Fear Factor

Monday Devotional

“A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion.”

Mark 4:37–38

Friends of ours had two children in Columbine High School during the terrible shooting attack of April 1999. Several other tragic events—largely unreported nationally—assaulted the city over the ensuing months. On top of all this, a disturbed church member started violently harassing my friends’ family (both are on staff at a local church) by throwing manure on their car, writing filthy graffiti on their church office windows, slashing their tires, and one time bashing in their car windows outside their home.

All the tragic events happening in the city, combined with the personal war waged against the family, led my friends’ young daughter to say, “I can’t take this anymore.” They somewhat reluctantly agreed to send their daughter to an out-of-state boarding school. After months of research, they chose a highly respected private institution located in Long Island, New York.

My friends dropped off this psychologically shaken girl in New York on September 9, 2001. Forty-eight hours later, terrorists crashed two planes into the World Trade Center.