Fear

Ever since the fall of mankind, the devil has been at work to pull us away from the God Almighty. He can try all he wants to, and sometimes he succeeds in his work, but there is still One True King who is above him in every way, and he knows that. He knows he's on the losing side of this battle, that one day the Lord will make His comeback and will bring us all home to Him.

But until that day comes, this fallen world is a dark place and a tough spot for Christians and anyone of really any faith to be a part of. There is so much darkness in the world, and it's something that we can only try to shine our light through. Light only shines the brightest in the darkest of places. There will be a lot of things that will try to snuff our lights, but if we cling to the brightest light there is, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, then we can do what His Great Commission calls of all of us.

So the title. Fear. It's a powerful tool that is very easily used by the devil. A tool that can leverage someone's survival instincts, to seek self-preservation. It's not a bad thing to try to protect oneself. But it is a bad thing if fear drives our every step. There are some times in which fear has no place here. That fear has no grip on us. If we were to cower at anything that invokes fear, then we will become oppressed people, and it will be harder for the unreached peoples to know about Jesus. How can we reach to them, if we run at first sight?

Now sometimes fear is also justified. The safety of one's self and the safety of loved ones is always a good reason to take advantage of the feeling of fear to hide and to seek protection. Someone has got to be there to take a stand to fear, to protect those who cannot, lest the fear become an oppressive force.

Why do I talk about this? Well, there have been rumors that from the "dark web", of potential people looking to shoot up movie theaters around the time of the Joker movie release. Will this stop me from going to see a movie? It's a tough judgment call. I know that I should be careful and probably avoid movie theaters, but I also do not want to cower because of a rumor. Am I being reckless? Possibly.

You might be thinking, "Geoff, you're out of your mind if you decide to go to the theaters anyways". Perhaps you're right. Perhaps there's a misplaced and misguided sense of being a protector that drives me to be there in the event tragedy strikes and I might have to act. Is it some false sense that I am truly a hero? That I can be someone's hero? Am I overconfident in my strength and my abilities that I might put myself in harm's way? All of these possibilities are definitely out on the table.

Nonetheless, here's my plan: If these rumors start surfacing more and more and there is probably cause that something bad will happen, I won't go to the movies in a week. If it's all just speculation, I'm not going to hole up in my dorm and regret not taking advantage of my time off to enjoy a movie. I'll be careful, I'll prepare myself, and I'll arm myself with whatever I can. Mostly just a pocket knife and whatever of my training is left once fear and adrenaline start kicking in. God forbid it comes down to it, but I will not let fear win.

Perhaps I'm psychotic in thinking that I am able to be a protector. Perhaps this false sense and pretending to be the Batman has got me thinking that I can be that symbol of hope. Whatever it is, I will take the time to think about it, and will be seeing how this next week progresses. Just know that whatever it is that happens, it's all a part of the plan.

Fear has no place here. I will not stand for it. I will fight it.

I am vengeance.

I am the night.