Wednesday, January 8, 2020
“And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.”  (Romans 8: 38 New Living Translation)


                Talk about being in a tight spot! Yikes!

                In early December, I was called into the hospital for an MRI on my arthritic shoulders as a prelude to an eventual shoulder replacement surgery. I have had MRIs on my knees before and I didn’t think that I would have any problems.

                After asking a bevy of questions and filling out their forms, the techs got me lying on the gurney for the MRI. They informed me it would take a half hour for each shoulder. They put ear mufflers on my head. They told me to pull in my arms, gave me a panic bell for emergencies, and stuffed me in a very small machine, headfirst. The machine then squeezed me in very, very tightly. I didn’t even have any wiggle room. There was copious light and a generous flow of air, but that was it. The ceiling of my sardine can was ten inches from my nose.  I closed my eyes and hoped for the best.

                Jesus may have said, “everyone who endures to the end will be saved” but I am pretty sure that he was never stuffed into a too-small MRI nor suffered greatly from claustrophobia.

                I tried everything to distract myself from my situation. I thought up trades which the Blue Jays might try. I silently recited both the Lord’s Prayer and the 23rd Psalm - several times. I tried to go to my happy places along the waters of Nova Scotia or Leamington. I chastised myself for my irrational fears about the situation, and tried to convince myself that I was fine and it would all be over soon.

                Who was I kidding? I didn’t make it through the first shoulder, never mind two. About twenty minutes in, I had a significant panic attack and hit the button for the bell for them to come and get me out ASAP. It took quite a while to fully recover from the ordeal, even after I got back home. I knew I suffered a little from the fear of closed-in spaces but never figured that I was this “bad”.  Live and learn, I guess.

When I die, please put me in a casket with a window and stand me up in a crypt above ground, facing the door. And maybe, even leave that ajar!

Our fears and worries can be debilitating features of our every day lives. As much as we try to plow through them and convince ourselves that we will be fine and it will soon be all over, fears persist in taking over our minds and spirits to paint some sort of a different picture of reality. Fears have very loud “voices” and are very persuasive that we can’t or won’t get through the ordeal without panicking or worse. Mere, simple distractions seldom work which is not the fault of prayers or scripture, as examples, but rather the spectre of fear is insidious and pervasive. Not all fears are irrational or foolish, but all big fears are life-altering and prevent us from living wholesome lives. Some of us would rather accept our fears and arthritic lives than face and conquer those fears.

Faith, our trusting relationship with God through Jesus Christ, provides considerable Strength in stressful situations and during those times which attempt to instill fear and dread into our lives. When we get squeezed into tight spots and awkward situations, when we feel the walls are closing in on us, when we feel that we have no room to maneuver, when we feel that we  can’t catch our breath, the light of God’s love shines and the  generous flow of his grace tends us whether we recognize it or not: “neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.”  We are never alone, never abandoned, never forgotten.

By God’s grace and mercy, and mostly by his Love, together with God, you and I will indeed endure to the end. 

Dale