The Adrenaline Makes Sense (The Spiral Doesn’t)
Read The Daily:
“His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.” — Philippians 4:7
Adrenaline is fine when you think you should be feeling it. I shared a story this past Sunday about looting a country store that burned down in my town with a few teenage friends. There’s a big difference between panic that makes sense and panic that doesn’t. Like when you’re fourteen, sprinting through a field in the dark, dumping stolen Mountain Dew behind you, convinced your life is about to end because a cop just hit you with a spotlight. (However, I guess me and my buddies were facing some serious breaking and entering charges too). Your heart pounding out of your chest? That tracks. Adrenaline showed up for a reason.
But what’s harder to explain is when that same feeling shows up years later… while you’re sitting on the couch. No flashing lights. No crime scene. No consequences chasing you down. Just a racing heart, tight chest, and that awful thought: Why do I feel like this right now? That’s the exhausting part of anxiety — not that it exists, but that it often shows up without context. Your body reacts like you’re running for your life, even when you’re perfectly safe. And the spiral gets worse because now you’re anxious about being anxious. You start scanning for danger that isn’t there, replaying worries that haven’t happened.
This is where peace becomes more than a feeling. It becomes protection. Not by erasing stress, but by standing guard between your thoughts and your nervous system. Today, if your body is reacting to something your mind can’t name, don’t shame it. Just slow it down. Remind yourself: I’m not being chased. I’m not in danger. I’m allowed to breathe. Sometimes peace doesn’t calm the moment instantly — it just keeps it from turning into a full sprint through a field that no longer exists.
Prayer for the Day
God what are you showing me? What am I going to do about it?
God help me to see one person that I can serve through a kind word, random act of kindness, or simple gift today?
Make sure you complete the reading or comment today.
Read The New Testament In A Year
He put spit in the man’s eyes, laid hands on him, and asked, “Do you see anything?” He looked up. “I see men. They look like walking trees.” So Jesus laid hands on his eyes again. The man looked hard and realized that he had recovered perfect sight, saw everything in bright, twenty-twenty focus. Jesus sent him straight home, telling him, “Don’t enter the village.” Jesus and his disciples headed out for the villages around Caesarea Philippi. As they walked, he asked, “Who do the people say I am?” “Some say ‘John the Baptizer,’” they said. “Others say ‘Elijah.’ Still others say ‘one of the prophets.’” He then asked, “And you—what are you saying about me? Who am I?” Peter gave the answer: “You are the Christ, the Messiah.” Jesus warned them to keep it quiet, not to breathe a word of it to anyone. He then began explaining things to them: “It is necessary that the Son of Man proceed to an ordeal of suffering, be tried and found guilty by the elders, high priests, and religion scholars, be killed, and after three days rise up alive.” He said this simply and clearly so they couldn’t miss it. But Peter grabbed him in protest. Turning and seeing his disciples wavering, wondering what to believe, Jesus confronted Peter. “Peter, get out of my way! Satan, get lost! You have no idea how God works.” Calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, “Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You’re not in the driver’s seat; I am. Don’t run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I’ll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to saving yourself, your true self. What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you? What could you ever trade your soul for? Mark 8:23-37
What this adds up to, then, is this: no more lies, no more pretense. Tell your neighbor the truth. In Christ’s body we’re all connected to each other, after all. When you lie to others, you end up lying to yourself. Go ahead and be angry. You do well to be angry—but don’t use your anger as fuel for revenge. And don’t stay angry. Don’t go to bed angry. Don’t give the Devil that kind of foothold in your life. Did you use to make ends meet by stealing? Well, no more! Get an honest job so that you can help others who can’t work. Watch the way you talk. Let nothing foul or dirty come out of your mouth. Say only what helps, each word a gift. Don’t grieve God. Don’t break his heart. His Holy Spirit, moving and breathing in you, is the most intimate part of your life, making you fit for himself. Don’t take such a gift for granted. Make a clean break with all cutting, backbiting, profane talk. Be gentle with one another, sensitive. Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you. Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that. Don’t allow love to turn into lust, setting off a downhill slide into sexual promiscuity, filthy practices, or bullying greed. Though some tongues just love the taste of gossip, those who follow Jesus have better uses for language than that. Don’t talk dirty or silly. That kind of talk doesn’t fit our style. Thanksgiving is our dialect. You can be sure that using people or religion or things just for what you can get out of them—the usual variations on idolatry—will get you nowhere, and certainly nowhere near the kingdom of Christ, the kingdom of God. Ephesians 4:25-32, 5:1-5