Have you ever noticed the apprehension and even anxious feelings that grip most people when they are facing the unknown? Then there are a few that seem to jump head first into just about anything you can imagine. These people that seem to have no fear are the ones that are usually very successful at the things they jump into.

The reality is that apprehension and anxious feelings are very closely related to fear. Fear of danger is a God given instinct and should be paid attention to, but this is not the fear that I am talking about.

I am talking about the inability to do anything new because the fear of the unknown overwhelms you. It holds back many wonderful experiences and causes stress which will shorten our life.

After a terrorist with explosive in his underwear tried to blow up a commercial airliner, people were going to the airport hours before their flight because of the fear of not making it. They thought that the heightened security would have them waiting a very long time to get on the plane so it would be a reasonable thing to do.

However, public announcements were being made not to come so early because it was jamming up the airports and causing even further delays in processing the passengers. I am sure that very few people enjoy waiting in the airport for hours and yet they continued to jam the airports hours early, ignoring the public announcements and suffering the discomfort of standing in line holding their baggage.

The fear of missing an airplane actually was able to over-ride their knowledge, cloud their judgment, and stress them out.

It is easy to see how fear of missing a plane affected these people, but are we faced with circumstances in our everyday life that are leaving us as stressed as they were? Are we left standing in the long line of life holding our baggage until the load breaks us down and our life gets all jammed up? Are we really missing it or do we just think we are?

These and other life questions will be addressed Sunday morning as “The Gathering Place Family” meets in the Washington High School Gymnasium at 10 a.m. for our Pre-Service Connection where we enjoy coffee, juice and donuts. Our Worship Service and Children’s Church then begins at 10:30. Come at 7 p.m. and be part of our Wednesday night Bible Study and Children’s Ministry on the third floor above Trends at 120 West Court Street.