When the false alert hit yesterday, a parade of thoughts ran through my head. Is this real? Is what happened in the Palisades about to happen here? What do we take? Fears ran rampant. Even after the "oops, technical glitch," some fears remained. And a new level of compassion arose for those who have already lost what I only feared for a few minutes. How do we face fears like that - the kind that don't wait for you to process them, but simply overwhelm you whether you are ready or not? Platitudes like "David faced a giant and so can you" ring quite hollow when the fire is actively consuming your life. It's also the wrong way to understand that passage. Where do we get the courage to face our fears, especially ones as overwhelming as the tragedy our city is living through? Let's talk about what gives us courage as real as our fears: "The Man in the Middle" (1 Samuel 17:32-50).
