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FOOD FOR THOUGHT

FEAR AND KIEVITS

BY PETER STOFFBERG

will always remember the first time it
happened. I was young and I had been
Iwarned. The warnings were scarcely
enough to prepare me for the onslaught
though. Their screeching and meticulously HOME
timed aerial attacks were really very
effective. I’ve since been comforted by CHURCHING
documentaries showing them chasing off
predators more fierce than me, but it’s hard
to tell if the predators are terrified or just PRE SCHOOL
irritated. I certainly was more than irritated
ducking and diving across the field trying to
escape the nesting plovers (or Kievits, as JUNIOR PREP
we called them).
SENIOR PREP
It was only a while later, as I grew up
a little, that I began to wonder just how
much damage a dive-bombing bird could HIGH SCHOOL
possibly do. It occurred to me that they
probably weighed less than a cricket ball
and travelled slower too. Sure, a cricket OUT OF SCHOOL
ball doesn’t make that sound, and it
doesn’t keep coming back at you again
and again, but a cricket ball doesn’t worry CONNECT ONLINE WITH US EVERY SUNDAY @ 9H30
about getting hurt in an actual collision
either. When I realised this, I was able
to walk calmly through their barrage of
smoke and mirrors, unafraid and amused
by their bravery and incredible powers of
intimidation.
something for the whole family www.familychurch.online
Walking through one such attack recently
made me think of a message I found online.
It said simply “Your anxiety is lying to there is a source of truth and, as Jesus said,
you”. It’s a striking parallel. Just like plovers, that truth can set us free (John 8:-31-32).
much of what makes us anxious is nothing
more than a perceived threat, a terrifying At the root of so much of our anxiety lies the
distraction that will never cause any actual fear of being unloved, unwanted, powerless
damage. Fear is a useful or without purpose. Jesus counters these lies
survival instinct, we with the truth that we are deeply loved and
should be afraid when valued by God, and that He created us with a
lions are chasing us, but purpose. Although we truly are powerless in
the truth is, they seldom many situations in life, He isn’t, and He isn’t
do. Think about it, much going to leave us or forsake us.
of what makes us afraid
never actually happens. Our anxiety isn’t always going to be caused
by something as trivial as a plover. Jesus
If that’s true, and anxiety tells us openly that we are to expect trouble
is often a deception, then and suffering just like He Himself endured,
just like the deception but He also assures us that we are to rely
of the plovers, it’s best on His constant presence and power to
countered by the truth. overcome that trouble and render it as
The Bible claims to be harmless as an irritating, noisy bird.
the word of God, and it
claims to be the truth. In
a world of fake news it’s
refreshing to think that

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