After the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, I felt generally fearful and Jumpy. As I walked in the Boston Garden near my office, I watched the trajectory of every place overhead to see if it would fly into the John Hancock or Prudential Center, the two tallest buildings in Boston. I looked intently at every man who seemed like he might be of Middle Eastern descent, wondering if he might be a terrorist. In short, I was looking everywhere for danger.
I soon realized that I was allowing fear to dominate my thoughts and that I was trying to achieve safety by vigilantly watching for signs of trouble before it happened. It's not a bad things to be alert, but this fear was hypnotic, riveting my thought on my own and others' vulnerability. I soon recognized that I had to overcome this fear in some way that wasn't just ignoring it or suppressing it. Then I remembered something that had happened while I was in college, spending the summer at home with my parents.
One evening my father mentioned that he was going to fly on a business trip from Chicago to Detroit in a small plane owned by one of the other executives in the company. Having flown a lot myself, I thought nothing of his comment. That night as I tried to sleep, however, I was filled with terror regarding his safety. I prayed to know and feel that my father was safe in God's care and that nothing could harm him. I prayed until I felt God's sweet assurance that all was well and then went to sleep.
