Category 5

We Central Floridians are funny about our weather. I think it all started in 2004, when we had three major hurricanes (is there a minor one?) cut a path right through our territory. It was a TV weather person's dream. Nothing but talking of high winds and rain for a couple months straight - with pictures at 11!

With that memory in every one's psyche, it has been easy to drum up weather anxiety. The problem has been a lack of major weather events in our area. Because of this lack of material, the weather people took to the airwaves during every thunderstorm to tell us it was raining hard. Flash flooding was possible.

Then, it wasn't raining enough and all the lakes were going to dry up.

To keep things fresh, now whenever there is even a solid cloud cover we are inundated with warnings about heavy rain and potential wins. They are having to dig deeper and deeper into the dry well to create an anxious response.

All this occurred to me the other night as I was watching TV with my wife on one of the local channels and in the lower right hand corner was the temperature - 54˚. You see, a cold front (thanks Canada!) was coming to town, so to keep us on edge, we had the current temperature on the screen like a New Year's Eve countdown. When we came back from commercial is was 52˚.

Mind you, I've seen people from Canada and Minnesota swim in resort pools at that temperature, and 54˚ might just be the summertime high in most of Maine. Apparently, we Central Floridians needed something else to worry about. Like Kim Jong Il's death already wasn't keeping me up at night.

What struck me, and I'm sure this is not a new realization for anyone who happens to have made it this far, is that the world drives all of us toward anxiety. Flipping over the Fox New just to check this out and one of the headlines is "Defcon 3" regarding our response to Iran. More anxiety.

It is just that way with the false self. If you have something, or want something, it is never going to be enough.

So, if you want security, then you have to worry about the Iranians, someone setting fires in cars, or if the plastic surgery you want is being performed by someone with a license.

If you want money, there will always be another deal.

If you want to be beautiful, there will always be someone younger.

You get the picture. Pick something outside of Christ that you want to give preeminent value, and it will never be enough. It's idolatry, and it will never satisfy or give you rest. You'll aways be making penance and never obtain forgiveness for lacking.

The beautiful picture though, is that Christ wants to drive us to peace. Not a peace that comes from having our circumstances changed - a plethora of money in the bank, friendship with Iran or perfect weather. That would be validating the false self. Allowing us to settle for idols

Christ drives us to peace by shedding light on why those things are so appealing to us, stripping them away so that we can enjoy his rest. This doesn't involve Christ changing our circumstances, but allowing Him to change us.

Not being anxious about anything, as Paul teaches, is not about stuffing anxiety down, wearing a fake smile, and telling people everything is fine. Rather, it is the intentional process of confronting anxiety's source, substituting truth (denying self), bearing that weakness (taking up our cross), and putting one foot in front of the other (following Him).

Sometimes the steps are slow. Laborious. Painful. Methodical. Maddening. Feeling unnatural. But that is narrow path of trust.