Rest In Christ Who Frees Us From Fear – Ken Williams
“Peace, I leave with you; my peace I give to you.” Jesus
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me.” John 14:1 (NRSV)
I was twenty years old when I confessed that Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior just before I was baptized. I believed in Jesus, and hoped my heart would no longer be troubled. Jesus opened my eyes to see that fear was distracting me from his presence and peace. I identified with a man who confessed he wasn’t afraid of dying but he was afraid of living. It dawned on me I had been manipulated by fear all my life.
It started when I was in my formative years. I was born March 14, 1945, as WW II ended. We lived in Long Beach, California where U.S. Navy war ships were docked. We were surrounded by military aircraft bases. Military aircraft including blimps regularly flew over our house. My Uncles Dean and Roy were wounded WWII veterans of the European war. Uncle Dean was wounded by shrapnel from an exploding German 88 shell. He told me, his 5-year-old nephew, that a butterfly bite caused the scars on his back. Uncle Roy had returned home after a head wound. Uncle Harold fought in Pacific campaigns. Their refusal to talk about their experiences is understandable but piqued my curiosity and left me feeling troubled. A year later my Cousin Jimmy, an Army Medic, was killed by a machine gunner in North Korea while he tended a fallen comrade. His remains have not been returned home.
Our families experienced the wars personally, but everyone experienced fear of the Cold War, a “war” of politics, propaganda, and threats of violence. The 1950s media regularly predicted that WWIII would be fought with intercontinental ballistic missiles laden with hydrogen bombs. Haunting sirens alerted teachers and students to practice curling up under our desks to become as small as possible to survive hydrogen bombs exploding over Los Angeles. I just worried that it might hurt. It became evident that WWII did not end wars and rumors of wars. Political arguments and fear mongering divided families and friends.
Following my Cousin Jimmy’s death, I asked my mother where we could go to be safe and she told me her father, my grandfather Sharr, told her that Jesus will return and bring peace to all nations. I believed this at age six, but I became distracted from the Prince of Peace as I aged. By age twelve, we moved from East Los Angeles to middle-class suburb, where my parents divorced. We experienced financial insecurity, and I feared it. A gracious church brought my mother us bags of groceries. My parents lived through the Great Depression, but I hadn’t. I was ashamed. By this time, I was driven by fear and didn’t see that Jesus was present. I attempted to find a way of escaping the pain inherent in unresolved fear. In time Jesus reminded me he had never left.
In the early 1960s the Cold War heated up. Political hostility between nations who had been firing propaganda and threats back and forth became ominous and militaries prepared for another hot war. My best friend Kirk and I committed to leaving our junior year in High School to join the Marines and fight in Cuba during the Cuban missile crisis. President Kennedy intervened, so we turned back to school and graduated. After graduation I joined the Navy and volunteered to serve in yet another war that would soon be fought in Viet Nam. I was idealistic and did not consider that this war, like all fought in human history merely prepares nations for yet another war, endlessly, until the Prince of Peace returns to us.
At age twenty I was attracted to a radio broadcaster who was predicting the end of the world, but he said there is “a way to escape”. This was a powerful temptation, for a young man desiring a way of escape! But escaping is not the solution, it’s fuel for a roaring fire of fear. Jesus reminded me that he is trustworthy. He had not left me. He encouraged me to follow him through the fears and discover the courage to face life as it is, not as it is in a false prophet’s fantasy.
After this I could hear and obey him, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.” (John 14:28). I listened to the One who had not abandoned me, who healed my fearfulness. I experienced peace by accepting life on his terms, trusting him, and experiencing life worth living.
Ken and Nancy Williams served for some 25 years in pastoral ministry, and then almost another 20 years serving and mentoring other pastors. With the heart of a pastor Ken continues to write and blog from upstate New York where he and Nancy live close to their grandchildren.
Plain Truth Ministries | Box 300 | Pasadena, CA 91129-0300
