best.  We start running and fighting.  We run away from God's plan and His possible glory because we are afraid that our safety is being jeopardized.  Or those restraints we have holding us back from having a closer relationship with Him are so powerful that we refuse to break away from them, to turn away from whatever sin is holding us back.

But the beauty of a relationship with Christ is that we do not have to be afraid.    Isaiah 41:10 says "So do not fear for I am with you; do not be dismayed for I am your God.  I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right had."  Or Luke 1:30 "Then he said to her "Do not be afraid Mary, you have found favor with God." Or Psalm 118:6 "The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid.  What can mere mortals do to me."  These are just a couple of the verses that tell us not to fear because He is with us.

What would your life, my life, the church look like if we stopped letting fear dictate how we proclaim the Gospel.  Or what if we were not chained to our sins anymore but rather united with Christ in grace and forgiveness.  What if the only thing holding us back from proclaiming Jesus and furthering is kingdom is, well, nothing?