Worrying With Joe And Max

I’ve got ulcers from the worrying I’ve done, and they worry, too. – Joe Walsh

Tonight is the big game. The undefeated New Orleans Saints are playing their nemesis, the Atlanta Falcons, on the national stage of Monday Night Football. I’m a life-long Saints fan, and though on paper they appear to have the better team, I am worried that they will not play very well and lose the game as a result.

I’m worried about my youngest daughter and her plans for college. I’m hoping that she will be alright in the long run. Most of all, I just want her to be happy in life with whatever direction she chooses to take. She has decided to move home and commute to class each day – dorm life does not sit well with her due to her value system. (I say that with not a little pride as I do so) I’m ready for her to come home, but I am worried that my feelings may be based upon a desire to be overprotective of her when it comes right down to the crux of the matter.

My oldest daughter is getting married next spring and she is very thorough in every decision that she makes. But I still worry about her, and I’m also losing sleep wondering how I will pay for the elaborate ceremony we are planning for her and her groom. A wedding is one of the biggest days of your life and I want hers to be not only memorable, but special as well.

I worry about my sons, both of them. One is now a father in his own regard, and the other is many years away from becoming such. But both of them will face a world full of trouble that is seemingly arrayed against them. And worst of all, they will face the same things that I did in my own life up to this point.

I worry because though they are my children, all four of them, I cannot see into their hearts. I lie awake a lot of nights worried that they may have accepted God’s gift of salvation in their heads, but not their hearts, because I know that as their father it is my responsibility to lead them down the right path in that regard. Did I do a good enough job explaining that to them?

You don’t worry about it, I’ll worry about it. I’m going to be up all night worrying anyway. – Joe Walsh

I worry about my wife because she has health issues a lot these days and there is no way I could live my life without her. The health issues are minute, but it seems as though there is something new every week and so I worry. I worry over my bills. I worry about my church. I worry about my job. I worry about my 401k plan and how will I ever be able to retire before I reach 88-years of age or so?

My parents are good people. I worry that I’ll be unable to live up to the example they have set for me and that I’ll never measure up to being a good son to them.

I worry about Afghanistan, I worry about the poles, and if they drop the big one, we’ll all live in holes. – Joe Walsh

Worry never solves anything. Nothing will ever compute as a product for the amount of worrying that I do. Jesus said, “Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?” Worrying is not the cure for all of my troubles in life. But I worry anyway, as if the thought itself has some mystical power - my well-thought-out worry will somehow become a talisman to protect me from the things I cannot control.

I’m reading a Max Lucado book this week entitled Fearless. In the book, as always, he brings out a very dramatic point that 'hit the nail on the head' for me. The disciples came to Jesus because the crowd of over five thousand people were hungry and they had nothing with which to feed them. Gleaning through the possibilities they came up with only five loaves and two fish. Max states that they were counting to seven instead of counting to eight. As in, they had five loaves, two fish, and they had Jesus. With God anything is possible. I need to remember that priceless gem when I catch myself worrying over problems. I need to include Jesus in the calculation of solutions to the things in my life that plague me with worry and doubt.

On my own and left to my own devices, all I can do is worry about things. But with Jesus in the picture, well, that’s a whole-new ballgame! Go Saints!

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