No more fear - I've got peace at last!

No more fear - I've got peace at last!

I'm a construction worker.

It can be a pretty scary job some days, even after you get used to it, as I have.
Some days I'd hang by one hand to a piece of plywood on a roof 30 feet in the air, a nail gun in the other hand, nailing away.

With no insurance, except workmans comp.

One slip and you're dead, or worse. Imagine what your family would do without you, and your income!

Worse yet, imagine being a debt-maker instead of a debt- payer

Believe me, there're a LOT worse things than dying...imagine being a paraplegic, or being blind, or mentally impaired. That'd run up some doctors bills, wouldn't it?

And you with no way to pay them...

I used to worry about it all the time.

No more.

Worrying didn't do anything at all for me - and it definitely didn't make me safer!

If anything, worrying affected my ability to think clearly, clouded my judgment, and that made me more accident prone!

I fought with it - fear - and fought, and fought, and fought.

Old folks used to say "everybody's got their demons..." then nod wisely, and go on. Old folks got to be old by listening to other old folks when they were young!

>Whew! Did I really say that?<

Let's translate: everyone has their own personal fears, doubts, and yes, demons, if you want to call them that...EVERYONE has their personal struggles, and most of us don't verbalize them!

Correction: most of us men don't talk about this stuff - you ladies, well, most of you talk about things that give us men the SHIVERS!

That's why women live longer..they talk about their fears and laugh about them!

Sometimes I feel sorry for us guys...we tend to bottle everything up, and when the bottle gets full, BLAM!

So, being a man (which means not being able to talk about being scared and stuff), I went in the bathroom, locked the door, then double-locked it, looked into the mirror at myself, eyeball to eyeball, and gave myself a pep talk...

"How long you been doing this stuff, huh? You been hurt yet? Just those fingers, and that's SMALL stuff, man! Get a hold of yourself, and straighten up - NOW!"

After I was finished fussing, I'd smile at my reflection, and say something like "You're a good carpenter, Mike...you do excellent work, and you do it SAFELY. Now get out there, get to work, and stop worrying."

It worked...and later on, when I'd fail in some aspect of my Christian life, I'd go in the bathroom for another pep talk...and another...and another...

I now have a reputation at work as being someone "with a stomach problem"...Heh!

But I have peace - my demons are defeated (even if I DID have to resort to Scripture), and I don't worry NEAR as much!

>I hope this article is good...and that people'll like it...and that none of the editor's'll YELL at me.........<

Oh well - there's always SOMETHING to worry about!